Frustrated Passenger Pees In Cup, Dumps It On Flight Attendant After Not Being Allowed To Disembark After Landing

On an Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Sydney, a passenger became frustrated during a delay getting off the aircraft on arrival. He urinated in a cup – and spilled it on a flight attendant.

The man, who was sitting next to a mother and her 15-year-old daughter, exposed himself and let loose at least three times. Holly, the mother, reported feeling “humiliated” by the experience, stating that it made her daughter lose confidence in flying alone, ruining her school holiday plans. She said,

So yeah he pulled his naked penis out next to us at least three times. That just makes my skin crawl.

…And because I guess we had moved he then got up after us and was carrying another full cup. I guess his intention was to pour it out in the toilet. Then as he was walking, he was obviously quite drunk by this point, he spilled a good amount of his urine onto the flight attendant at the end of the plane as well, because he tripped.

The woman complained to the airline and receive back a generic acknowledgment and – after attention focused on this incident – a gift basket.

The Australian Federal Police charged the man with acting in an offensive or disorderly manner affecting safety, under section 91.525(4) of the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998. He was fined AU$600 (US$395).

David Morgan, Chief Operational Integrity and Safety Officer at Air New Zealand, said the airline has a zero-tolerance policy towards such behavior, stating that it leads to passengers being banned unless there are exceptional circumstances. I struggle to think what the exception could be here.

[I]f behaviour like this were to happen on our aircraft, our normal process would be to call the local law enforcement agencies and do our own internal investigations. Unless there were exceptional circumstances, this sort of abhorrent behaviour would lead to the passenger being banned.

Should surrounding passengers receive compensation from the airline? The woman argues,

I understand and accept totally they can’t control passengers, but I do think that the crew should have noticed he was drinking. I do think that the crew should have not put us or subjected us to being police escorted off the plane.

Doesn’t she think it’s the crew here that should be compensated?

About Gary Leff

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 »

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Comments

  1. Maybe drunk passengers or those who have been drinking should be deplaned or not allowed on until they have sobered up. It certainly would help with overcrowding on the airplanes.

  2. No smoking. Yes to drinking.
    Drinking helps many calm down and actually be less hostile.
    This is a one off case and is not the norm.
    Yes, he should be banned, but beer/whisky/wine should not.

  3. Holly and her daughter are just another Karen that kid has seen more then that I bet. This is what happens when you are forced to sit in a seat after cabin pressure chat and your bladder is full.

  4. I was under the impression that only Americans displayed such crass behavior.
    Guess I was wrong!!

  5. I think if you had an AI program read this article and that image is what it came up with, the 9-5 crowd has nothing to worry about with their jobs being lost. I do not feel the urine/cup/mom/distressed daughter/FA/Air En Zed prompt would be a pretty weird image. Like the story.

  6. In the US, the might have sued under the ADA disability law.

    If there was an overly strict announcement about getting up, the man had no choice to go number 1. If he tried covering her weewee, he should not have been fined. He should have considered simply placing the cup on the tray table after he got up at the gate. How did he trip.

    If the flight attendant is so worried about urine, how can they deal with a real emergency, like a fire? Home health aides get stool and urine on themselves.

  7. At 15, some kids have had sexx by then, some for 3 years. With sexx, they not only see weewee but it is erect and big. Some even do oral sexx, which is insertion into mouth, so the teen should not be traumatized

  8. derek7 seriously…..

    You are making an excuse for a man to flash his junk in front of a 15 year old? You are making the assumption that she has already seen one? Regardless of whether she was a teen or adult, sexually active or not, NOBODY should be exposed to a strangers noodle in public. Not the teen, not the mom, not the other passengers, and not the flight attendant.

    I really cannot believe we have gotten to this point as a species.

  9. Why do I have a feeling the man was 1. Religious 2. Conservative 3. Closeted 4. All of the above

  10. Pro tip: To help prevent spills, please do not urinate in a cup. Instead, use the liquid-resistant complimentary air sickness bag conveniently located in your aircraft seat pocket.

  11. @Exit Row Seat: “I was under the impression that only Americans displayed such crass behavior.”

    Are you kidding me? The stories I could tell you about what I have seen in China…

  12. Derek, you sir are a creep, whether that girl has or hasn’t seen junk before isn’t the point here. I swear if some man did that in front of my daughter, he’d be missing some teeth. I’ve been smashed several occasions while on a plane, and I’ve not once done anything so sick or humanly unethical on a flight… Ever. People like this have serious mental problems, you might be one of them!

  13. Flight ban on frustrated passenger v. profitable alcohol sales. Almost always, the alcohol lobby prevails.

  14. Dumped it on the FA? Total click bait; your story states he was trying to dump in toilet tripped and spilled it on her. The FAs should get combat pay for dealing with this type of behavior and he should have to provide a formal public apology as part of his punishment.

  15. The airlines have *got* to stop selling alcohol onboard flights; the one indicated was from Auckland to Sydney (1345 miles / 2164 kilometers / 1169 nautical miles taking @3h 40m. Granted, it’s not like Brisbane to Sydney but it’s not a 12h international flight either. If a passenger can’t manage to go 3 1/2 hours without getting snockered, s/he needs AA. There’s “wants” a drink and then there’s “needs” a drink. And any person defending her child and/or herself from assault is NOT a Karen.

  16. The airlines have *got* to stop selling alcohol onboard flights; the one indicated was from Auckland to Sydney (1345 miles / 2164 kilometers / 1169 nautical miles taking @3h 40m. Granted, it’s not like Brisbane to Sydney but it’s not a 12h international flight either. If a passenger can’t manage to go 3 1/2 hours without getting snockered, s/he needs AA. There’s “wants” a drink and then there’s “needs” a drink. Additionally, any person defending her child and/or herself from assault is NOT a Karen.

  17. There have been occassions ( older-age related, not alcohol) where a visit to the lavatory simply cannot wait until in the terminal. If the plane has in fact come to a halt, crew will always allow you to use the lavatory, flipping the manual lock for you.
    After all, it is in their interests to not have a messy situation right at the end of a flight.
    Power-tripping FAs denying this simple courtesy are few and far between.
    In this particular instance the guy sounded too drunk to make a rational decision what he should do.
    The woman passenger had the right to complain, but to then go full-on Karen when they all were disembarking and going their separate ways seemes a poor judgement call.
    Unless of course she sensed a bit of compo for herself.

  18. Guess what? Airlines have been treating “passengers” as dirt for so long that they finally feel that they should act consistently with that treatment. I don’t condone what he did, but exactly what was he supposed to do? Pee in the aisle? Break rules and head to the lavatory, only to be accosted by flight attendants who would tell him forcefully to return to his seat? The airlines are reaping what they have sown.

  19. What if he is an old guy with urinary problems? They won’t let people up to go. Options are pee on himself or in a container. Yes the airsick bag would be a better choice.

  20. Headline is misleading. Makes it seem like he intentionally dumped it on FA when in reality he tripped on way to toilet and it spilled. Not great but very different than dumping urine on to FA intentionally.

  21. Count me amongst those who figure he did the best he could. In a container is better than in his pants. The fact that he did it makes it pretty clear he couldn’t hold it.

    And earlier reports I saw on this said they became aware of it from **hearing** the sound, implying he probably did it reasonably discreetly.

  22. The number of people in the comments trying to justify and/or excuse a grown man exposing himself in front of a MINOR is both vile and exceptionally concerning.

  23. Not quite what happened @Randy, so park your exceptional concern and feelings of vileness at the door.
    You were not present therefore it is no concern of yours. Right?
    I’m guessing that you’re something of a rosebud who floats through life on the lookout for things done by others to be ‘concerned’ or outraged about. Sad.

  24. While this guy was a dork frankly I am tired of being expected to hold it for 45 minutes just outside the gates waiting to park. Oh, your operations messed and ground crew aren’t ready? And I wasn’t drinking alcohol

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