Mail Rubent went online to put United Airlines on blast, saying that a pilot called them “the R word” on their flight.
I cannot believe this @united I was called the R word on my most recent flight by THE PILOT no less. Shame!
— Mail_Rubent (@mail_rubent) April 17, 2026
United Airlines was, naturally, concerned. But what would ‘the r-word’ even be? (I’ve at least come up with a guess.) Except, no, it never happened. But pleast give me miles as compensation.
Yeah I lied sorry can I have points please
— Mail_Rubent (@mail_rubent) April 17, 2026
There’s actually a long-standing social meme of baiting the brand account and admitting whatever you’re complaining about was fake. With airlines, this involves then asking for points.
Maybe the most famous example of his came in 2017 when someone sent Southwest a fake complaint about a rude flight attendant and generated significant details about the whole thing, then saying they took a photo of the flight attendant to aid in the investigation – dropping a picture of flight attendant Britney Spears. Southwest got it. And just shrugged, “oops, she did it again.”
Sometimes the fake complaints aren’t just a bit. One traveler reported they “racked up $1700 in flight vouchers and $1000 in miles” by repeatedly complaining.
To be clear, I never claimed false damages, lost baggage, unused tickets, anything like that. I complained a lot about delays because I was pissed and they made me miss a wedding. Was I petty? Yes.
I racked up $1700 in flight vouchers and $1000 in miles because they kept giving them as I was calling annoyed.
Now they closed my account and said im allowed to fly but without a status account, and that my profile is “flagged”
Did I break the law??? Or did I just piss the airline off. I dont want to get into legal trouble. Im in the US btw.
There are plenty of frivolous complaints out there, or demands for compensation well outside . Aero Dili publicly accused Cahill of demanding a free flight, hotel, per diem, and $50,000 cash for a positive review.
And then there was the woman who demanded compensation when British Airways failed to serve her a second meal because crew were providing CPR to try to save the life of another passenger that eventually died on her flight.
Complaining too much can get you banned and even tied up in litigation all the way to the Supreme Court, as in Northwest v. Ginsberg where the passenger complained 24 times in seven months and received $1,925 in travel vouchers, 78,500 bonus miles, and $491 cash before their account was shut down. It wasn’t that any of their complaints were necessarily even baseless. That was just not a profitable customer.
Then there was the character who posted at FlyerTalk.com and was banned from the forum many years ago used to share tales of intentionally damaging the inflight entertainment system at his seat in order to claim compensation. He told the tale to impress people, but everyone looked on in horror.
JetBlue was at least smart enough not to respond to a post “claiming it had failed to deliver a promised free flight to Italy” after they cancelled her flight, since of course JetBlue does not fly to Italy.
In the disability community, the “r-word” is “re**rded.”
How dare that person get called a Republican!
@Raphael Solomon a lot of folks are brining that word back. Not as a slur on folks with intellectual disability, but as a social commentary. Not saying that is acceptable or not, but that word has made a comeback of late.
Ban whiny passengers like OMAAT banned Tim Dunn.
@Gary Leff — You should know better. @Mike Hunt call me the r-word regularly on here.
@1991 — Bah!
@Larry — What’r you talking about? I’ve seen Tim on there recently and all the time. Since when did Ben ban anyone?
The people behind this or behind the bot are in fact the “r” word.
@1990 @1991 If the shoe fits, wear it. (Or have mommy put it on for you)
@ANAL — Yo mama.
@ANAL
Yo papa.
When I call 1990 retarded, because he is, everybody knows that I’m not saying he has a disability. I’m saying he’s a blithering idiot, with the nuanced political arguments of a teenager.
Using the term “R-word” is stupid. Those with disabilities that would be considered retarded are not offended, they don’t have any concept of being offended. So if you’re offended, it’s because you want victimhood points for being offended on behalf of somebody else, or you’re just retarded.
@Mantis — Dr. Toboggan… *gasp* (good morning over there in Asia!)
The nutcases should sue Airbus because their throttle system says “RETARD RETARD” (a VERB!) at the moment the flare should be initiated. Retard as a NOUN could be offensive. I will agree that the “N” word is offensive. When I was growing up, I heard it a lot from those who were both liberals and conservatives. Even in today’s politically correct environment, I hear people of color use the “N” word a lot when speaking to others of color! I hear that a lot more of that than I hear “cracker” or “whitey” referring to caucasians. “Bad for thee but not for me!”
Jim Gaffigan uses the phrase “Hot Pockets” in some of his routines. In cases against a company with complaints similar to this, one might consider “Deep Pockets”. Just some moron trying to get something for nothing.
Lifetime ban would be appropriate.
@Wally Zabin — “I will agree that the “N” word is offensive.” *slow clap*
@Win Whitmire — Said in Jim’s voice: “Deeeep Pohhhketsss!”