As post-pandemic travel numbers continue to soar and the industry struggles to find the staff necessary to meet demand, many passengers have also been expressing their frustration with the industry by behaving badly.
The annual International Air Transport Association report found an increase of everything from outright physical violence to verbal abuse of flight crew and evading smoking and vaping bans
DON'T MISS: United Airlines Flight Forced to Make Emergency Landing for a Ridiculous Reason
On August 1, a United Airlines (UAL) -) flight between Houston and Los Angeles was forced to divert to Phoenix after a passenger started getting disruptive because she reportedly "couldn't get her wine."
'United Airlines Wine Karen' Goes TikTok Viral
Calling the traveler "United Airlines Wine Karen," fellow passenger Blake Perkins posted footage from United flight 1813 on Bytedance-owned TikTok. In it, a flight attendant is heard telling the woman that they were going to "land the plane" and lead her off "in handcuffs" if she did not sit down.
The woman, in turn, is heard saying things like "she's accusing me" and "beat me up."
In the video, a different flight attendant is also heard telling the passenger that she was drinking wine when she was "not allowed to." As wine is typically served on flights of this length, this most likely means that the woman was drinking something she brought aboard herself — a clear violation of airline rules.
"I gave you a hug because you told me you were having anxiety and I hugged you, and I knew you were drinking wine and you're not allowed to and I still let you on the aircraft," the same flight attendant is heard saying.
The first flight attendant's warning was ultimately enforced because, according to a statement from United, "law enforcement officials met the aircraft on arrival and removed the passenger." The other passengers waited in their seats and the flight ultimately took off on its scheduled journey to Los Angeles.
The airline also said that the woman has been "barred from future United flights" while the airline "reviews the matter."
Plane Diverted Because of Passenger Meltdown
Perkins' posted several minute-long videos of the incident on his TikTok account — the most-viewed one received over 1.4 million views and 96,000 likes.
"Yesterday was insanity," Perkins writes in the caption of another video. "Had our entire flight landed so she could get arrested because she couldn't get wine on the flight lmao."
Another food-and-drink-related United Airlines plane fight occurred when, on July 7, a plane going from Houston to Amsterdam made an emergency landing in Chicago after one of the passengers in first class reportedly grew belligerent over his in-flight meal.
While United has only confirmed that it "landed safely following a passenger disturbance," aviation industry insider Twitter account @XJonNYC reported that the passenger became increasingly "livid over the fact his 1st choice of meal was not available."
The passenger was also led off the plane by law enforcement before the plane could continue on its planned route while airline industry fanatics quickly dug up that a similar flight would typically offer first-class passengers a choice between seared beef short rib, lemongrass salmon and ricotta salata with wild honey manicotti as their main meal — a choice that the passenger evidently felt extremely strongly about.
