In the coach cabin of an American Airlines Boeing 777, a passenger animates a call‑and‑response gospel, multiple rows join in, and clapping spreads. Another passenger happens to have a tamborine?! They whip it out and lock in the groove, while an older white‑haired woman claps along off beat, but even she quickly gets it too while a nearby passenger nods along while dozing. It’s a praise‑break – short, ecstatic, and participatory.
It looks from the timestamps that this happened back in June but I didn’t see it written up anywhere. Commenters online are better than 90% positive, though a few folks are offending by the Christianity. Reaction though was far more positive than when Grammy-nominated Bobbi Storm was asked by Delta crew to stop. My favorite reactions,
- “Anointed Wings” as a fictional airline name (“…with God in the cockpit!”).
A tambourine‑holster carry‑on idea (“…planes would stop falling”).
“Grandma ended racism when she started clapping!”
I’m surprised someone happened to have a tambourine, but of course musical instruments are permitted in carry‑on if they fit and pass screening.
And sometimes it just works, but if you try this at home (err.. onboard) take your cue from other passengers and from crew. Remember that you don’t have first amendment rights (those protect you from the government, not from government-subsidized and protected airlines). You’re subject to the carrier’s contract of carriage and FAA rules that offer significant deference to crew judgment. And 14 CFR 121.580 (crew interference) and 49 U.S.C. §46504 (criminal interference) are going to weigh against you if asked to stop and you don’t.
I love the passenger solidarity here. They’re in a 3‑4‑3 configured Boeing 777. That’s ubiquitous but it is tight. Communal moments like these can be as much coping as celebration. Still, I don’t always like spontaneous musical performances in the cabin like this ear ache. Much worse are the planned ones, like the Guitar Center ukelele lessons mid-air on Southwest Airlines.
Maybe I just really needed the performance today, after the UPS crash? I haven’t written about it. It’s dramatic, and terrible, and I have theories but I haven’t wanted to say anything. I’m glad this video put a smile on my face.
Horrible.
This is why I only fly biz or first. Don’t have to sit in the back with the proles.
“It’s a praise‑break – short, ecstatic, and participatory.” Nope.
“It’s a praise‑break – short, ecstatic, and incredibly annoying.” Fixed it for ya.
This looks like misbehaving on an aircraft. Evangelizing on-board is not cool.
Gary, the ‘good’ news today, November 5, 2025, is that the people are rejecting #47.
Well done, NYC, NJ, VA, PA, CA, and voters nearly everywhere.
“Hope is alive.”
This is why God and Amar Bose invented noise-canceling headphones.
And, Gary, if you’re gonna talk about UPS 5X2976 (which you like secretively ‘threw in’ at the end of this post), then please do a dedicated post, like Ben did this morning. (We’ve likely all seen the horror, and it is really, really bad.) As with any of these incidents, all tragic, we must be patient, allow the professionals will investigate. Yet, it’s natural that people are gonna speculate, and we can do so respectfully, here or elsewhere.
I’ll say, on that topic, catastrophic failures tend to happen right after human error; so, investigators will probably look to whether that engine had just come out of maintenance; thank goodness it was not a passenger aircraft, like AA191, and that their path was not over populated areas. Still, that footage with the trucks in the foreground is almost too vivid. I’d imagine these brave pilots fought it to the bitter end, even though, not much they could really do. We will learn something, and hopefully save lives in the future. Gotta keep going.
@1990 – I thought hard about this. I decided not to write about the UPS tragedy. I just didn’t think I had useful perspective to add beyond what’s been shared elsewhere. There are times like the DCA-ICT tragedy where it felt personal plus it is commercial aviation. But here I am without words, without value add, and it felt somehow more gratuitous. That’s just how it sat with me.
I mentioned it at the end of this post because it was emotional for me, and and I think it’s why this video that I wrote about inspired me. It was the uplift that I needed, so I offered it up a bit from the heart. Take that for what you will.
Oh, and let’s also clear: This was in Texas… If they weren’t white Christians singing, this post (and reactions to it) woulda been wildly different. Imagine, a few imams leading a prayer, or mere Buddhists monks meditating with their orange garb, or a few Sikhs raising their Kirpans, or… need I go on? Even a group of rabbis with the lulav palms would’ve scared them. C’mon, folks…
@1990
Keep coping, blues states voting for blue morons doesn’t mean what you think it does.
We’ll see what happens when the scotus finally stop racial gerrymandering that Democrats rely on to cheat.
This is so annoying lol. Why do this on a plane? Worse than a crying baby
I wouldn’t have appreciated this, which I think is obnoxious and without adequate self-awareness or respect for others.
@Walter Barry — Oh, you didn’t see it, did you… Democrats in Georgia flipped two statewide seats for public service commissioners by double digits. Mississippi broke the Republican supermajority in the state senate… yeah, it’s just the beginning.
When in a public venue, I prefer not to be bothered by anyone that is fat loud and stupid. These annoying xtians have all the fore-mentioned descriptors.
Sit down, shut up, and tell your imaginary friend cheezus to do the same. This is more annoying and disrespectful than the idiot taking a call on ear buds.
Who knew that Gary Leff was a god botherer?
Imagine if you will if a group of Muslims had broken out in song on a flight, praising Allah. Bible thumping islamophobes would have had the plane out down claiming a security threat.
Again, you are entitled to your religious beliefs, but if you don’t want to hear about religions that don’t worship the diety called Jesus I’m pretty sure they’re not interested in your beliefs either.
@Gary Leff — It’s your blog; I respect your editorial choices; and, wish you and everyone comfort in difficult times like the aftermath of such a tragedy; I’d only hope we can learn more and ideally avoid such horrors again.
Completely offensive. Could you imagine if a bunch of Muslims did this? They’d turn the plane around and arrest them all.
@Parker
That because muslims are responsible for the worst terrorist attacks in the world. Christians don’t behead people or fly airplanes into buildings. That’s just a tuesday in the land of islam.
@1990
Trump is still president,
ICE is still deporting,
and the Scotus is still dismantiling your agenda every summer.
deal with it.
Religious bullying on the airplane! Just a reminder to intolerant Christian zealots who insist on imposing their beliefs on the rest of us; despite your bigotry and intolerance we are not a Christian theocracy and will resist your efforts to make our country one. You are nothing but the Taliban of America!
Cringe…
Good lord. If this happened on a flight I was on, I’d be complaining to the FAs right way. How disrespectful and disruptive to your fellow passengers.
Quiet cabin policy.
Just what everyone wants … religion forced on them. As others have said, let’s see how positive the comments are if its a group of Muslims. Everyone should just keep their religion to themselves on a plane.
@Walter Barry — Your bosses at the GRU must have grilled you hard for losing last night.
As to organized religion, I tolerate others and uphold the 1st Amendment, which includes that personal freedom to practice their faith, lest they harm others. However, forcing their religion on others in a confined space like a commercial aircraft is disruptive. Also, let’s be clear, many religious extremists have done harm, historically; have you forgotten Christian’s ‘deeds’ during the Crusades, the Inquisition, various Pogroms, etc.
As to the President, yes, you bet, #47 is still there, violating the law, daily, and some day, hopefully soon, he will be held to account; I’d also argue that this partisan Court has also violated the law; it will take real effort to remedy. We, the people, will ‘deal with it,’ all of it, as long as it takes; just getting started.
@Walter Barry
Correct. It boggles my mind that blue state tards keep voting for the same demonic policies and unbridled corruption…. the brainwashing is strong in those ones.
@1990 While I’m not in favor of this type of evangelizing, however, singing praise seems to me to be a much better way than flying airplanes into the buildings of the Infidels to spread the Hadith.
As I listened to the tambourine and singing in the cabin of an in-flight American Airlines Boeing 777, I initially thought the Hare Krishnas were sharing their message of love, as promoted by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Many passengers would believe on-board gospel singing is appropriate, particularly in light of the recent lovefest partnership between Citi and American Airlines, which launched their new AAdvantage Globe Mastercard. This mid-tier card offers status-friendly perks, Admirals Club lounge passes (which are usually not accepted due to overcrowding), and a 90,000-AAdvantage mile welcome bonus.
@Ken A is too good! Someone send me a referral link!
@1990 – this seems like a tailor made @Matt post, been a while
@L737 — One can dream… @Matt, please consider… posting here!
I’m happy to longer see Hare Krisnas proselytizing at airports. I find this kind of activity quite wrong. Keep your religion to yourself. But, unlike a poster who would have complained to a FA, I wouldn’t. It was too late. I would more likely mention in passing that I hoped that doesn’t happen again. Point made.
@1990
On Mamdani:
Imagine for a moment you own a small piece an old, well-established, family-owned business.
Your long-lost ancestors started this company a few centuries ago, and subsequent generations built it into a global powerhouse— we’re talking $100 billion in annual revenue and hundreds of thousands of employees.
Hundreds of years later, the family business is well past its peak and is in decline.
And at this point the ownership is in the hands of thousands of descendants of the original owners. But even with all of those different perspectives, everyone agrees that something needs to change.
The various stakeholders still believe in the company, still believe that the brand can be restored to its former glory. But it’s definitely time for new leadership.
So the company starts a search to recruit a CEO. Your fingers are crossed that they find a highly experienced turnaround specialist who knows how to restore fallen stars.
Yet, to your utter bewilderment, the executive candidate that most of your fellow stakeholders support is someone who has absolutely no business experience… someone who has never managed a single employee.
In fact, he’s never even had a real job! He’s never run a budget, let alone a large organization’s, he can barely manage his own finances, and to make matters worse, he actively hates business.
Why would anyone support such a candidate for the company’s top job?
Well he’s a fairly well-spoken, charismatic guy (not unlike Hitler). He has a winning smile. He checks a bunch of diversity boxes.
He also offers some ideas that really excite your fellow stakeholders— even though none of his ideas actually survive scrutiny. His ideas remind you of the election for your high school class president where one of the candidates promised to put Coca-Cola in the water fountains…
You’ve been around business long enough to know ideas are pretty worthless.
Execution is what matters. But you find yourself in the minority… and the other stakeholders end up choosing this inexperienced neophyte to lead the company.
This is what NYC did yesterday in electing Zohran Mamdani. And it’s really hard for any rational person to expect a positive outcome.
It’s easy to lament the election of a card carrying Socialist. But if we’re being intellectually honest, we can acknowledge that a lot of people are suffering.
They’re struggling more than they used to—and they don’t understand why.
Voters don’t understand how years of mismanagement and waste at the city level have led to a significant decline in municipal services. Crime rates are up, and even the basics like garbage collection or the city’s rat infestation just continue to get worse.
Nor do voters understand how idiotic state policies have driven productive people and businesses away from New York state to friendlier jurisdictions like Florida, resulting in a hollowing out of the tax base (and hence reduction in services).
They also don’t understand how the blowout of federal spending—starting especially with the pandemic—has resulted in higher levels of inflation.
And they definitely don’t understand the vagaries of monetary policy, and how the Federal Reserve’s mistakes have fueled the inflation problem.
Most voters don’t understand any of these things. (Neither does Mamdani.) They only know that they’re falling further behind, and they want change.
Well, change they got. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be a good change.
Ironically, one of the other things voters don’t understand is Socialism.
These days, most people who like the idea of socialism skew younger—too young to remember the Soviet Union.
When they think of Socialism, they think Norway. They think it’s possible to have free healthcare, free education, robust pensions and retirement, social safety nets, low unemployment, and a strong economy all at the same time.
The reality is far different.
Scandinavia has achieved certain success in its public welfare programs because, at least until recently, they were high-trust societies with relatively low corruption and high levels of competence in government administration.
A better example of Socialism is Venezuela—a very low-trust society where you have inexperienced, corrupt, incompetent people who regulate every aspect of the economy.
The end result has been everything from widespread starvation to an endless economic depression.
With the election of Mamdani, the ingredients look a lot more like Venezuela— incompetence, inexperience, high-regulation, etc.
Yet people very naively are expecting a result that looks like Scandinavia. In other words they think they can have Venezuelan inputs and Norwegian output.
Good luck with that.
The lunacy of some of Mamdani’s specific policies is monumental and he won’t be able to achieve them.
Also, Scandinavian public welfare systems are eroding thanks to multiculturalism.
High-trust societies require shared values and social cohesion—and New York City doesn’t have any of that.
Here’s the biggest thing that voters are missing. One of the biggest problems in the US is that it has terrible leaders. You only need to look at AOC, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Jasmine Crockett—complete buffoons—and wonder: how do they get elected year after year?
Voters are completely naive. And it’s hard to imagine the US fixing its problems if voters continue sending incompetent, destructive politicians to represent them.
@Walter Barry you need to do a little research on the history of Christianity and the wars, raping and pillaging that have been undertaken in its name.
It’s really cute how you attempt to lie and misrepresent other religions when you know it to be wrong, and if you don’t know it’s wrong you’re just being ignorant and hateful.
Doesn’t seem like a very Christian value to hate. But then, most of what people like you do in the name of Christianity is most certainly unchristian.
No way I want an impromptu jam session on my flight.
That would be incredibly offensive to me. First we have sub par Airlines who deserve to be out of business. Aircrew who are worthless, food that is trash. Some of us like silence and in what is basically a sardine can this would not be appreciated.
If a passenger yells they can be removed. Why is this tolerated?
@J Dombrowski — Pal, save yourself the trouble, and just say you’re a Republican; the election was yesterday. It’s over. Y’all lost. Get ready for the midterms. Maybe try delivering for your constituents. Serve the people, for once. Actually address affordability. Stop supporting corruption; start with the White House. Sheesh.
Gosh. Many sore heads. I am Muslim. Gary is Jewish. We are both more than fine with this. It’s.all God’s work.
@Jack the ladd — Ok, please do start singing Islamic prayers on a US domestic flight, deep in the heart Texas, so we can do a case study. After all, Texans are known for their tolerance of others. I think this will go very well for you. And most certainly will not become an incident, to be later reported on at VFTW…
@J. Dombrowski. Well Said Sir.
J Dombrowski, yours is the best comment I have read on this site in a long time. Everything you said is absolutely spot-on. Unfortunately the intended audience will never see or understand that your comments are directed at THEM. I live in a blue state and deal with this idiocy on the daily.
@Walter Barry
“That because Muslims”
Guess you were high on holy water when Jim Jones at Jonestown took place.