Man Opens Canned Tuna on a Flight—Passengers Say That’s A Crime

A passenger is being roasted for opening a can of tuna on a plane. Airline food doesn’t exist in coach on most flights, or it’s tiny, terrible, and often overpriced. It’s smart to pack your own, but don’t fumigate the cabin with your lunch.

The man cracking open a can of tuna onboard was caught on video. It wasn’t a sandwich or a tuna salad. It was the full tin on the tray table. Reactions include,

  • “Canned tuna on a plane has to be one of the worst crimes against humanity.”
  • “Immediate no-fly list.”
  • “Call Interpol, The Hague, somebody.”
  • “We are all damaged now.”

Is it illegal? No. Should it be? Maybe. Eat whatever you want at home. On a plane, stick to foods that don’t make teh rest of the cabin reevaluate their life choices.

@allyjaksen @Bumble Bee Seafoods ♬ oh my god bruh oh hell na man

What strikes me as odd here, too, is that you can generally bring a sealed can of tuna through security (although if it’s packed in enough water, you could run into liquid ban issues if TSA decides to test the contents). You can’t bring an open can through – that’s a sharp weapon. But, oddly, you can open the can once you clear security. Go figure.

And there are many worse foods for inflight than tuna. On a frequent flyer charter trip a decade ago with American Airlines (the ‘oneworld MegaDO’) the airline had highlighted its then-new international business class meal service, providing it to everyone on the aircraft. That service simply took too long flying Dallas to Seattle, when everyone wanted to be up in the aisles. So we had catering removed from the aircraft before our Seattle to Los Angeles flight.

There were packaged snacks for everyone at the gate, but with the delay and drinks on the ground we needed food. We drank the plane dry during the delay and we raided the nearby aircraft. A tug was sent to the edge of the airport to go get more.

I went into the terminal in search of food. Restaurants were closing. A Chinese place was still opened but that seemed like a… bad idea.

First class got personal pizzas while I bribed the bagel shop to give us all their sandwiches (which meant they’d need to stay late to prep for the next day). That turned out to be a lot better than handing out Chinese food to a full economy cabin on a Boeing 757. I think that would have been much worse than a can of tuna!

The scene at the Seattle airport bagel place went something like Woody Allen feeding the revolutionary army in Bananas.

Worse still, though, is the trend of airports adding Chili restaurants. There’s one food that should never be served at an airport, before passengers get inside a metal tube where their stomachs will be subject to the vagaries of air pressure. It seems so blaringly obvious.

About a decade ago Washington’s National airport opened a Ben’s Chili Bowl. And the idea spread from there.

Ben’s Chili Bowl is a DC institution. It’s been around for over 60 years, hosted civil rights leaders in the 1960s, and President Obama ate there the month he took the oath of office as President in 2009. The Pelican Brief and State of Play had scenes filmed there. It’s a tourist destination. But it’s not actually very good.

Passing gas on a plane is something that happens on most every flight, every day, because changes in air pressure cause the body to produce more gas.

  • An average person does this 10 times a day anyway. Now multiply that out across a full widebody on a long haul flight and that’s without factoring in changes in altitude. The cause of the odor is sulfur.
  • The problem inflight is worse in cabins with leather seats (which traditionally meant first class). Most fabric seat covers are more absorbent.
  • Beans may be good for your heart, but you shouldn’t eat them before flying or on a plane. Avoid fried foods, cabbage, broccoli and brussels sprouts.

Whatever you bring on board, please be mindful of your fellow passengers. At the same time I do sort of almost respect this.

(HT: Paul H)

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. Good for the passenger with the can of tuna (I think it is tuna salad). A few flights ago I made three tuna salad sandwiches for a flight. They were good. With all of the people hacking up a lung, culturing foot fungus, farting and being unkempt, some tuna salad isn’t even close to being the worst thing on an airplane. I should bring some durian sometime and swallow the evidence before I am in trouble.

  2. Flights out of Central America used to be flying fried chicken takeouts. Passengers would come aboard with boxes of chicken from Pollo Campero. A regional chain that has a delicious marinated chicken that had an odor all its own.

  3. Frequent flyers on American Airlines or Delta Air Lines often find themselves surrounded by fellow passengers enjoying gas-producing foods that can lead to unpleasant odors, such as flatulence, rotting fish, or even the smell of unwashed laundry wafting from the aircraft’s air vents. However, travelers no longer have to endure this boorish behavior—characterized by crude, insensitive, and thoughtless conduct that disregards the comfort of others. Costco has a delightful solution: a five-pack of FART NINJAS from Funrise Toys, available for just $15.99. These quirky characters are expertly trained in “gassassination” and possess a unique skill set in the art of martial farts, promising to add a touch of humor to your flights. Pro-tip: Fart Ninjas can even help you find some much-needed space in crowded airline frequent flyer lounges. Check out the video for more fun!
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  4. Fake outrage. Tuna is not offensive. It doesn’t smell. There are much worse things that people eat or do on planes that are much more offensive to the nose.

  5. Pretty sure that I have gotten a buy on board snack box with a small can of tuna at some point. It had a foil top rather than a rigid metal one and was smaller than a standard can. Might have been part of a protein pack.

  6. “You can’t bring an open can through – that’s a sharp weapon.” – Actually, opening a tin can of tuna results in separating a sharp top from the rest of the tin that is not sharp. This could be one reason from preventing open or unopen tin cans of any food on the plane. But nowadays, tuna can be purchased in glass jars – easy to inspect by TSA.

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