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Most of us board a plane hoping for nothing more than a decent nap and a snack, but sometimes, you end up with front-row seats to real-life drama.
When a Reddit thread asked people to share the craziest things they’d ever witnessed on a flight, the answers came flooding in — nearly 2,000 comments in a single day.
A passenger said they found themselves in the middle of a prayer circle while a cat screamed and people puked when their plane hit turbulence. Another traveler recalled how a woman had a severe panic attack, and an on-board hypnotist stepped in to help. We have gathered the most chaotic mid-air experiences from the thread that might make you rethink your next trip — or at least appreciate a quiet flight.
So, buckle up. It is going to be a bumpy ride.
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#1
Might've been me. I was flying home after 3 months being away, working 16+ hour days, sometimes 3 weeks in a row before a day off (setting up a call center), and the kid behind me wouldn't sit down. Was standing in his seat jumping up and down. The flight attendant kept telling his mom that they couldn't take off until the kid was seated and buckled. Mom kept responding with "Well, he just won't and I can't force him..."
By this point the whole flight was boarded, the pilot had made the announcement about everyone needing to be buckled, mom was still waffling, and I kinda snapped. I unbuckled, stood up, turned around and said "SIT. DOWN."
Kid dropped like a rock, mom buckled him in and we finally got to go home. I'm normally a live-and-let-live person, but that was just too much.
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#2
Whilst in India, I asked a local chemist if he could give me something that might make my 10 hour flight home more enjoyable, I said I’d like to be completely out of it for the duration. What I really meant is I’d like to be asleep however my choice of words were perhaps poor and badly translated. He gave me a small tablet to take one hour before the flight which I did. For the next 16 hours, I had the most intense hallucinogenic trip I have ever encountered in my entire life.
#3
I was on a flight from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, and we hit terrible turbulence, like the worst I’ve ever been through and I have flown a lot. Someone had a pet cat sat behind me that started screaming and wouldn’t stop, and then this young guy in front of me started violently throwing up into a barf bag which made another woman start to puke, too.
At that point I learned I was seated in a circle of a Black Baptist choir and I was all of a sudden in a prayer huddle with these complete strangers holding hands while someone was hanging onto the shoulders of the puking guy and the cat was screaming.
Was a hell of a ride. Had to have another prayer when we landed, too, but I really just wanted a drink.
Upstaged75 5 hours ago
Poor cat. I would never fly with one unless there was absolutely no other option!
Stick almost 100 strangers in a metal tube, 35,000 feet in the air, with no way out, and human behavior starts to get interesting.
The numbers back this up. Unruly passenger behavior doubled in 2024 in the US compared to pre-pandemic times.
Even worse, severe mid-air outbursts, including crude behavior and physical assaults, skyrocketed by 400% by 2025.
There is now one unruly incident for every 395 flights globally, and that’s only counting what gets reported.
#4
I used to fly as a solo child often and talked a lot as a kid.
One time an old man who I’d been talking at for some time during the flight gently put his hand on my forearm and calmly said to me,
“If you don’t stop talking right now I’m gonna take you into that bathroom over there and beat the hell out of you.”
I did the mouth zip, lock and throw away the key move and that was that.
Genuinely, it’s one of the funniest things that’s ever happened to me. Who ever that now probably old man in the 90’s was is kind of my hero at this point of my life.
Upstaged75 5 hours ago (edited)
I think threatening violence is a little extreme, but I totally understand the guy's pain - I have an 11 year old boy. 😂 When I get overwhelmed by the noise I'll ask him to take a "talking time out".
#5
Dumbest:
Just two weeks ago, someone decided to repeatedly smoke in the lavatory nearest to me. No smoke detector went off, but the smell was distinct and downright pungent in the specific lavatory. It was on AirChina, and if you weren't aware most long-haul Chinese-operated flights have on-board security wearing a body cam. He was called back and brought the garbage to the galley and recovered the butts for evidence. For the remainder of the flight they made hourly announcements that smoking is forbidden.
Scariest:
We just left the gate and a toddler was teething on the free airline headphones when the silicone seal came off and blocked her airway. The parents were frantically trying to help and we all watched her slowly fade to a grey/blue color while we were lined up for takeoff. The pilot expedited back to the nearest gate and a doctor a few rows away held her upside down by her feet and started beating her with his wrist between her shoulder blades. They got her and her parents off the plane and the pilot informed us shortly before takeoff that she was responsive again.
It all happened so quickly, but it felt like a lifetime. I can't express how professional the flight attendants, pilots, and the doctor on board handled the situation. I can't forget the mother sobbing, the color the girl turned, how limp the girl was, and how useless I felt in that moment. Part of me felt the pilot just lied to us to take the edge off, but I searched the local news and there was no story, so I imagine she did make a recovery. Five stars to Turkish Airlines!
#6
Flying back to London from SFO on one of the first flights available after 9/11 shut down international flights. Quite somber mood but almost everyone was a Brit returning home. Many of us had been forced to extend our stays when they closed the airspace.
I was in an aisle seat with my partner next to me. Uneventful flight, but a rugby team had been allocated seats up and down the plane. The chap in front of me was quite large, reclined and fast asleep for the last hour or so.
This was as we approached the UK coast. One of his teammates crouched down beside me and put his finger to his lips with a smile. Two others had moved close to him from the opposite direction.
On cue they grabbed his seat and started to move it violently backwards and forwards while screaming.
The poor guy woke up thinking he was about to pass away and screamed his head off as the rest of the team collapsed in laughter.
Obviously the crew didn’t think it was that funny but did smile while reading them the riot act.
It did break the tension on the flight. Huge cheers when we landed of course.
Upstaged75 4 hours ago
I not sure I would have goofed around on a plane immediately after 9/11. Seems like a good way to get on a no-fly list. 😂
Experts point to a mix of factors behind this unhinged behavior.
Physical discomfort, such as someone encroaching on your personal space, is the leading trigger of anger among passengers.
Throw in cramped seats, high-density cabins, and a crying baby two rows back, and you have the perfect conditions for things to go sideways.
Emotional triggers such as flight delays and long security lines can also escalate minor frustrations.
#7
Use the bathroom in bare feet on 12+ hour flights, I’ve actually seen this many times and it just baffles me.
#8
A person sits down, falls asleep before we even taxi out and sleeps without any movement for whole 11.5hr flight. And even then has to be woken up by the staff once the plane lands. It was this small Japanese lady in front row of economy class.
#9
I once had people sitting to my left and to my right who were not using my armrests when i had the middle seat. That was a crazy new experience.
According to Professor Jeffrey Price, an aviation expert at Metropolitan State University of Denver, alcohol is a leading driver of unruly passenger behavior.
“Some airlines have attempted to mitigate this behavior by restricting the number of drinks served on the aircraft, but the response by the passengers to those policies is to drink more before they get on the plane. Some even smuggle their own alcohol on board.”
Research shows that the cabins are pressurized to an equivalent altitude of some 10,000 feet, increasing the effects of alcohol.
#10
Nighttime connecting flight from Charlotte to Newark. Ice conditions in Charlotte and we kept getting delayed boarding. People started bailing and booking for the next day, I heard one of the gate agents say they needed the crew and the plane in Newark so I took a chance and waited. We board at 11pm with 3 passengers on the plane. Crew says sit up anywhere in First, but this one guy refuses. He wants to get his assigned seat in Coach... in row 20 something. Starts screaming at the flight attendant. Pilot comes back and tries to settle the guy, but he's having none of it. We hadn't pushed back from the gate - so they open the door and the guy just walks down the jetway. Luckily didn't have to wait for the cops to come (pre 9/11). So 2 of us flew to Newark in First (after getting de-iced twice) at some point after midnight.
Upstaged75 4 hours ago
I wonder if he was autistic or had OCD? The change seems to have freaked him out.
#11
A woman had a proper panic attack about flying. The cabin crew moved her to the front, 2 seats from me. They couldn’t calm her down so they asked if anyone on the plane could help. A man stood up and said he was a hypnotist so they sat him next to me and he tried to put her in a trance. I sat there for an hour next to a man continuously whispering into the ear of a sobbing woman. It was very odd!
#12
Not quite crazy, but endearing.
On a flight from Singapore to Sydney there was a whole class of like 3rd grade pupils, who after the inflight meal all lined up at the nearest loo to brush their teeth. This was an A380 so luckily enough to choose from lol.
Modern airplanes reflect the divisions of our broader society as well.
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the presence of a first-class cabin is directly associated with more frequent air rage incidents in economy.
When economy passengers are forced to board through the first-class section, the odds of an incident increase further in both cabins.
#13
A man walked into the plane with a full grown African parrot on his shoulder.
An emotional support parrot.
Upstaged75 4 hours ago
How is that allowed? Unless the bird was wearing a diaper how do you keep it from defecating everywhere?
#14
A guy behind my wife and I was so drunk he pissed himself twice ...then passed out ...then when the flight attendants woke him up before we started our descent so that he could buckle in, he kept trying to get up. They yelled at him to sit down. He eventually got up, whipped it out, and started peeing in his row. Luckily we had moved to different open seats.
#15
Coming back to the states from Iceland a lady in the row in front of us was wearing several layers because it was January. As soon as we took off she started shedding clothes until she was in biker shorts and a sports bra. She then proceeds to doing yoga in her seat and in the aisle of the plane the entire way until we landed.
And here’s the part that puts it all in perspective: only about 20% of the world’s population has ever set foot on a plane.
In any given year, just 3% to 5% fly internationally. Only 5% to 10% of the world’s population flies at all in a given year.
For such a small number, the volume of chaos in the skies is remarkable.
#16
The lady I was sitting beside stood up during boarding and yelled at another passenger for their crying baby.
It was a 3am flight and this babies screaming was going on for long enough for the lady sitting beside me to stand up, turn around and yell
“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOUR CHILD? HONESTLY, IF YOU CAN’T CONTROL YOUR FREAKING KID, DON’T BRING IT ON A PLANE AT 3 IN THE FREAKING MORNING”
Then the baby shortly after stopped crying and I fell asleep.
#17
Opened a crate of chickens that were in the aisle. Remote Nepal back in the 1980s. No idea of they got all the chickens back.
#18
Once watched a guy try to open the emergency exit because he thought it was the bathroom. Flight attendants were… not amused.
The digital era also plays a massive role in why we see so many of these incidents. Today, it takes only a few seconds for a dramatic story, video, or photo to go viral and reach millions of people worldwide.
“People want to share the experiences as a way to highlight the extent of bad behavior — similar to young children acting out in frustration — almost as a shaming mechanism. I suppose viewers are fascinated by the inability of some adults to control their emotions,” says UT Dallas sociology professor Sheryl Skaggs.
“When there seem to be few repercussions for the poor behavior, there is some satisfaction with bringing this to the public eye.”
#19
Twice I've seen stupid.
1 - A dude decided at 35,000 feet he wanted to leave the plane so tried to open an emergency exit. Passengers held him down until we landed.
2-A couple broke up a few rows in front of me. She spent the entire NYC to London flight yelling at him while crying and yelling and telling anyone to ask her to quite to STFU and she is going to do what she wants. That was a miserable flight. We got to see cops come on the plane to take her off.
#20
I was flying from NYC to South Africa and I had a whole row to myself. It was the craziest thing ever.
Second place was the same route. I was flying business class, bulkhead row, left side. To my right was a family with three kids under 6. They all stayed quiet the whole trip. They played with their tablets and napped the whole way. I’ve never seen that on an airplane before or since.
Upstaged75 5 hours ago (edited)
I once had the pleasure of being seated next to a young boy (he was probably 8 or 9) who READ A BOOK for the entire flight! I was so impressed. He was reading The Golden Compass so I talked to him about some other similar series I recommended. (The Underland Chronicles - good series for young boys. By the Hunger Games author) It was nice to find a fellow bookworm - I was the same way at that age. 😊
#21
I’ve seen people kicked off flights a few times, but the craziest was a father and his adult son getting kicked off together.
We were at the gate having just boarded. The father (some old man) was - for reasons I missed the start of - going off hard on one of the stewardesses. Yelling at her, gesticulating wildly, the works.
The stewardess turns to the adult son and goes “sir, you need to control your father, or he’ll be removed”. Instead of trying to calm his dad down, the son gets in on it too and starts yelling at the stewardess “No! You’re bullying him! You’re BULLYING an elderly man! How DARE YOU!”.
Anyways, stewardess goes to the front, and about five minutes later a couple cops get on and remove both of them from the flight.
It’s relevant to note that when they were removed, the passengers immediately around them began clapping. In my experience, this only happens when the passengers (rather than the airline staff) are in the wrong. So while I didn’t hear what started the whole thing, Old Man must’ve been in the wrong as judged by the passengers nearby.
Upstaged75 4 hours ago
I've seen videos of people clapping while some jerk is being dragged off the plane by police. Usually they're shouting about how they're the victim and they "didn't do anything". 🙄
To mitigate these incidents, the US launched a nationwide campaign last year urging travelers to improve their behavior at airports and on flights. The effort, called “The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You,” wants to restore civility in the skies.
The UK aviation industry brought back its prominent “One Too Many” campaign this year. It warns travelers that disruptive behavior can lead to a two-year prison sentence, a £5,000 fine for delaying a flight, or an £80,000 penalty to cover the massive costs if a plane is forced to divert.
Many other countries have also implemented similar severe penalties. These include lifetime travel bans for passengers who cause a flight cancellation, as well as the right to deny boarding to anyone deemed unfit to fly.
#22
Lady that was in the seat next to my gf and I started cutting up all the in flight magazines and safety guides into confetti with giant scissors, flight attendants were like no, you can't have those, she seemed to not even respond to them, somehow they finally got her to give them up. Then she started shredding paper with her hands and just tossing it in the aisle.
There happened to be a psychiatrist of some sort on board, they switched our seats with them and offered us some free food and drinks. We were in a different section so didn't see what happened after that. When we got off at the destination cops were talking with the lady though.
#23
Someone had a mini horse as a service animal once. that was wild.
Air travel isn’t always glamorous. When you are trapped in a flying pressure cooker, a little basic empathy becomes all the more important.
Delays, cramped spaces, and minor inconveniences are practically built into the itinerary. Mentally prepping for those headaches is the easiest way to keep your own frustration from boiling over.
#24
A guy ate a giant plate of baby back ribs. The guy brought a bib and used rubber gloves to keep his hands from getting too messy. It was coach and he had the middle seat. The ribs smelled great and the whole plane smelled like bbq pretty quickly. It took him a long time to lick every bone clean. I kept checking on him because I had a clear view of it and I was jealous.
#25
Well he was wearing a burger king crown.
#26
On a flight from LAX to Sydney, a man next to me watched the Nicolas Cage film 'Bangkok Dangerous' three times in a row. This was not a case of the film restarting on a screen after finishing automatically, it was on a laptop and he had to re-start it each time.
I avoided speaking to this clearly deranged man for the entirety of the 14 hour flight.
#27
Bro drank like a full bottle of whisky he bought in duty free. Proceeded to harass two 15 year-old girls sitting next to him until we intervened and asked the flight attendants to move them to another seat (which they did). After that, bro proceeded to light a cig in the bathroom and gets arrested at landing. Legend.
Upstaged75 4 hours ago
Gross. Sounds like they should have denied him boarding for being too drunk.
#28
Was on a non-stop flight from U.S. to Italy 2 months ago. All was going well, until about 5 hours in, when a lady several rows ahead of me started screaming her head off.
Then, she got up, and started to jump over the seat in front of her, where a family with 2 young children were. Of course, the flight attendants jumped right into action, and attempted to calm her down. She wasn’t having it.
They zip tied her hands together, she got out. They ended up duct-taping her to seat, which worked, but the screams didn’t stop. They were pure mania kind of screams.
We had to divert to Dublin to have her escorted from the plane, and luckily, we were able to continue our journey to Italy without having to de-plane.
As it turns out, the lady was having withdrawals from her anti-psychotic medication, which she apparently did not take before flying, and did not bring with her.
Good times! Felt terrible for the flight staff, and the poor kids who had to witness that insanity.
#29
New York to Paris - about an hour in the flight, the first officer leaves the flight deck to go to the washroom, and collapses, landing hard, lying motionless in the forward galley.
Eventually cabin crew get him back up and he's responsive, and is made to sit down in the business class seat next to us.
He proceeds to spend the entire flight reclined, watching movies.
Apparently he had some form of medical emergency, fainted, recovered, and ended up just chilling out for the rest of the flight while a relief FO from one of the jump seats jumped into the flight deck in relief.
#30
Asian dude kept clearing his throat and spitting on the isle.
Colleen Glim 4 hours ago
I would be throwing up. I have a cast iron stomach but spitting is my line in the sand 🤮
#31
Sleep through insane turbulence with free fall drops over the Caribbean. This ladies drink was spilling and sliding from one side of the tray to the other. People screaming and crying. Pilot telling us all to stay calm. I was horrified it was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced. When we started to land in San Juan, she woke up. Then told my friend and I she has been on thousands of flights and had never experienced turbulence that bad. So glad she didn’t wake up and tell me that while we were still up high. Freaking crazy. Then the next plane we got on had like 20 seats and propellers with a pilot who might’ve been 25 years old. That flight was way more chill.
David Paterson 4 hours ago
I experienced a free fall drop over the Caribbean so severe that gravity reversed and a lady's drink emptied itself upwards onto the overhead locker. Gravity back to normal the drink rained down on her from above. No other problems. The whole cabin, including the cabin crew and the lady herself, erupted in laughter.
#32
Marriage proposal. Not that crazy or weird, but it was an international flight where many people and I were asleep halfway through the flight and we woke up to a bunch of people screaming in the back. I got a bit scared cuz well hearing a bunch of people screaming on a flight isn’t exactly ideal. Anyway, it was just a dude proposing to his girl by the bathroom in the back and a group of people screaming cuz they were excited for them I guess. I was pretty annoyed being stuck in a tube in the middle of the sky and being forced to listen to strangers yell in the middle of a nap lmao.
#33
Going home after a trip for work. Some lady started arguing with her partner two rows in front of me. Just a regular couple fighting abut some stuff or another.
She gets up, goes to the flight attendant and asks to be switched to a different seat. The FA says it's a full flight and she will see if someone will want to switch once everyone has boarded.
The lady becomes a goblin a says "I don't want to sit next to him anymore. He has a b*mb". Loud and very clear for everyone to hear.
The FA's eyes almost jump out of their sockets. She says "wait here" and goes to the front. We all had to deplane. People from about three rows front and back had to be interviewed. The lady got arrested. The pilots timed out and the flight was cancelled.
Upstaged75 4 hours ago
What a f.ucking idiot! I'm glad she got arrested. Hopefully she's banned from flying too. She got an entire flight cancelled just because she didn't get her own way immediately. 🙄
#34
I had one lady freak out when they announced where the plane was going...
"I'm not supposed to go to Los Angeles!!"
Turns out her boarding pass was for a completely different flight. How she got on the wrong plane I have no idea.
Another one, the plane starts to move away from the skyway, and she starts losing her mind, "I can't fly! I can't fly!" At full volume over and over. The sheriff's dept came and removed her.
#35
Shared a crowded night flight over Texas with a college rugby team. They boarded full of booze and were determined to keep their sport going at altitude. So the team captain hauls out a ball and they start bouncing in all around the cabin and cheering one another on.
I was sitting across the aisle from the main instigator and wondering where this was going to lead.
Pretty soon a flight attendant walked up and whispered something in his ear about federal agents being alerted and waiting for them at landing. Things immediately got quiet.
#36
Guy has to pee as the plane was about to take off. You could tell he never flew before. He was in the middle seat. His gf was in the isle. He said to me you think they'll be mad at me if I get up to go to the bathroom. I said they won't take off if anyone's standing up. We were literally on the run way driving. So the gf helps cover the guy up and he peed in a bottle while we were taking off. Weird af. I'm a cool guy so whatever I just looked the other way. But weird af.
#37
A woman who was clearly drunk sat next to me. She kept asking for wine and the flight attendants kept serving her.
About 20 minutes into the flight, she asked me if we had taken off yet. Then she took out a bottle of nail polish and started to do her nails while people all around us craned their necks to see where the fumes were coming from. The plane was packed, so I couldn't ask for a different seat.
About 10 minutes before we landed, she took out her cell phone and called some guy. It was on speakerphone, so everybody heard both sides of the conversation. She asked him if he was picking her up at the airport (yes) and if they'd be sleeping together (no).
While we were waiting for our bags at the carousel, everybody who had heard that unfortunate exchange was staring with great interest when the guy came to meet her.
#38
True story , thankfully I don’t have an answer to this question because I took the day off work on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. I was scheduled to be on American Airlines flight 11. I took off work because I had just bought madden NFL 2002 on ps2.
#39
Port Moresby sitting in domestic air port looking out at apron. A plane with props spinning getting ready to push back when all of a sudden the emergency door comes flying off and people evacuate on masse.
Story I got was the air conditioning was turned on and went misty due to how bloody hit it is there. Some local freaked out thought it was a fire and banged out.
#40
I sat next to a young teen that kept requesting drinks with cups of ice and never touched them. He had a tray full of untouched drinks and cups and whined when they made him toss them to put his tray up before landing.
#41
Internal flight in the US. Guy two rows behind got upset about something minor. Got verbally aggressive with the women sat in his and the row in front. Flight attendant asked if he was making them uncomfortable, and they said yes. Thirty seconds later she reappeared with a security guy behind her. He stood up, grabbed his bag and walked off the plane, no argument. Complete waste of his time.
#42
Did you know Samsung phones did/do have a emergency button? Yeah me neither, until I accidentally triggered it on a plane, exactly on the moment that the plane was taking off. If you hit your powerbutton 5 times in a row quickly it activates some sort of emergency modus. It will sound a loud alarm and call emergency services.
So the plane was literally just taking off when my phone started to make a very loud noice, as if the plane was in huge troubles when taking off. I had no idea it was my own phone so together with everyone around me and the flight attendances we were nervously waiting for what was happening. After some time I figured out my phone was heavily vibrating and then it struck me, like "wait a minute.... could this be my phone?"
I took it out of my pocket and saw it was trying to call 911 and sounding the alarm on maximum volume... embarrassed to the bone quickly cancelled this emergency modus. I will never forget the look on the flight attendance face :')
Apparently, the button was hit 5 times in a row shortly in my pocket and I had no idea this function existed.
David Paterson 4 hours ago
The "emergency call" button is right next to the "power off" button. I switch the phone off several times each day.
#43
Some dude raw-dogged the entire 6 hour flight. No phones. No headphones. No movies. No books. No entertainment of any sort. No snacks. No water. No restroom breaks. Not a single word. Just stared straight into the back of the headrest of the seat in front of him.
nottheactualphoto 2 hours ago
I do that all the time. I guess it's become remarkable recently. Well, I sleep; does that count?
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StarCrossedFriday 54 minutes ago
There are some very strange options in that poll at the end there...
StarCrossedFriday 54 minutes ago
There are some very strange options in that poll at the end there...
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