Flight Attendants Share The Craziest Things That Have Happened Mid-Air

Flight attendants have the best jobs, right? They spend their days traveling the world, meeting new people, and broadening their horizons with different cultures. Of course, no career is perfect. Some of those new people they meet can be rude or downright weird, and there’s no limit to the bizarre things that happen on an airplane.

You know the phrase “you’re more likely to be struck by lightning?” Turns out that planes get jolted far more often than you probably thought, and passengers can get cranky and gross when they’re trapped in the air for hours at a time. Read on as past and present flight attendants share the craziest things they’ve seen happen mid-flight!

Unusual Companion

There’s nothing wrong with being an animal lover, but this just seemed a bit extreme to me, as well as being potentially dangerous. My grandfather was a flight attendant for an airline back in the day, and he couldn’t believe this actually happened on a flight. 

He said that this one time he actually saw someone petting this squirrel that they snuck onto the flight in a carry-on bag. No one knows how he even got it through security or why he even wanted it on the plane in the first place. Reddit user: jbOOgi3

Not Quite An Emergency

This was January 2015, so still less than a year after the Malaysian Airlines flight went missing. I was on a light from MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul) to San Francisco. A flight attendant gets on the intercom and says to everyone, “Attention passengers, we have a small emergency.” The mic then cuts out. 

Passengers gasp. “We are running low on Sprite, so…” I don’t think anyone even heard what was said after the word “Sprite” in this case. To all flight attendants: please never use the words “emergency” and “Sprite” in the same sentence while thousands of feet in the air. Reddit user: rob5i

Lights Out

My mom was a flight attendant, and this one time lightning actually struck the plane and the engine just stopped for a few seconds (which of course must have felt like an eternity). All the lights went out, the cabin pressure dropped, and the little ceiling bags popped out.

The plane dropped in altitude very rapidly and then…it was over and everything went back to normal. Flight attendants deserve serious props! They have to think quickly, act accordingly, and stay calm in situations like that. Reddit user: [redacted]

A Terrifying Experience

My mom was on a flight from Germany back to South Africa more than twenty years ago, and somewhere over Kenya, the plane flew into a storm, and radar was struck out. After the pilot navigated out of the storm, he flew straight into another, something went wrong mechanically, and the plane just started to drop.

My mom says she recalls sitting in her seat (she was buckled in) and watching babies and people slowly rising, and as soon as the plane caught an air pocket and regained power, everything coming crashing down quickly, orange juice and cutlery strewn all over the plane and the floors. Along with pin-drop silence all the way to Johannesburg airport, after which cheering broke out. Reddit user: btw12

Be Careful In There

I worked as a customer service representative for Southwest Airlines so I have a lot of stories. Probably my favorite story is about a gentleman who went into one of the lavatories to relieve himself at one of the worst possible times during the flight.

As he flushed and opened the gooseneck valve to the tank, the plane hit a pocket of dead air and dropped like 15 feet vertically. Everything in the tank proceeded upwards at the speed of gravity. They had to hose him off on the tarmac upon arrival. Reddit user: BatMalley

“Do You Love Me?” 

Once, there was a man with long hair and a beard sitting in his seat and minding his own business. The little girl in the seat in front of him, maybe six years old, kept looking back at this guy. Finally, she turns around and asks the man, “Are you a boy or a girl?”

The guy was nice about it and told her that he was a boy, and that he just had long hair. She said okay, then proceeded to ask him, “Do you love me? about six times in a row until he finally said yes to get her to stop bothering him. Reddit user: [redacted]

One Ginger Ale, Please

There are just some moments when you just don’t know what to say, and this certainly had to be one of them. I was going up and down the aisle, giving out snacks and drinks. I parked my cart in the aisle and asked a guy if he wanted anything to drink.

He started to answer, then suddenly held up a finger (indicating for me to wait a minute), hurled into a plastic grocery bag, and then went on to ask me for a ginger ale. I was speechless. Um…at least he was polite about it? I guess I’m glad he didn’t try (and fail) to make it to the bathroom. Reddit user: [redacted]

Sorry, Mr. Shatner

Oh man, another celebrity story here. My cousin was on this flight that the actor William Shatner, was on. Shatner’s  assistant completely flipped out at everyone because they had ended up buying first class tickets for everybody, except for the assistant.

My cousin thought she might have to go back there, but the flight attendants got the situation calmed down. What is it about flying that turns celebrities and their entourage into even bigger divas? Calm down, Mr. Shatner’s assistant…you’re not an A-lister. Reddit user: StarKiller99

It’s Just a Little Lightning

One time on a flight, we were approaching our destination, which was Denver, and the plane was suddenly struck by lightning. It might’ve been the loudest sound I’ve ever heard on a flight. It was a Boeing 727 and I was on the back jumpseat with a flight attendant friend of mine.

As soon as it happened, all the passengers turned to look at us. We were hugging each other and crying, clearly terrified. This, as it turns out, only makes the passenger panic 1000x worse. The plane was fine, and we landed safely, thankfully. Reddit user: runLikeYerBeingChasd

Losing the Magic

I once unfortunately had to remove a mother and her two kids from the plane on a flight to Orlando, (to Disney World) after the mom had had a few too many drinks and ended up getting into a fistfight with another passenger. I just felt so bad for those kids.

But we did what we needed to do. Honestly, if you’re not able to get through a flight or a trip on the way to Disney with your kids without getting into a fistfight with someone else and getting thrown off a commercial airline, there may be a problem. Reddit user: [redacted]

Let Kids Be Kids

When I was 10, I got up to use the bathroom on the plane. Being my first flight ever, I just found the first door and followed the instructions to open it. I pulled for a few seconds before giving up and getting my dad. I walked him back to the emergency exit and told him the bathroom door wouldn’t open. 

He froze for a second, grabbed my arm, and ushered me to the obviously labeled restroom and never mentioned it again. What I’m curious about is why all the other passengers around the door didn’t question why I was vigorously jiggling the emergency exit handle at altitude, just slowly waiting for fate to work its magic. Reddit user: CoolRunner

A Big Russian Party

Moscow to Bangkok. The flight was 90% Russians, which was to be expected, with the rest connecting. Anyway, there was a large crowd traveling together: mostly burly men, but also a few ladies and some elders. I’m guessing it was a wedding group possibly?

As always, duty-free was very popular on the flight, and multiple bottles of vodka were bought. Things progressed from shots of vodka to bottles being finished to asking them to keep the noise down to people openly smoking on the flight. They had music through a portable speaker that was very loud.

It was full-party mode going on, and nothing could be done, as they were all much bigger than all staff on board. Three men had a fistfight, and one of the old ladies was throwing up. It’s still the craziest flight I’ve ever witnessed. There were a total of 7 arrests upon landing. Reddit user: smegly87

Okay, Then

I had a passenger who came back multiple times to the galley to chat. Nothing new, of course; people want to stretch or stave off some boredom. The thing was, the stuff this guy starting talking about weirded me out. He once was in charge of holding the nuclear codes for the US military, and more.

His family owned Wyoming and sold it to the government. He hadn’t been in the US for 16 years because the CIA was after him, but he was returning because his father had died, but he had to be careful because his brother was out to get him. Just frightening things. So much more, but I wasn’t writing it down. It was just weird, and after a while, a bit unnerving. Reddit user: RedLegend619

I Got Out Alive

Being a flight attendant is a much harder job than people think. They don’t even know. I was on the plane that the underpants bomber tried to take down which was really terrifying in hindsight. I actually remember seeing and smelling the smoke, but was happening way behind me.

The truth is, I didn’t really see anything until the aftermath. For those who don’t know, just Google this close call that happened in 2009. I’m so glad people made it out safely! Once I realized what was happening, it was scary. Reddit user: NSAimSCAREDofU

A Little Too Comfortable

Some people take their shoes off during a flight, and others take it a bit further than that. Like a lot further than they should. My father is a pilot, and once, when he was flying back to Australia, they had this champion rugby team with them on the flight.

They’d rented out all of first class, and the moment the flight reached cruising altitude, they decided to undress. Allegedly, they were some of the most polite patrons he had seen, but they were just mostly not wearing clothes. Reddit user: hubberbubber

Dead Fish

I’m not a flight attendant, but my mom is. She has a load of crazy stories over 30+ years on the job, but there’s one in particular that has always haunted me. It was a transatlantic flight (EU > US), and halfway through near the back of the plane, the overhead bin started raining maggots on the passengers in one row.

One of the other flight attendants on the plane investigated and discovered that a passenger had flown in from Africa and was traveling to the US via Europe, and he had a whole dead fish filled with bugs wrapped inside a newspaper (apparently it’s considered a delicacy in some parts of the world). Reddit user: little_mermarx

Hands Off My Pillow

Well…two men (one was in his 30s and the other was in his 60s) almost got in a huge fight on a more than half-empty flight from SFO (San Francisco International Airport) to Osaka because the 60-year-old man was not happy that the younger guy was using the pillow from the empty seat.

The old man kept yelling at the younger guy “NO! One pillow per passenger! NO!” and kept on trying to take the second pillow away. The younger guy just had this “What?” look on his face. Some people are really strict about rules. Reddit user: NoseDragon

Slim Definitely Shady

When it comes to personal temptations, it’s probably best to save it for when you get off the plane and avoid a lot of awkward conversations, like this one woman should have done. This lady one time pulled her life-sized-blow-up doll of Eminem from the overhead compartment.

She then just starts full-on making out with this doll. The cabin wasn’t even dark yet. Also, why Eminem, though? You could own a life-size version of Ryan Reynolds or Ryan Gosling, or any of the Chrises (Pine, Evans, or Hemsworth)…and you choose Eminem? Reddit user: jps98

She’s Passed On

I was on a flight that this older woman died on in the middle of the flight. Her daughter was just totally fine with it and was completely unfazed. She had her mom’s head in her lap and was stroking her hair. I asked if the mom was okay.

She hadn’t been looking well, honestly. The daughter, who was an adult woman, was just like “Oh no, she’s passed on.” Alright then. Well, they do say that everybody handles grief differently. Still can’t decide if this is more sweet or spooky. Reddit user: modelgado

Technology Kills…Your Wallet

After the plane had been boarded, they shut the doors and gave the typical “door has been shut, please turn off all electronic devices” etc. speech. Well, this woman was still talking on her phone, and the flight attendant came up to her and asked her to turn off her phone. Usually, that’s enough, but apparently not for this particular lady.

The flight attendant again comes up to her and tells her she needs to turn her phone off, but she holds up her finger like a hold on/just a minute gesture. This is when the gentleman behind her stands up, shows her his badge, and hands her a $9,500 fine. He was an undercover federal air marshal. Reddit user: Scantron007

A Whale Problem

I am an airline pilot, and I flew up in Alaska for just about three years. I was doing one of my usual routes, Fairbanks to Barter Island, AK. One of my passengers left their muktuk on the plane while we had about a four-hour layover, and here’s what happened next….

We had the ground crew put a heater in the cabin to keep the flight instruments warm. Well, little did we know it heated up the muktuk as well. It smelled a lot like garbage and rotting flesh. I kept my oxygen mask on the entire flight back to Fairbanks. Reddit user: packersfan333

Mommy Dearest

One flight was delayed because a woman traveling with her 30-year-old son didn’t want to take their separate seats during a 2-hour flight. They ended up occupying the seat of a mother traveling with her 5-year-old. The flight was full, and the woman refused to give up the seats that were allocated for the mother with a kid.

She kept using the excuse that she could not be separated from her grown son as well. We kept explaining that she had made a mistake on the reservation and that she could try to find seats after take-off. Other passengers tried to explain to her too, but she decided not to move.

The flight supervisor ended up asking people to swap seats and tried to find her two seats while the aircraft was on the ground. 189 passengers were waiting for this lady who couldn’t handle her adult son being seated some rows behind her for a short amount of time. Reddit user: vos52

She Placed A Curse on Me

My girlfriend was a flight attendant. This one time, she found this large Creole lady going to the restroom with the door completely wide open. When my girlfriend attempted to address the situation, she ended up receiving a lot of shouting not in English.

When the flight was over, they were de-boarding the plane, and her son clarified to my girlfriend that his mother had placed some sort of curse on her. Sounds like the beginning to the plot of a movie, except it was way less cool and exciting. Reddit user: boatloadoffunk

Punching Above His Weight Class

Sometimes you’re not sure if this is real life or a comedy sketch. A sumo wrestler was sitting in a first class seat, and his seat ended up breaking. He then got moved to a different seat that was also in first class, and that proceeded to break, too.

After all that, the gentleman ended up sitting in coach. All of this happened after he was served a leftover second meal. As I’m sure you probably could have guessed, he didn’t really fit into the regular coach seats very well, either. Reddit user: susahn

Infidelity on a Plane

Not a flight attendant, but this is pretty terrible. I was on crutches, and they called a flight attendant who was scheduled for a different flight later to wheel me onto the plane since she was just waiting around. She’s helping me get in my seat when she sees her husband. With another woman sucking on his face. Sitting together on the plane. In matching shirts.

What I could tell from the screaming match that erupted was that he’d told her he was going away on business to some other place than where this plane was headed. The cheapskate didn’t even pony up for a different airline because he could fly for free on his wife’s airline.

The worst part? Her supervisor led her off the plane, and as he was chastising her, he told her she would likely lose her job over the “public display.” I really hope she didn’t. I spoke to the supervisor on her behalf to try and explain, but who knows? Reddit user: ligamentary

Not So Magic Conch Shell

I once witnessed a woman who, while she was interested in retrieving a souvenir from her vacation, packed a conch shell in her carry on luggage. Unbeknownst to her, however, there was still a conch living inside of it, and the smell was pretty unbearable.

The woman, her bag, and her conch were eventually removed from the flight. Guess you could say she was in a pretty fishy situation, because she definitely did not find the magic conch shell from the show Spongebob Squarepants. Reddit user: [redacted]

Over My Dead Body

I can’t 100% validate the accuracy of this story as this was actually something my grandfather told me about my grandmother’s days as a flight attendant, but this was about 40 years ago. She apparently had a passenger bring a large garment bag onto the plane.

They later discovered that there was a body in the garment bag when it fell and partially unzipped. It was a very tiny woman’s body that was being brought back for a funeral, but the family couldn’t afford to send it a different way. I can’t even imagine. Reddit user: how_bout_knope

The Planes Almost Collided

One time (before I was born), my mom was on a flight where the plane had almost collided with another plane in mid-air. She was sitting in her flight attendant seat at the time, which wasn’t by a window, so she didn’t end up seeing what had happened. 

But passengers said they could literally see the faces of the other people in the plane going by. The two planes were set for a head-on collision, but luckily, the oncoming plane decided to divert to the side at the last second. Reddit user: cappuccino47

Eyes Wide Open

I’m not a flight attendant, but this one time when I was pretty young, I was on a flight and this lady fell asleep with her eyes open. Creepily, her head was cocked to the side so she was kind of just staring at me the whole time. It was so disturbing. 

I asked the flight attendant if she could do something, and she tapped her to wake her up. When she tapped her, the lady kind of spazzed and just starting yelling, “TURN IT OFF!!!” So yeah, that was kind of a bad experience, I guess. Reddit user: loveplumber

A Terrifying Mission

My cousin is a flight attendant, and she said the craziest moment was when another flight attendant had died in the bathroom. They then had to sneak her body out of the bathroom, close the bathroom down totally, and lay the body down with a blanket over it.

All the other flight attendants had to pretend she was sleeping in the flight attendant area. Then they had to make sure no one saw and step over her when grabbing stuff. I bet my cousin was watching the clock like a hawk on that whole flight. Reddit user: Beitlgeuse

People Are Just Rude

Former flight attendant here. I love to travel. And being a flight attendant was how I fulfilled that passion. But I ended up quitting thanks to people being the absolute worst they could be. They would personally blame for ruining their travel plans.

You know, like it was all my fault, obviously not the foot of ice outside. No one deserves to be screamed at and cursed at, especially if that person’s job has so very little to do with the entire operation of the flight overall. Reddit user: [redacted]

One Sharp Turn

I was on a plane just chilling, and a man stood up with a beer and a knife he got onto the plane somehow. Of course, I got nervous since I totally thought he was gonna try to hijack the plane. Instead, what was he doing? He was trying to open the beer.

So he just needed to get the beer open and figured the knife was the best way to do it. Another flight attendant came and politely asked him for the knife until the end of the flight, and he obliged. It was terrifying for about 2 minutes. Reddit user: [redacted]

Behind the Scenes Danger

I have a co-worker who told me that she used to be a flight attendant in one of the local fleets here in Asia. She recounted one particularly terrifying incident where the airplane ended up losing complete control of the plane and was descending extremely fast.

Nobody but the pilots and crew knew at all what was going on. She was almost sure that it was going to crash. Thankfully the pilot was able to regain control of the plane and they just went back to work as if nothing had happened. Reddit user: jedainz

Feeling Crabby

You may have seen the famously terrible movie Snakes on a Plane, but a few unfortunate passengers something similar firsthand. They got to witness giant king crabs crawling up and down the aisle. It was kind of awesome, but also super terrifying as well.

Somehow a box of live king crabs busted open. And there were crabs running around in the bins. So the question is: would you rather be terrorized by creatures with no legs or creatures with too many legs? It’s not a trick question, really. Reddit user: mattieohya

Plane-parazzi

I work as a flight attendant in a pretty high-profile airport where lots of celebrities come through, and one day we had a C-list celebrity onboard in first class. One of his superfans spent the entire 6-hour flight trying to craft ways to get over to see and talk to him.

Some of these ideas included disguises like hats, fake mustaches, and changing outfits. Yes, he had all that on him. He only stopped when we threatened to literally stop the plane and kick him off. Could that have actually happened? Probably not, but he didn’t have to know. Reddit user: [redacted]

Don’t Make Me Throw You Into The Ocean

Let me set the scene for you: it is 9 at night on Hawaiian Airlines, and the flight attendants have just finished their coffee service. I’m sitting down, trying to get some sleep. The in-flight entertainment, however, has just begun: about three rows in front of me, a couple is having an argument.

The girlfriend is screaming at the boyfriend about how everything is awful. Favorite quotes for the girlfriend (the boyfriend said about three words during this time): “I AM LITERALLY WHISPERING RIGHT NOW” (heard from 10 rows forward and back). “Look what you’ve done. Everybody is looking at us, and you’re making a scene.”

During this argument, the flight attendants come over and ask her to calm down. Finally, one flight attendant walks to her row and says, “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to remain quiet or I will escort you off this plane.” Woman: (laughing) “We’re over the Pacific Ocean.” Flight attendant: “Yep.” Reddit user: SirCharlesofUSA

An Absolute Savior

We had a pretty intense event heading into Newark. A guy had a massive seizure in the aisle seat. I and a few others jumped up, and we got him out of the seat and laid down in the aisle. I was really happy that someone was a little more up to date on CPR (an Army medic and a nurse).

The nurse was an absolute savior. He was vomiting. She was trying to keep the airway clear and give him mouth to mouth, while the medic was doing compressions. His heart stopped and he didn’t breathe for about 5 minutes before they brought him back.

One flight attendant was totally freaking out. The other was amazing. When she had to get around the mass of people, she was walking on hand rests and leaning against the upper luggage storage. (737-sized aircraft. I forget if it was a 737 or Airbus.) That was the fastest I’ve ever gotten into Newark.

We were definitely close to VNE (speed never to exceed) on powered descent and had a straight-in approach. We didn’t hit a gate; the EMS met us just off the runway and came upstairs to get him boarded and off. We stabilized him as well as we could in the aisle for landing.

It’s the only time I’ve ever landed in an airliner without a belt. It was an intense and totally amazing outcome. I really thought we were going to be supporting a dead body during landing for a while. There were some heroes on the flight, and that kid lived because of it.I felt totally unprepared and was glad those people were there. It made me go out and re-up my CPR certifications and practice. Reddit user: joesacher