I know Huffington Post has a reputation for being at times sensationalistic in its blogging of events and news. So I’m not sure how much of this is a HufPo slant and how much of it reflects an air travel trend but….
I had to note that there were no fewer than three write-ups chronicling bad in-flight behavior the last time I checked the Travel vertical.
1/ A 28-year-old Yemeni male passenger pounds on the cockpit door during an American Airlines flight before the plane lands and is wrestled to the ground
2/ A female passenger strips naked on a Delta Airlines flight
3/ A drunk male passenger hits on a neighboring passenger’s wife and then sticks his hand up a flight attendant’s dress and cops a feel
Now, I know we’re used to celebrities behaving badly in-flight or not (see: Courtney Love, Jonathan Rhys-Myers and Keith Richards for reference) so I dub this–in honor of the latter–the ‘Keith Richards Effect.’ Let’s face it, serving a rock star–especially a legendary one–on a plane is worse than babysitting a colicky 2-year-old.
But the folks perpetrating these antics are mere mortals, civilians, shall I say. Could this be part of an overall regressive jet-setter trend?
Perhaps I’m being a tad naive. Surely this kind of bawdy and boisterous chicanery goes on daily in-flight and the brave men and women behind the winged badges are the ones who survive to ‘tell the tale.’
This sets up a brilliant premise for a TV show which could be virally launched via a website or YouTube page. I see that unrulypassenger.com has already been purchased but passengersbehavingbadly.com is available for all you entrepreneurial folks with a Charles Bukowski streak and a raunchy Benny Hill sense of humor.
Related: The VIP Side of Frankfurt Airport
