Over and over again, flight attendants share stories of how passengers forget their respect or just generally take out their frustration over the travel experience on them.
“The flights are fuller but the attitudes are also fuller,” Tyesha Best, a flight attendant with JetBlue Airways (JBLU) and head of the Orlando branch of the Transportation Workers Union Local 579 union, described to TheStreet last year. “I saw a significant change during covid.“
Related: An American Airlines Captain's Rant on Plane Etiquette Is Going Viral
Tensions came to a head when an American Airlines (AAL) flight from New York to the Guyanese capital of Georgetown was forced to turn back around to JFK after a disagreement in which the passenger kept calling the flight attendant “waiter.”
This is what went wrong on American Airlines Flight 2557
While the incident occurred on July 18 of last year, it came to light this week after a local Guyanese newspaper, Starboek News, dug up the flight details of the flight diversion.
More Travel:
- A new travel term is taking over the internet (and reaching airlines and hotels)
- The 10 best airline stocks to buy now
- Airlines see a new kind of traveler at the front of the plane
It reports that a “passenger on board referred to a member of the cabin crew as a waiter” after a disagreement they had before takeoff. The man had reportedly recently had surgery and asked for help placing his bag in the overhead compartment. The flight attendant said that he “doesn’t do that, I’m not paid for that.”
Related: JetBlue flight attendant shares passenger horror stories
Passenger’s attitude came from earlier disagreement with flight attendant
When the plane took off and the same flight attendant started beverage service an hour later, the passenger started referring to him as “waiter.”
“A nickname that didn’t sit well with the steward, escalating their exchanges, which caught the attention of the pilots,” web outlet WECB reports. “They decided to divert the flight and return to JFK Airport in New York, where the passenger was removed from the aircraft by the crew.”
Several flight attendants reportedly told the passenger to stop but he didn’t. The increasingly loud disagreement caught the attention of the pilots and the plane ended up turning back around to JFK approximately two hours into the flight. The traveler was met by security upon landing while others aboard the flight were given some airline miles as compensation for the inconvenience.
“Safety and security are our top priorities,” American Airlines told media outlets in a comment on the situation. “We thank our customers for their understanding and our team members for their professionalism in handling a difficult situation.”
While arguments that do not turn physical seem like an extreme reason to turn the plane around, this often occurs when the pilots or senior flight attendants on crew decide that the passengers are belligerent and acting in unpredictable ways.
In December 2023, a Lufthansa (DLAKF) plane traveling from Germany's Munich to Thailand's Bangkok was diverted to New Delhi halfway through the flight due to an argument between a couple onboard.
Information provided to airport officials later revealed that a 53-year-old German man "threw food, tried to burn a blanket using a lighter, shouted at his wife and did not follow the instructions issued by the crew." The man was taken off the flight and arrested while his wife was allowed to continue to her destination.
