Have you ever witnessed anything on an airplane?

I read through these replies and it really amazes me that they still serve alcohol on planes, with all the problems it seems to cause.

That's not necessarily a problem since the FAs rarely come by with the beverage cart more than once per flight. What is a problem is the passengers who are liquored up before boarding. I mentioned the couple I saw just pounding down drink after drink. I think when it was all said and done, it was more than just the $100 tab I saw. They must have had about a dozen drinks each. If I had that much I might be dead.
 
That's not necessarily a problem since the FAs rarely come by with the beverage cart more than once per flight. What is a problem is the passengers who are liquored up before boarding. I mentioned the couple I saw just pounding down drink after drink. I think when it was all said and done, it was more than just the $100 tab I saw. They must have had about a dozen drinks each. If I had that much I might be dead.

I would be both broke and dead. :rotfl2:I think the last drink I had at the airport was at least 15-20 bucks.
 
I would be both broke and dead. :rotfl2:I think the last drink I had at the airport was at least 15-20 bucks.

I think they were only downing vodka tonics. I was more surprised that they didn't have to go to the bathroom. While they were drinking up a storm, I managed to nurse just one beer. I was chatting it up with this guy since he worked in sports broadcasting (I think he worked for the Cincinnati Reds working with their broadcast partners) and I knew a bit about some people in the industry he knew. He was remarkably lucid for someone who had at least 7 of those things over the course of an hour.
 
I think they were only downing vodka tonics. I was more surprised that they didn't have to go to the bathroom. While they were drinking up a storm, I managed to nurse just one beer. I was chatting it up with this guy since he worked in sports broadcasting (I think he worked for the Cincinnati Reds working with their broadcast partners) and I knew a bit about some people in the industry he knew. He was remarkably lucid for someone who had at least 7 of those things over the course of an hour.

My father's got a booze tolerance like that. It takes years and years of long layovers to develop it. :crazy2: He has that very careful drunk walk but that's it. I'm always amazed he can find his gate and board on time.
 


My father's got a booze tolerance like that. It takes years and years of long layovers to develop it. :crazy2: He has that very careful drunk walk but that's it. I'm always amazed he can find his gate and board on time.

I was playing blackjack once in Reno, and one guy at my table had a German-sounding accent and was just ordered one beer after another. He was obviously rather wasted, but it looked like he could remain in that state indefinitely. I never sensed that he would pass out or start puking, but after a while he wasn't making too much sense. He wasn't abusive to anyone, so I guess they didn't have any reason to eject him, but they kept on serving him one free drink after another. The sad part is that I think he was German, but his beer of choice was Corona with lime.
 
I was playing blackjack once in Reno, and one guy at my table had a German-sounding accent and was just ordered one beer after another. He was obviously rather wasted, but it looked like he could remain in that state indefinitely. I never sensed that he would pass out or start puking, but after a while he wasn't making too much sense. He wasn't abusive to anyone, so I guess they didn't have any reason to eject him, but they kept on serving him one free drink after another. The sad part is that I think he was German, but his beer of choice was Corona with lime.

I'm just trying to imagine drinking enough corona to reach that state. I could easily drink enough german beer to do so, but the buzz would not be worth it in the case of corona.
 
I'm just trying to imagine drinking enough corona to reach that state. I could easily drink enough german beer to do so, but the buzz would not be worth it in the case of corona.

I get buzzed off of one bottle of Pliny. What really surprised me about this guy is that he didn't even get out of his seat to go to the bathroom, and I'd been at the table with him for at least two hours.
 


I get buzzed off of one bottle of Pliny. What really surprised me about this guy is that he didn't even get out of his seat to go to the bathroom, and I'd been at the table with him for at least two hours.

That, too, is an acquired skill. It ends badly, or at least it did in my father's case- some kind of infection from the stretching of the bladder. I didn't want details.

But at least it made up for all the cracks he made on road trips about girls needing to stop every few hours:rotfl:
 
That, too, is an acquired skill. It ends badly, or at least it did in my father's case- some kind of infection from the stretching of the bladder. I didn't want details.

But at least it made up for all the cracks he made on road trips about girls needing to stop every few hours:rotfl:

Ah. Shades of Tycho Brahe.
 
Hey, I'm not blaming the kids. I'm blaming the adults who may or may not be abusing both their own and their children's baggage allowance. If the kid is old enough to handle their own roller bag the whole trip, that's one thing. But if a family of 4- 2 adults, 2 kids still young enough to be in a stroller- comes on board with 4 of the largest allowed carryon luggages plus 4 personal items, that's ridiculous. Yes, they're allowed. But anyone who abuses the luggage limits is part of the problem. I see this every single flight. I trust you know what your kid needs. I also have a hard time believing you can't fit clothing for two or three young kids in one carryon. But then, I also have a hard time believing my sister really needs 5 pairs of shoes for a 5 day trip. Apparently, she does. She was trying to convince me to stick them in my own luggage last trip.

Again- I am not solely blaming this on the kids. I agree that adults are guilty of overpacking. What I can check, I check. If I don't have anything breakable my bag, I'll gate check my carryon. It's just enormously frustrating to carry my computer bag or daypack on and then have to hunt for a place to stick it because the bins are full of roller bags that I know people brought on board just to save a measly $25. No one wants to spend that money.

But my point is- more people should, if only to make boarding a bit more of a pleasant (and faster) experience for everyone.
What you are missing - whether on purpose or not- is that kids carry one are often not clothing. In fact 90% of what is in my kids carry on bags are not clothing. As a parent I know what my kid needs and she carries it on. Her bear alone takes up 1/3 of her carry on but it does not go below. The other items keep her amused and happy during her flight which makes a better journey for everyone on the plane. I don't understand why a child having a carry on makes boarding any less pleasant than an adult trying to stuff a weeks worth of clothing in a carry on to save $25 by not checking a bag. I would think bring items to care for and amuse a child for a flight would be making the flight more pleasant for everyone.
 
I remember a near miss. While flying back from MCO a couple of years ago our flight was delayed multiple times and we ended up having to be rerouted to Atlanta and then on to DTW. On the flight from Atlanta DH and I sat next to a stoned guy. He wasn't belligerent but he was obnoxious and REEKED of pot. Going on and on about how he missed his flight because he was hustling through the airport to make his flight and just had to stop and talk to a pretty girl he saw working in a sunglass shop and he bought $80 worth of sunglasses and didn't even get her number then he was RUNNING through the airport and ran into an escalator and skinned his knee so he had to go to first aid and get a couple of band aids which he had bled through and stained his pants (which he proudly showed me). Then he saw a friend several rows up and started hollering "yo dawg!!!" to get his attention and tell him to come sit in an empty seat back near us.

Then the fun started. He was on his phone talking to a friend who was supposed to pick him up at the airport and making arrangements for going bar hopping that night while we are taxiing to the runway. This is, of course, against regulations. The FA kept telling him to turn the phone off and he was just ignoring her. She was getting pretty forceful but luckily he ended his conversation and turned it off before it got too bad. Then, thankfully, he fell asleep and stayed that way for the remainder of the flight. When we landed he woke up and started complaining that no one woke him when the drink cart came by and looked at me and said "whoa did I fall asleep?!?!?! Yo dawg, I think I stopped breathing!!! Did I stop breathing?" Yes, you stopped breathing for an entire two hours and magically started breathing again upon landing.

We were happy to get off that flight.
 
That's not necessarily a problem since the FAs rarely come by with the beverage cart more than once per flight. What is a problem is the passengers who are liquored up before boarding. I mentioned the couple I saw just pounding down drink after drink. I think when it was all said and done, it was more than just the $100 tab I saw. They must have had about a dozen drinks each. If I had that much I might be dead.

Its the people who are drunk even before they get to security and take forever to do the TSA hokey pokey. I'm all for having a cocktail on the way home from a business trip, but I do wonder why the airport bartenders don't cut people off. I've DEFINITELY seen the exact situation you describe more times than I can recollect. Especially with delays. Hell, I've seen people really drinking, we're not talking about a socialable bloody mary before a vacation, which is a great idea, but early in the morning. I have absolutely seen people on planes get cut off at least. In all my trips, I've never seen a drunk be the cause of a serious "scene" but they can be a problem and can be loud for sure, so can high schoolers though.
 
Last edited:
I'll happily sit next to the drunk who is going to fall asleep over the chatty/nosey people. More than once, I've had someone ask me what I'm doing. I reply "Tinder" and they think its the time to warn me about online dating/casual sex. I've made up some excellent stories to get the busybodies to stop talking to me.
 
Last edited:
Hey, I'm not blaming the kids. I'm blaming the adults who may or may not be abusing both their own and their children's baggage allowance. If the kid is old enough to handle their own roller bag the whole trip, that's one thing. But if a family of 4- 2 adults, 2 kids still young enough to be in a stroller- comes on board with 4 of the largest allowed carryon luggages plus 4 personal items, that's ridiculous. Yes, they're allowed. But anyone who abuses the luggage limits is part of the problem. I see this every single flight. I trust you know what your kid needs. I also have a hard time believing you can't fit clothing for two or three young kids in one carryon. But then, I also have a hard time believing my sister really needs 5 pairs of shoes for a 5 day trip. Apparently, she does. She was trying to convince me to stick them in my own luggage last trip.

Again- I am not solely blaming this on the kids. I agree that adults are guilty of overpacking. What I can check, I check. If I don't have anything breakable my bag, I'll gate check my carryon. It's just enormously frustrating to carry my computer bag or daypack on and then have to hunt for a place to stick it because the bins are full of roller bags that I know people brought on board just to save a measly $25. No one wants to spend that money.

But my point is- more people should, if only to make boarding a bit more of a pleasant (and faster) experience for everyone.

If everybody has their own seat on the plane then there's nothing ridiculous about it.
 
If everybody has their own seat on the plane then there's nothing ridiculous about it.

It may be if the kids can't handle any luggage and the parent(s) are struggling to get everything aboard. It's no fun when someone is blocking the aisle or bumping luggage into other passengers. That may be the ideal situation for checking in luggage, but of course that costs extra these days.
 
I've not had anything horrible happen, but one time when I was flying from the US to Australia a family got on with 3 kids and they had only purchased 2 seats, claiming that all 3 of the kids were under the minimum age to buy a seat. In my judgement the oldest was at least 5. Anyway, in wasn't a very full flight, and they proceeded to move to the row where i was sitting and take up the entire row (except for my seat) so they could have 5 seats. The flight attendant saw and made them go back to their original seats and hold all 3 children on their laps for the entire 14-hour flight. It must have been torture (and the people seemed really mad about it) but I really thought they were just trying to game the system.

One other time when I was flight back to my home airport we hit bad turbulence and the guy in front of me flew up out of his seat and his head hit the ceiling. I was glad I was wearing my seatbelt!
 
The flight attendant saw and made them go back to their original seats and hold all 3 children on their laps for the entire 14-hour flight. It must have been torture (and the people seemed really mad about it) but I really thought they were just trying to game the system.

That FA is my hero. I've seen people have more than 1 "lapchild" and I think its an absolute hazard. There aren't enough oxygen masks, if there is serious turbulence how can they hold them both well?
 
It may be if the kids can't handle any luggage and the parent(s) are struggling to get everything aboard. It's no fun when someone is blocking the aisle or bumping luggage into other passengers. That may be the ideal situation for checking in luggage, but of course that costs extra these days.
You could say the same thing about elderly people who can't lift their luggage to the overhead. Or even short people.
 
That FA is my hero. I've seen people have more than 1 "lapchild" and I think its an absolute hazard. There aren't enough oxygen masks, if there is serious turbulence how can they hold them both well?

Personally I think the idea of a "lap child" is pretty horrendous in the first place. It goes back to a time when car passengers weren't required to wear seat belts and parents would hold kids in their laps in the front seat.

However, I thought international travel usually required a fare for that. It might have been something like 10% of an adult fare. However, any child will get the full baggage allowance, which still exists for international.

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/baggage/infant.aspx
 
Personally I think the idea of a "lap child" is pretty horrendous in the first place. It goes back to a time when car passengers weren't required to wear seat belts and parents would hold kids in their laps in the front seat.

However, I thought international travel usually required a fare for that. It might have been something like 10% of an adult fare. However, any child will get the full baggage allowance, which still exists for international.

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/baggage/infant.aspx

I've never seen a lapchild on an international flight now that you mention it. Weird, I'd never thought about it. When I travel for business, and the flight is 7-8 hours they usually put us in business and I have decent status, so its been probably 10 years since I flew coach overseas. I'm with you on the whole thing though, it seems like its an accident waiting to happen to VERY ill effect.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top