A pilot has been praised for making an example of an "entitled" woman who rushed to the front of a plane so she could be the first one off - before the plane had even landed after its mammoth eight-hour flight. The unnamed woman ignored the fact the seatbelt sign was on - and dismissed cabin crew's requests for her to return to her seat - and instead sprinted down the aisle to the aeroplane door, as reported by the Mirror.
A passenger on the plane explained: "The woman in the back unbuckled and darted to the front of the plane to get off first. She did not make any eye contact and felt that she was special. I'm talking about going from the very last seat on the plane, down the whole row and past first class, basically standing at the little kitchen thing in the front!
"The seat belt sign was still on and we were still rolling down the runway. The flight crew had asked her to return to her seat until we reached the gate but she was not even responding!" You can get more stories like this and other news updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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The passenger added: "Suddenly the captain announced we had a special guest onboard and he will be coming out to greet them after we were settled at the gate! The woman stood there awkwardly until we did the whole rolling into the gate thing, and whatever planes do when they land, for about 15 to 20 minutes.
"Everyone sat there waiting to see what the captain was talking about. Eventually the captain came out and asked the lady to please move back a little to get to his special guest, then a little more, then a little more.
"He was looking from row to row trying to find a specific person. Everyone is watching and looking around to see who it could be. Finally, as they approached the rear of the plane he asked her to sit for a second while he grabbed the intercom at the rear of the plane.
"[He said] 'Ladies and gentleman, I'd like to announce our special guest sitting in seat 42C. Lets give her a round of applause'. The whole plane went wild with laughter and applause. I loved every moment of that!"
The amusing story has been shared on Reddit - and hundreds of users have praised the pilot for his quick-witted response. "That pilot is a hero to the people!" said one impressed Reddit user. "I was hoping that the special guest was a federal marshal coming onboard to arrest the woman for refusing to follow safety-related commands given by members of the flight crew!" added another.
But some Reddit users felt the pilot was being unfair in taking the mick out of the woman. "Sometimes when a plane is late getting in there are people that have a connecting flight that will be very tight to make," one user said. "They need to get off the plane quickly to have any chance at their connection!"
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