Category Archives for Passengers.
On Monday two passengers got into a fight on their plane departing the San Juan airport. The pilot decided to turn back around but things really escalated once everyone was back inside the terminal.
With fewer people traveling, and a sense that ‘we’re all in this together’ during a global pandemic, is it naive to have thought we’d see fewer inflight altercations?
Two groups of passengers began egging each other on after American Airlines flight AA2333 from Miami to Philadelphia early in the week, culminating in a brawl at baggage claim.
Usually passengers use the lavatory. Far less common is when passengers just stay at their seats although those are the stories that go most viral especially when they’ve only just met on board.
I don’t know the story of these two passengers, but you can see that even though love hit them at least one is still wearing a mask.
An African American social service worker is suing American Airlines after she was accused of kidnapping a one year old white baby while traveling with him on a flight. She was accused of “holding a kidnap victim.” In fact she was returning from a two week court-ordered visit for the child with his father.
See something, say something isn’t just for airport security, it’s supposed to stop human trafficking and travel industry employees are asked to speak up when their prejudices training makes them think something could be amiss.
Three Spirit Airlines passengers were arrested for attacking three of the carrier’s employees during a delay of Spirit flight WN1004 from Fort Lauderdale to Philadelphia on Tuesday. The employees all “suffered minor injuries” after the three passengers in the gate area hit staff with “phones, shoes, full water bottles, metal boarding signs and fast food.”
The employees “were also punched and kicked in different sections of their bodies numerous times” according to Sheriff’s department arrest documents. Here’s video of it all going down:
Saturday night’s Alaska Airlines flight AS422 from Seattle to Chicago returned to SeaTac airport after a man on board the 11:10 p.m. departure threatened to kill everybody on the aircraft “in the name of Jesus.”
The man was unarmed, he calmed down and was even reportedly cooperative with law enforcement when the aircraft returned to the terminal.
While you’re permitted to bring scissors, you need to handle them responsibly while inflight. That can pose surprising challenges. I present you with one example.
Gate agents reported that she became angry over the fee, and things escalated when they told Ms. Jackson they wouldn’t allow her to fly. That’s when she “threw a bag of shoes at the agents at a service desk…reached over the service counter to hit an agent, …punched [another agent] in the head” and things only got more out of hand from there.
Despite airline requirements, customers continue to flout the rules. And one passenger did so with enough of a flair for the dramatic that his flight actually diverted.
Was Elle Knox making an important enough statement to ignore FAA rules that she stay seated – indeed, is it important for all of us not to stay seated? – or was the United captain right that the message may matter but a commercial airline flight is the wrong time and wrong place?
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
