A dad got creepy on board a flight home from Mexico to put a female passenger in her place, and I’m trying to decide whether it was a genius move or crossed a line.
The woman had her hair draped over her seat back, so that it covered the entertainment screen behind her. The man’s daughter couldn’t watch her inflight TV. The girl wanted to watch a Trolls movie.
- The young girl asked the woman in front of her to move her hair. She wouldn’t (!).
- The dad called for a flight attendant. When the flight attendant asked, she moved her hair.
- But 15 minutes later, the hair was back in front of the screen.
That’s when the dad took action:
I decided to do something. When my daughter went to the bathroom I took her seat. When she came back I let her have my seat. She asked why I moved and I said that I really liked the woman’s hair and I wanted to get a better look at it.
The woman heard me and she immediately pulled her hair back, ticked it in and pulled her hoodie up. My daughter didn’t notice. She was happy with her movie. I was happy to have a nap.
I’m a little bit torn here. The woman with her draped over the screen was being inappropriate. It would have been one thing if she didn’t realize it, but she was asked multiple times and seems to have relished inconveniencing a child behind her. She certainly deserved something. And the something dished out worked. But was this an appropriate something?
On the other hand, the dad needed to take matters into his own hands. They’d already asked the passenger nicely, and involved a flight attendant, but neither approach worked. What other options did they have?
- Pull the hair
- Scissors
- Dip it in coffee
- Gum
Sadly passengers draping their hair over the seat back behind them is something that happens all the time. And it’s up there, and maybe even worse than, bare feet propped up on your arm rest?
Congrats to the ponytailed young woman in seat 22B. You've invented a whole new way to be awful at 35,000 feet. pic.twitter.com/VWTPMI5JrM
— Dante Ramos (@danteramos) March 29, 2016
On an @SouthwestAir flight right now and this is definitely a new one for me in terms of bad plane etiquette… pic.twitter.com/pjsPMvO2Av
— James Troupis (@JamesTroupis) November 2, 2021
At the end of the day, the man’s daughter was able to watch her TV in peace, which means that the rest of the passengers on board were able to enjoy their flight in peace. And the woman in front of them confined herself to inside the dimensions of her own seat. And that’s what’s important on board a metal tube flying 500 miles per hour 30,000 feet about the earth.
I wouldn’t have been so nice as the dad….
No patience for idiots
This is when you kick the hell out of the seat. That worthless Karen will move her hair.
It was a great move! Not sure about your concern of him of having “crossed a line”.
Don’t know why you’re torn
The message was received by Repunzel loud and clear.
Others have snipped or put gum or other objects in the hair…
I’ll keep that in mind for next time!
I’m agreed with the others. It would have been creepy if that was the 1st time, but it wasn’t: It was the 3rd time, after the girl asked politely, and the FA asked again.
Woman here. I think it’s genius. They had already done the uncomfortable confrontational stuff to solve the problem, so it was Hair Lady’s turn to be uncomfortable.
Fantastically played by the dad. No line crossed at all. Social engineering at it’s finest.
When forced to fly in cattle, if i get one of these situations, pull out your small bottle of hand sanitizer and (holding a napkin for runoff) give her hair a good drenching. I’m 3 for 3 on causing a post-landing freakout by the Karen. When they go berserk, I apologize for sneezing in their hair. The FA in each case looks at the Karen and says “your fault”. Karen karmically repressed. Situation terminated.
That being said, there was another solution that likely would have worked (with the FA’s agreement): Dad could have gone back to the galley, explained the situation, and asked if the FA would go back to Rapunzel and tell her she was in violation of directly disobeying orders from the flight crew. The FA could further point out that if it happened again, the aircraft would be diverted, and she would be arrested. Once again assuming that the FA was agreed, that definitely would have worked.
Think it’s totally appropriate and actually kind of gentle compared to other suggestions. She was intentionally rude. I Will remember some of the comments here for future use
Under the circumstances I think the dad acted appropriately.
1) cut off her hair.
2) put bubble gum in her hair.
3) kick the back of her seat.
Get a cup of tea/coffee/water & fill with as many creamers & sweeteners as possible. Accidentally dip hair ends into cup. Repeat. Do not rinse.
Stunned you think this might be inappropriate. I think it was rather tame. I’d pull the crazy glue out of my briefcase….
Put ton of hairspray or glue?
I’m with everybody else. Nothing creepy or inappropriate at all. He never touched her or her hair. Just used words after she ignored the flight attendant.
@Gary the drama queen
The only reason you claim to be torn on this (which you clearly aren’t, because your opening states your views) is because of the trash-journalism perspective of “do I promote the better solution that doesn’t involve drama and physical altercation or would I rather write about somebody who caused unnecessary excessive drama and inconvenienced others with a diverted flight?”
I’m with others on this one. There’s many far worse ways to handle it, and this one only did harm to Karen’s ego and backfired on her self esteem.
Close the tray and leave the hair and passenger trapped.
I wonder how Rapunzel would have reacted if what she did happened to her by another woman? We all know she would have thrown a fit….
I’d say 1 in 5 chance the story is real, but clever idea regardless
Saying no to a child, then dismissing the FA…it’s too much to add up to reality
I keep a 2.5oz bottle of peroxide in my laptop bag, it works wonders and leaves and permanent reminder.
I would have said “damn I just went to the bathroom and i forgot to wash my hands… oh! whose pretty hair is thaaaaat?”. I would have sneezed also. And trapped her hair in the tablet.
Nair comes in a travel size. It is supposed to be great for hair removal. Should work as advertised.
I would’ve pulled out a pair of scissors and cut that shit in heartbeat. No questions asked.
Problem is, @John Burkholder, you would not have scissors in your carry-on if TSA had done their job at your departure airport.
My Walter Mitty-esque fun fantasy would have been a generous shmeer of glue followed by folding up the table with hair enclosed.
Relocating oneself to another seat nearby immediately after would seem to be a wise precaution before the histrionics erupted.
It was silky soft and smelled good.
Wow, what an awful and inconsiderate woman… amazing! I would have kicked the seat or “accidentally” pulled her the hair….
@glenn t
Totally wrong! You’re allowed to bring scissors with up to a 3 inch blade.
The dad handled it best.
My voote for second place: push up the tray table (possibly wrapping the hair around the metal hinges, thus entangling it.
Good for him.
The father was super nice in my opinion. Could have been far worse.
I once had a guy recline so far back that his head was inches from my face. Clearly the seat was broken since it reclined about 5-6 inches more than any other seat. Asked him to adjust it very politely. He refused.
So I worked up a good sneeze and let it fly right on his bald spot. Made a nice target. His got up, went to the bathroom and sat upright for the remainder of the flight.
@Daniel~ While the rules are arbitary, even capricious, I am not aware of any airport where you can get away with bringing scissors of any size onboard. Even nail clippers do not make it.
On the other hand a small tube of superglue does.
An excellent way to handle the situation. Doing something to her hair may cross the line into battery.
He did nothing wrong at all. I probably would have been ugly about t and made a scene. He managed to get her to move her hair without causing a scene. Maybe it even taught her a lesson but I doubt it.
You warn first…if the hair stays…you cut.
These mentioned items
Pull the hair
Scissors
Dip it in coffee
Gum
can constitute the crime of assault.
The guy’s publicly pseudo-sexually-fantasizing about the hair of the inconsiderate woman can also lead to legal problems in some places, but it’s less likely to be a problem than doing physical harm to the woman’s hair.
GU Wonder – Yeah, people who deliberately do wrong always have the built in excuse when someone retaliates….
The dad said he took a nap after. So he could have just switched seats and napped. The hair doesn’t disturb his nap.
@GUtlessWonder – Punching you in the face is a crime unless the jury decides you deserved it. All it takes is one. You’ll never get a conviction on this, especially if they’ve been warned. And no prosecutor would pursue it, as that would entail the “vicitm” being placed on the stand to face a series of questions about intentionally provoking the perpetrator. FAFO.
And “publicly pseudo-sexually-fantasizing about the hair of the inconsiderate woman can also lead to legal problems in some places” cannot lead to legal problem in the US, catcalls are free speech. Might lead to the airline kicking you off, might lead an employer firing you, but that’s different than the state arresting you.
The fact that you defend everything from rape to hair invading entitled white girls must make you fun to have at all the anti-semite parties.
This happened to me once. I just kept making loud inhaling sounds and saying “MMMMMMMM” or, alternately “Oh yesssssss” and putting my face close to it (but not touching because that would be actually creepy). At some point she looked back and I smiled. Probably a second too long.
Hair went away after that.
C_M you have some fanciful fantasies in claiming your fabrications to be facts. There is no fact in your fabricated “fact that you defend everything from rape to hair invading entitled white girls must make you fun to have at all the anti-semite parties” claims when discussing me. Get yourself some help in separating your fictions and wishful thinking from facts. 😉
What is considered permissible free speech by government in the US is not universally protected speech. Some countries’ authorities have laws available to criminally prosecute sexually malicious, intimidating or insulting language.
David R Miller, a potential consequence of behaving like a lawless vigilante includes the risk of being prosecuted as a criminal for acts of illegal retaliation.
Brilliant! I think everyone should keep that line in their retort-repertoire for the next time some long-haired person in front of them gets creepy and throws their hair over the seat.
Scissors would not have made it on the plane. My daughter (about age 5 at the time) had a pair of the kindergarten scissors taken away from her. The ones with a 2 inch blade with completely dull points. I know the restrictions day these were legal at the time, but I’m not going to start an argument with TSA over a $1 pair of scissors.
Rapunzel Karens must be stopped. Mattel needs to come up with a line of Karens that are like Barbies so we can have Rapunzel Karens and other Karens. We can use them to teach kids not to be Karens.
Karens are getting a bad rapp in this blog. I demand to speak to the manager!
Heh. That happened to me years ago and what I did was tie my empty Jack Daniels bottles to her hair. She didn’t notice, typical self-involvement.
GREAT MOVE! I would have sniffed her hair and told her she needs to wash her hair! Now that would have been creepy!
Oooo! long hair! I’m gonna have me some fun~!
Scissors less than 3-inches are TSA permiteed. Although I would love to have used them, I like the way the father handled it. 2nd best suggestions was asking the FA to tell her to move the hair or the aircraft would be diverted for disobeying a crew instruction. I might very well have played with her hair, stroked it, smelled it, made pleasurable noises while I rubbed it on my face. That would have done the trick.
Scissors, with blades of four inches or less, are now allowed by the Transportation Security Theater Company.
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/scissors