Best CF airplane stories

[BreadInCaptivity]

Inspired by another thread.

About 5 years ago we were flying back from the USA. We'd booked Premium Economy seats on Virgin. Configuration is 2-3-2.

Our two late teens were in front of us and we had the 2 seats directly behind. All settled in when a family of 4 embarked with 2 young children (around 5 and 7 at a guess).

They proceed to the 2 seats behind DH and I and start putting their bags down when the mother asked (politely to be fair) if we would mid swapping seats so they could sit together as a family.

Given our two were older (and once headphones were on were not going to be engaging with us) we decided to be nice and said ok.

Can you guess where this is going?

Asked where the other seats were, looking around the PE cabin a bit baffled as it appeared to be full....

Yep - they'd only booked 2 seats in PE and wanted us to take their 2 seats in economy 😂.

Clearly we said, no (with rather incredulous expressions on our face's) and sat back down. Parent then both start calling us selfish (oh the irony) and demanding we move. DH made the point that if sitting together was so important, then booking in the same cabin might be a good idea for the future, but as stands he was sure if they went down to economy the people in the seats next to those they'd booked would be very happy with a free upgrade 😀.

The response from the Father "I'm not giving up a better seat I've paid for"....to which DH deadpanned "I couldn't agree with you more"...at which point DH and I couldn't stop laughing enough to respond further.

Cabin crew eventually had to get involved as the parents had an argument over who was going to sit where. Mother won and spent the first 20 mins of the flight making loud passive aggressive comments to her child about "mean/selfish" people until crew got involved again and told her to pack it in or they'd be moved to economy if they didn't stop harassing us.

Thankfully the rest of the flight was uneventful but DH and I still chuckle about it now and again 😃.

Anyone got any others?

I suspect BintheB wants to keep their job….I’m retired so am probably on safer ground but I’ll simply say I’m much in agreement with their post..most especially the comment “There are some destinations (which I will be discrete and not name) where the percentage is higher than that, they are well known to the crews that fly them”

Surely you would be doing us a favour my naming the avoid destinations.
Im assuming Alicante, Rhodes, Corfu, Tenerife and Crete.

Oh god. I fly long haul to Australia twice a year. So many stories! Worst one was recently, when the CF couple in the row in front reclined TO THE MAX as soon as the 14 hour flight began. I’m not joking when I say maximum, I wasn’t able to use the tv screen or tray table properly!!!!

I don’t have a problem with people reclining and do so myself, but when you recline SO MUCH and don’t move upright during meal service (so much so the tray table wouldn’t stay upright- I’m quite a small 160cm person), you know these idiots are being a CF. The person sat next to me had trouble leaving her seat to go to the bathroom (a very petite woman) which meant she had to stand on top of the bloody seats to get out!

To top it all off, of course the cabin crew came around MANY times to please be upright for meals. Nope, couldn’t care less. In the end the crew came over with some extra chocolates for my row for being understanding.

Yes! ⭐

Don’t know about those, I never did any short haul flying.

Going any further than that (SWIDT) or going into much more detail has the potential to open a whole can of worms.

What I think it is safe to say is that some of the routine cunningness crew saw on some routes when I was working often had pretty much zero impact on the passengers but could make a hard day at work even harder for the staff.

I guess because the thread was about CF plane stories not celebrities/specific people.

Anyway, @mjf981 got it in one - Whitney.

What destinations attract CF's?

My bet is places where the culture of the destination is used to arguing for service. Middle East maybe India, probably Americans? But I guess drunk Brits might be up there too.

Which routes are the nicest if you can't tell us the worst?

Ah fair enough if it was Whitney! She was a legit old school diva!

Also a 90’s singer who tried to get an entire class of passengers offloaded to accommodate her cello. I had been a fan until I met her. She was an absolute twatwaffle.

As a passenger by far the worst flight in terms of the others was an early flight out to Ibiza at closing party weekend. NEVER again.

I was flying long haul overnight and had a woman with a toddler on her lap next to me. When the cabin lights went down, I was reading so switched my overhead light on. The woman next to me asked me to turn it off as her toddler (on her lap) wanted to sleep. I did consider it, but wasn’t tired, didn’t want to watch a film, nor sit there doing nothing — so I said no. To this day I’m not sure if I was the CF or her but the toddler went to sleep anyway — and every time he stirred on her lap she sighed loudly and shaded his eyes very pointedly with one hand. I kept reading…

I travel a lot and thankfully not seen much seat drama - perhaps because I’m mostly on weekday flights to unpopular destinations so not many big families etc, wanting to seat together for free.

I did once have an aisle seat - rarely book them, so it was allocated for free - and the guy next to me in the middle, had his friend sat right across the aisle. So they were in B and D with me in C.

I asked if they were together and would they want to sit together in which case I was happy to swap with the other aisle friend. They enthusiastically agree and we start getting up, then I understand they want me to take the middle seat so that they can be “together”, both in aisles seats.

I politely decline, go back into my seat, and in all fairness they joyfully declare it’s not a big problem anyway, as they weren’t going to talk much during the flight. They then proceeded to talk quite a bit during the flight, as well as passing snacks and books to each other from time to time. I ended up blocking the tray table with my iPad and drinks, and that promptly stopped.

Apart from this, I am always shocked to say the lack of respect with which some passengers treat the cabin crew. It’s like manners go out the window the minute they arrive at the airport - or are they like this everywhere? Demanding free stuff, blaming them for delays, and the biggest problem of them all - luggage. People bringing oversized luggage onto the plane, or boarding last (after seemingly enjoying a leisurely stroll through the cafes…), then being surprised when they either have to go in the hold, or in a different part of the cabin.

A young woman was adamant a few weeks ago she couldn’t be separated from her suitcase. There was no more space around her row, so she proceeded to turn sideways, sit with her legs hanging over into the aisle, and place her suitcase between her and the seat in front 😂

Crew were patient and explained why that wouldn’t work, but she kept saying that’s how she wanted to sit and her suitcase wasn’t leaving her side.

Flight from Crete- the woman who kicked off because my allocated seats for myself, 7 year old and toddler daughter were next to her husband and she wanted to sit with her husband (they hadn’t booked seats together). She thought I was unreasonable because I wouldn’t send my 7 year old to sit 5 rows back by herself or leave my child sat next to them and move myself.
Flight to Canaries- woman in front who started painting her nails halfway into the trip- the stink of the nail varnish was nasty. Same woman and her child who was maybe about 8, reclined their seats for the entire trip despite not sleeping or even resting / napping leaving us hardly any legroom at all. Her kid spent most of the flight kneeling up on their seat yelling over our heads to her cousins and auntie seated behind us- the two cousins repeatedly kicked our seats throughout the flight.
Same trip, return flight- the woman seated next to my teen DD- who had the window and middle seat and a very travel sick child. Why leave your kid puking loudly in the middle seat, instead of transferring them to the window seat and sit yourself in between them and another passenger? The child didn’t always fully hit the sick bag either- not very pleasant for my DD having vomit splashed onto her (yes she did keep standing up into the aisle, but couldn’t avoid it when the seatbelt signs were on.

Just remembered another (very recent!) one. Flying to Portugal, there was a mother and two boys — probably about 5 & 7 — in the row in front. (Dad was sitting across the aisle.) The boys were very, erm, boisterous and the 7 year old, who was directly in front of me, kept flinging himself back in his seat so it repeatedly hit my knees. After a few minutes of this, I asked the mum if she’d mind asking him to stop. She said it was his seat and asked why my knees were touching it given it was his… (She did then, reluctantly, ask him to stop however. Which he did for about five minutes.)
Not sure what else he was doing, but the man in front of him was clearly having issues too as he had to keep speaking to the mum as well. The thing is, neither parent engaged with their children, and they’d seemingly brought nothing to occupy them either — so I don’t blame the children at all.

Just thought of another one. Last year there was a woman on our flight (very county and used to servants shall we say) who kept making a fuss about her middle seat, the locker, and ordering the FAs about. They responded with a smile every time (good on you Easyjet). We had terrible turbulence on that flight and once things had calmed down the hoighty woman walked down the aisle towards us at the rear. She was carrying a wobbling plastic bag, neatly tied with a bow at the top and clearly full of vomit. She then handed it to the male FA, who just in time realised what it was. He stepped back, opened the toilet door and calmly said to her: "In there, madam". And pushed her in the loo and shut the door on her.

Where she remained for some time...

I know someone who used to fly from West Africa to London regularly in business class with her husband, leaving their nanny to wrangle 4 kids under 8 including a baby, in economy on the same flight. To them this was perfectly normal.

DH and I always book aisle seats. I’ve just moved our aisle seats to extra room aisle seats for our holiday next month. Cost €50 but it’s worth it.

I am Irish, not sure if other countries do this but usually everyone claps and whoops and sometimes sing “Ole Ole” when we land . It’s embarrassing but funny at the same time.

😲😲😲😲

Awful

Am about to board an sas flight where the app wouldn't let us pre-book seats. Me and the kids are all spread around the cabin. Oh well.

My DH flies a lot and every single time he gets on a plane, even if he is almost the first to get on, there is always someone sitting in his seat.

One time we were travelling together as a family of 4, plane was 3-3, I had two DC in window and middle with me in aisle on one side. A woman was sat across the aisle in DH’s seat. We told her that was DHs seat. She refused to budge, said she’d booked it. I said we’re travelling together and booked 4 in a row, showed her tickets. she started going on about needing the loo and that the aisle seat is better for her, bla bla bla.

My DH misheard her and thought she needed the loo RIGHT NOW so started explaining that she can go, the loos are open. Passing FA hears and agrees, says yes you can use the loo, she starts moving people in the aisle who are still getting on and stowing their bags to make way for woman. Woman has no option but to get out of the seat and allow herself to be taken to the loo. Another FA joins in and soon all the passengers in the aisle ahead are talking about her needing the loo and everyone making a big deal about moving out the way to let her get past so she can get to the loo.

Was hilarious, the look on her face as she was bundled off to the loo. DH sat in his aisle seat. Woman meekly returned to her middle seat and didn’t need the loo again for the rest of the journey.

Passenger on long haul emirates trying to bargain over buying an upgrade to business class. He claimed he had been told he could buy it for less on board (emirates emails a few days before to offer upgrade of one class and gives an amount). Apparently there is actually no provision to upgrade once onboard (or the flight attendants just didn’t want to start haggling).

He was really pushy and the poor flight attendant (who was trying to deal with boarding passengers) was having real difficulty getting him to give up and go away.

Genuine question - now that you have to pay for allocated seating - why would anyone pay for speedy boarding?
I watch people at the gate sliding to get to the front of the line and I just think what’s the point.

I think it’s mainly people who want to get their carry on into an overhead locker near their seat.

You get a carry on rather than under seat luggage and a allocated seat

We were on a flight to Orlando last year. When we boarded a family were in our seats. There had mis-read the numbering and were actually in the row in front. All fine and they moved happily.
Wish we had just sat down in the row in front now as there were two girls in the row behind us who kicked our seats for what seemed like the duration of the flight. I asked them to stop, I asked their Dad to ask them to stop but still they carried on. The Mum was in her phone a lot and didn’t even acknowledge that her kids were pains in the butt.