People Are Opening Up About Shocking Things They've Seen On Planes, And It's A Whole Lot To Process
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When you travel the freaky skies — sorry, I mean friendly skies — you really have no idea what you might witness.
Universal Pictures / Via giphy.com
So, I recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to share the strangest or most memorable thing they've seen on a plane. Here are the absolute wildest responses:
(Some entries also come from this Reddit thread.)
Note: Some stories include mentions of drugs, alcohol, and medical emergencies.
1."I was seated behind a lady who kept using the call button to order two wines every 30 minutes or so on the way from Singapore to Manchester. Around 12 hours into the 14-hour flight, she slid her pants down and started to play with herself. I had to alert the staff, and they acted FAST after supplying her with alcohol for 12 hours."
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2."On a recent flight to Florida, a woman took her pet parrot on the plane in a backpack. The crew at the gate check-in were baffled and just let her go even though they questioned if it should have been checked in cargo. Her response? 'It’s in my backpack!' The parrot was more well-behaved than the 7-year-old behind me."
3."I was flying on a budget airline in Europe. When we landed, a passenger had a medical emergency at the front of the plane. Flight attendants were asking for medical personnel, and he was laid out in the front. Some man started yelling at the gate agents that he needed to get off the plane, but no one was moving because they were waiting for the ambulance. He started screaming at the flight attendants that he had to make his connection, even as one of the attendants started performing CPR. He ended up shoving them out of the way and ran off with his luggage."
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"We left the plane maybe 10 minutes later, and the next I saw him, he was handcuffed and screaming at a French police officer. I don’t know if the other passenger made it or not."
4."A lady sitting next to me, clearly drunk, threw a Twinkie about five rows ahead of us, and it basically exploded on this bald dude's head — cream literally everywhere. He wasn’t pleased, and she was escorted off after we landed."
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—bens41 via Reddit
5."My husband and his family had a literal snake on a plane when they were coming back from Turkey one time. There was shrieking, a bit of craziness, and then they caught it in the overhead compartments using a bag!"
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—CouldBeWorseCouldBeA via Reddit
6."The toilet had been taken out of the bathroom and put in a row of seats."
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"I have a picture. 🤣"
7."I saw a woman get escorted off an airplane because she wouldn’t get off her phone before takeoff. The plane returned to the gate, and she was taken off. The saddest thing was watching her husband and two kids follow her and the kids pleading with the agents to let her stay on. It was spring break, and we were all headed to Mexico. I love my wife, but I would’ve told her she was on her own. See ya!"
CBC / Via giphy.com
—cre8ivjay via Reddit
8."My husband was on a business flight from Vancouver to Tokyo a few years ago. They brought a young woman who was in medical distress up to business class across the aisle from him and called for any doctors on board to come forward. Long story short, she proceeded to give birth to an almost full-term baby. She claims she didn’t know she was pregnant (she didn’t look pregnant), and her boyfriend was totally freaking out. Baby was healthy in the end, so things worked out OK."
—TherealMad via Reddit
9."This happened almost 30 years ago; the flight was delayed because the pilot said he locked himself out of the cockpit!"
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10."My flight from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale (which was a work trip and contained about half of my office mates) had to make an emergency landing in Missouri when a passenger passed out and experienced a medical emergency. The woman had consumed three alcoholic drinks on the plane, threw up on one of my department heads who was seated next to her, and became unresponsive."
"Flight attendants and medical personnel who happened to be on board discovered that on top of the booze, the woman had two narcotic prescriptions in her purse that had been consumed, and evidence she'd had a cannabis edible before boarding. Paramedics had to take her off of the plane on a gurney, still unresponsive. No idea if she survived or not, but given all the crap she took, I doubt it."
11."I once watched a woman, and then eventually her husband, try and bring a TURKEY on a plane as an emotional support animal. And when I say a turkey, this thing was HUGE. Clearly a much-loved pet, he/she was named Cinnamon and weighed probably 30 pounds. It was some serious poultry."
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"So, for over an hour and a half, Cinnamon's owners kept trying to pull him out of the cage and prove that he was an ESA. The desk agent would reiterate that ESAs are not automatically allowed on flights — certified service dogs are. They then changed their tune to say he/she was a service animal. She said, 'Where is your paperwork?' (knowing damn well turkeys are not ever trained SAs), and when they couldn't provide it, she bluntly said, 'Listen, this bird is not getting on that plane, or any plane at *airline* ever. So, either find alternate accommodations for the bird or miss your flight.' They left in a huff, threatening legal action that never came."
12."Once the flight's lights were dimmed, I noted an older gentleman walking the aisles with no shirt or shoes on. I almost thought I was dreaming. I mean, it’s one thing to get comfortable but another to take off your shirt and shoes and walk around the plane!"
Ayadir / Via giphy.com
13."My husband and I were flying to our honeymoon (three-and-a-half hour flight), and the family in front of us INSISTED on reclining their seat ALL THE WAY BACK (because she had a 'bad back' — lady, everyone over 30 has a bad back; you aren’t special) without any heads up. My husband is not a small guy. He’s 6 feet 4 inches tall and takes up some space. The woman repeatedly flung her seat back onto his knees (again, big guy, nowhere else to go) and then complained that he was 'kicking her.' (He literally hadn’t moved the entire time)."
Olivia Rodrigo / Via giphy.com
"She would raise her arm and lay it over the back of the chair with her hand covering the screen several times. It was almost comical that she thought she was the only person on this flight that mattered.
She ended up switching with her husband and then did the same thing to the guy next to us who also had a problem with her and complained to the attendants. The entitlement of people is astounding."
14."The last time I flew, I sat next to an older woman. She seemed really nervous and upset, so I asked her if I could get her the flight attendant to help her. She said no, thank you, just that she hated flying, and this was a bad trip; she was on her way to her brother's funeral. With the saddest look in the world and pleading eyes, she asked if she could just hold my hand so she could fall asleep. I let her — poor thing. It took her some time, but she finally crashed out holding my hand the whole time. I didn't mind."
"When we were getting off, she gave me a death grip hug and thanked me profusely — such a sweet woman. :)"
15."I was flying back to college after being home for Thanksgiving break. There were a few other college students on the same flight. One of the other college guys had an entire — and I mean ENTIRE — turkey in one of those aluminum roasting pans covered in foil. He said his mother wanted him and his roommates to have a good home-cooked meal back at school. He had to hold the turkey on his lap for the two-hour flight. I was surprised he was even allowed through security and on the plane with it! He said his checked suitcase had the side dishes that his mother froze for him so he could eat it later. I will say, it smelled great the whole flight!"
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16."Guy takes off his sandals and starts rubbing his feet, even between his toes; he proceeds to eat inflight snacks 10 minutes later."
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—Outerpercent20 via Reddit
17."A guy seated next to me ate his yogurt at breakfast with chopsticks."
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—Adok85 via Reddit
18."On the way back to the US from Italy, a man in the row in front of me had a pacemaker malfunction, and it started shocking him. We had to wait for an hour on the tarmac while an ambulance came to get him taken care of. It was frightening, and I was so scared for this poor man!"
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19."We were flying through a rainstorm when there was a loud bang and a flash of light. About five minutes later (I assume after checks by the crew), the pilot said there had been an atmospheric disturbance. I guess that's one way to describe a lightning strike. We were fine, and the flight proceeded normally."
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20."I was on an international flight where most people were sleeping, and a few people were awake. I was awake when, suddenly, another person who was awake fainted or something. The person next to him called the flight attendant over. When she saw him, she yelled out, 'Is anyone a doctor?!' I never thought I would actually hear someone say this except in a movie or show. There was a doctor behind the seated guy, and the guy turned out fine."
—Arkham_Assassin via Reddit
21."I was coming home for my leave when I was in the military and seated next to an old couple who seemed normal at first. They kissed a couple times, and I thought it was weird but nothing too abnormal. Then, all of a sudden the wife took off her shoes and put her feet on her husband's lap, and he started rubbing them. She only put her socks back on to go to the bathroom."
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Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
