'He instructed his daughter to kick my seat': Flight attendants share the most entitled behaviors they've ever witnessed on planes

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Mar 23, 2023 3:00 PM EDT

The stress of flying really seems to bring out the worst in people. If you're a flight attendant, you have to deal with stressed out and riled-up passengers every single day! 

As these flight attendants will tell you, flying seems to give people a license to act like toddlers — screaming, throwing tantrums, and demanding things. Although flight attendants are in charge of seating passengers in the right section, distributing drinks and snacks, and providing information during the flight… but there are also so many duties they shouldn't have to handle at all. Below, these hardworking employees discussed the worst airline passengers they've ever come across. From toddlers to the elderly, it seems no one is above yelling and acting entitled on an airplane when they don't get their way. 

Next up, this person wants to tell on their coworker after they witnessed an extreme haircut taking place in the workplace. 

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  • 01
    Air travel - 'The stewardess kindly informed him that he couldn't put his pizza in an overhead bin'
    via Alexander Schimmeck
  • 02
    Font - r/AskReddit. Posted by u/glittercorpse S Flight attendants, both past and present, what's the most entitled behaviour you've seen from a passenger?
    via u/glittercorpse
  • 03
    Font - Nonia_Bizness I once watched a very well-dressed businessman have an epic toddler- level tantrum at a check-in counter when he was advised his flight was delayed due to fog. He literally screamed and jumped up and down, and demanded that the the airline "better do something about it or ELSE!" The guy working behind the counter just smirked and suggested that business guy was welcome to go outside and try and flap the fog away with his arms. Entire queue burst out laughing.
    via u/Nonia_Bizness
  • 04
    Font - YacYacYac My girlfriend's mom is a flight attendant. One time a woman got quite angry because her daughter spilled apple juice all over and there was not a clothes dryer on the plane for her daughters sweater
    via u/YacYacYac
  • 05
    Font - NotWeird Throwaway Not an attendant but was on a flight with really bad turbulence. It went on for about 10 minutes then the old lady next to me reaches up and presses her button. Attendant walks over to see if the woman is okay, the woman begins to yell at the attendant for the rough flight and that she's been flying her whole life and clearly the pilot has no idea what he's doing. The stewardess just walked away.
    via u/NotWeirdThrowaway
  • 06
    Font - Kidgorgeoushere Not an attendant but once got stranded at Newark for 22 hours(!) after our flight had an unfixable fault and was cancelled late at night. We got put up in a hotel but understandably by the time the new flight rolled around (earliest they could fit in a new flight) everyone was quite tired and agitated. As we are waiting to board the new flight the flight attendant announces they would be boarding people with additional needs and families with young children first, followed
    via u/Kidgorgeoushere
  • 07
    Font - Anyway this business dude races to the front of the crowd and starts yelling at the attendant, saying it was already DISGUSTING that he had lost a day due to their INCOMPETENCE and now he had to WAIT even longer despite being a first class passenger and paying $$$$ every year to fly with them!! The worst part is he's looking at others in the crowd to back him up, like it's perfectly reasonable to scream at this woman who like us had also been stranded and had most likely had very little s
    via u/Kidgorgeoushere
  • 08
    Font - Literally every single person at the gate is looking at this guy with disgust as he tries to backtrack and say he doesn't mind waiting for the first group, but the attendant says no no you made yourself quite clear - let's get you boarded, the others will have to wait. He is humiliated as he sheepishly walks by. She handled it perfectly.
    via u/Kidgorgeoushere
  • 09
    Font - Constable BlimeyChips Not one specific passenger but a type of behavior I've unfortunately seen too much of: Couple will book separate seats, the man in a premium economy seat with extra leg room, the woman in a normal economy seat. The woman will then play the sad sack and ask another passenger to give up their comfy seat so they can sit together. If the other passenger refuses (usually because they paid extra and literally don't fit in a regular seat), some will even complain to the cre
    via u/ConstableBlimeyChips
  • 10
    Font - TexasTeacher Mid - 90s. There was this kid in customs (Toronto to Houston flight) who was going nuts. He driving people crazy in the departure area. On the flight, he had a full-sized metal Tonka truck that he was running up and down the aisle with. He smacked me on the head and nearly hit my MOm in front of me. I grabbed it before he could hit my very frail and on blood thinners Mom. I gave it to a crew member who refused to give it back to the family.
    via u/TexasTeacher
  • 11
    Font - The family refused to seat him, until it was announced that there would be no food or beverage service until the aisle was cleared. Another woman grabbed the kid and returned him to his family. They let him run loose again as soon as service was over. Finally, someone from the cockpit had to come back and tell the family we couldn't start the landing approach until the brat was in his seat. They put him in his seat - screaming bloody murder. As soon as decent started they let him up and h
    via u/TexasTeacher
  • 12
    Font - The family was so dense that when the captain ordered everyone to stay in their d seats and that only families with small children would be allowed to deplane at first - they smirked their way down the aisle. Mom walked with a cane, and the crush getting off was hard for her. Since we were home we just waited till the aisles were clear. When we got off, you could hear the kid screaming 1/2 way down the jetway. A police officer was holding him and the rest of the family (I'm guessing Mom,
    via u/TexasTeacher
  • 13
    Font - O Rikuddo Few years back, I had a 7 hours flight and a kid was sitting behind me who kept kicking the seat. I to decided just wait it, maybe he'll eventually stop. Nope. It went on for about hour until I couldn't take it anymore. 10 years of my regular flying, this was the first time I called and complained to an air hostess. She apologized to me and asked the family behind me up keep it down. They just stared at her and did nothing. The moment she went away, that little s thead started k
    via u/Rikuddo
  • 14
    Font - The father (I presume) said sorry and still nothing. Kid kept going on, so finally I called the flight attendant and asked her is there any other seat available because I "they are not listening or have any common decency", pointing to the family at back. She came back after few minutes and proceeded to take me to the first class. My very first experience in the luxury section. The worse thing is, she kept apologizing to me and I kept asking her to stop, that it was not her fault. It was
    via u/Rikuddo
  • 15
    Font - Imalawyerkid I was a kid flying out to Utah to start my teen tour. About halfway through the flight (departing out of NY) the captain got on the speaker to announce an engine had failed and we needed to make an emergency landing in Chicago. Needless to say, we got a little concerned. Except for one passenger, who stormed up to the flight attendant and explained she was a nanny and needed to get to Utah to attend to the children she took care of. I'm not exactly sure what she was hoping, t
    via u/Imalawyerkid
  • 16
    Font - Alas, there was no emergency jet pack to give this passenger to blast away from the plane to get to Utah on time, and she was told to sit down.
    via u/Imalawyerkid
  • 17
    Font - queenguac Not a flight attendant but fly a lot and I was on a plane where half the plane were ignoring the rules and stuff. When we touched down these people immediately got up walking around and started taking their bags out of the overheads. Mind you, the plane hasn't parked it's just literally touched the floor of the landing strip so its still moving and it's dangerous for half the people on the plane to be f king around and even worse taking all their heavy bags down above every one
    via u/queenguac
  • 18
    Font - shawnmk I'm a passenger, not a flight attendant, but it's a good story nonetheless. I was on a flight from NYC to PDX. Only empty seat was next to me, a middle seat. Bulkhead but the kind where there isn't a wall, just the first class seats in front of us. Door is about to close when a large sweaty man comes running onto the plane to claim the empty seat. He was carrying a full size pizza box...
    via u/shawnmk
  • 19
    Font - All overhead bins were already closed (and full) but that didn't stop him from proceeding to open them to find a place to stash his pizza. The stewardess kindly informed him that he couldn't put his pizza in an overhead bin. "But it'll get stepped on!" he gruffly informs her. She proceeded to tell him to take his seat and put the pizza in front of him. He told her that he flies with pizza all the time and has never been treated this way. He persisted but as their argument was getting pret
    via u/shawnmk
  • 20
    Font - The stewardesses have now started the safety video/demonstration and he pulls out a flip phone and proceeds to make a call. I can tell he's going through menus, so I'm thinking he's calling delta to complain. Nope, turns out to be his landline phone company. He had been late paying his bill and was trying to get them to waive the late fee. They wouldn't. He is arguing with them. Plane has pushed back from the gate and is headed toward the runway at this point.
    via u/shawnmk
  • 21
    Cheezburger Image 9746463488
    via u/shawnmk
  • 22
    Font - Next thing I know, I can tell we're pulling back into the gate. "Flight attendants prepare for arrival and cross check" message. Door opens. Cockpit door opens. Captain comes to our row. "Sir, I understand you were harassing my flight attendant. I need you to leave the plane now." The pizza man attempted to argue and even ask me and the other neighboring passenger if we had witnessed anything. Clearly the pilot wasn't budging on his decision so the guy got his pizza off the floor and left
    via u/shawnmk
  • 23
    Font - shawnmk Here's a pic of the pizza box:
    via u/shawnmk
  • 24
    Motor vehicle - Fasten seat belt while stal wwports located under carter Pizza man TAKNK Me WHIST
    via shawnmk
  • 25
    Font - Anaxamenes I had someone have a meltdown because I had to have them properly stow their wedding dress. The thing was massive and spilling into the aisle, blocking seats of the entire row. They may have had to pay the hotel to get the wrinkles out but I likely saved them from shoe prints and beverage cart rollers going back and forth over it. Still she was in tears and I was not going to risk others safety including my own.
    via u/Anaxamenes
  • 26
    Font - clocksailor I once flew from Chicago to Israel (very long flight with a stop in the middle) with a woman who didn't seem to understand that everyone around her was in the same situation she was in. She dropped a number of passive- aggressive gems over the course of our day together, but the worst one was right when we were being seated for the first leg. The plane was one of those 3X5X3 setups, with aisles on each side of the five-seat section, and this woman was seated in the middle of t
    via u/clocksailor
  • 27
    Font - ....wow, lady! You figured out why flying kind of sucks all by yourself! Now sit down and start pretending you're not here like the rest of us. Edit: it might have been 2x5x2? edit edit: I was not aware before I made this comment that knowing stats about commercial airline coach seating configuration was a hobby for people. This flight happened like 12 years ago. I'm sorry I don't remember for sure. Also I'm a woman.
    via u/clocksailor
  • 28
    Font - Imalawyerkid I'm 6' tall, with most of the length in my legs, and I fly a lot so I've run into a douche or 2. Almost every plane I get in, my knees are already touching the seat in front of me. If the person in front of me reclines, the only way for me to sit is to straighten out my legs and shoot them underneath the seat in front of me. I was probably 16 (still 6') and the guy in front of me couldn't have been more than 24. He reclines and his seat practically hits me in the chest. I cou
    via u/Imalawyerkid
  • 29
    Font - Great, thanks. Luckily my mom is the "pack everything you may need on a plane" mom, so I get an idea. I start eating pretzels with my mouth wide open and get crumbs all over his head and shoulders. He doesn't notice until the crumbs are bouncing off his shoulder crumbs and into his lap. It was gross. He turns around with a look of disgust and asks me to stop. I got great pleasure in tell him no and showing him the rest of the bag of pretzels I had to eat over him. He put the seat up.
    via u/Imalawyerkid
  • 30
    Font - akjs I saw something similar happen on a flight once. A guys chair was broken and he refused to put it back up. The guy behind him dipped the tips of his fingers in some water and fake sneezed on top of the guy. At the same time, he flicked the water from his fingers onto the guys sleeping face. The guy moved his seat up.
    via u/akjs
  • 31
    Font - 01 BigJoseph Roseph22 A few years ago I was on a flight with a little girl and her 2 parents behind me. About 10 mins after take off the little girl started kicking my seat and so I turned around and asked her to stop because it was rude. After she didn't listen I turned around to the parents but they were both on their phones when the dad looked at me and demanded to know why I was talking to his daughter I said she was kicking my seat and he yelled at me to turn around so u did. For the
    via u/BigJosephRoseph22
  • 32
    Font - powerandbulk Not a FA, but had the opportunity to help out a couple back in the day. A fellow passenger across the aisle pretty much thought he was flying private instead of being on a commercial carrier. Always pressing the overhead button and making demands...no "pleases"...not a "thank you", just a constant barrage of orders. The end came when he pressed the button and shouted, "Get me a drink now! I want a scotch with a splash of soda and not too much ice!" The FA was very accommodati
    via u/powerandbulk
  • 33
    Cheezburger Image 9746459136
    via u/powerandbulk
  • 34
    Font - unprofessional manner. "Sir, may I have your name so I can tell my father-in-law that you are going to make a formal complaint against members of the cabin crew?" Crickets...nay but a peep. The lead FA hands me back my picture and tells the guy if he touches the button again or even speaks to any of the FAs,the police will be waiting for him when we land. I called the father-in-law after we landed to fill him in, just in case. I found out much later that he pulled the passenger manifest a
    via u/powerandbulk

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