In a post on Reddit user jcforbes OP shared the story of a flight from hell, with a passenger who eventually got taken care of. But not before ruining everyone else's flight. Here's his story.
Just finally got to my destination after this one. I was flying CLT-LAX. A man and a woman boarded with 4 children aged roughly 4-8. First they didn't book seats together and made a stink to get people to switch seats with them to get the 6 to sit together.
After an hour into the flight two girls started skipping and running from the middle of the plane up to the cockpit and back repeatedly. They bored of it and sat down eventually. Maybe 3 hours in a boy starts sprinting from one end of the plane to the other incessantly. Many passengers complained.
A flight attendant got him to stop. That lasted 15 minutes and off to the races he goes again. Somebody else complains and he stops... Briefly. Now, a male flight attendant had enough, escorts the boy back to his seat, and forcefully tells the parents to control the kids.
This is where I took my headphones off due to the yelling. The father is LIVID at being told to control his kids. He's screaming about having 4 kids and only two adults. He's screaming about the flight attendant touching his kid. He threatened to sue multiple times. Finally the attendant yells 'put your f**king mask on and sit the fuck down'.
The dude loses his sh*t even more and yells back 'I have your information, I will find you and I will [threat] you'. That's the moment I knew my night was going to suck.
It took a while, but eventually all of the attendants gathered and restrained the guy. Little while later we were told by the pilot we had to turn to Albuquerque and land. We stayed on the plane and local police escorted the guy off [edit for clarity: whole family was removed]. As I was one of few that wasn't wearing headphones they got my info, then sent the FBI on and interviewed me.
After that we were told there was no fuel truck available to top us off, so they had to send one in. Then the maintenance guy that needed to sign off on the plane was at home and had to be called in. We eventually got going and made it to LAX about two hours late.
Here's a Q&A with OP:
What on earth is wrong with people. How is this remotely appropriate behaviour in the eyes of the parents. I hope they got a lifetime ban (hopeful I know!)
jcforbes OP
I'm pretty sure that once a flight is diverted and you leave in handcuffs that's an automatic no-fly list. I sure hope so at least.
I know there are restaurants that don't allow kids because they had unruly childrend before... maybe they should to something similar with flights?
jcforbes OP
Honestly I disagree. There was several other children on the flight that were behaving perfectly. Don't punish the many for the actions of the few.
Apparently dad never heard of the no fly list.
jcforbes OP
At one point he and mom were yelling at each other long after the altercation. I broke a bit and yelled 'PLEASE JUST SHUT THE F**K UP'. He responded 'what are you going to do about it?'. I said I'm gonna laugh when you are on the no fly list lol.
Talk to the FBI wow was the problem that bad? And how did that go?
jcforbes OP
If you commit a crime on an airplane (like threatening someone) you are in federal jurisdiction, not state. Thus, the FBI is the lowest agency to investigate such things.
Dude was nice, got my info, fairly short conversation.
I heard about this flight but didn't know it was about kids running up and down the aisle. What the actual f**k?!?! How can anyone think that's appropriate? It's not okay for safety reasons and it's not okay for the comfort of others.
jcforbes OP
Yeah I was sleeping when the kid woke me up about 3 different times. At one point I'd called the attendant about it, as did others. When we were in ABQ the other passengers were all talking about how they wanted to trip the kid lol.
Serious question: In hindsight, only losing two hours, what is your feeling having witnessed this karma? Obviously sorry you were inconvenienced.
jcforbes OP
It was a bit fun, kinda like a live action in flight entertainment lol. First time talking to the FBI so that was neat. I'm most annoyed at the brat that woke me up when I was sleeping on the flight and he decided to cosplay Usain Bolt.