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World's worst-behaved air passengers
  • If you're a non-smoker, you won't be able to think of anything worse than a smoker lighting up a cigarette next to you on a flight. Three Canadian passengers on a Sunwing flight did just that in February 2013 - even though smoking has been banned on aircrafts for more than 15 years. And what's more, they refused to put their cigarettes out and ended up diverting the flight, which was travelling from Halifax to the Dominican Republic, to Bermuda. When the plane landed, their passports were seized by police, while the other passengers continued their journey.
  • A British holidaymaker was banned for life from flying with Ryanair over his "inappropriate behaviour" which included passing out in the loo for 30 minutes and harassing women. When he was arrested in Tenerife, Spanish police were forced to wrestle him to the ground. One witness said he "kept trying to touch the girls sat in front of him" and tried to fight a man who stuck up for him. The man also locked himself in the toilet, assaulted cabin crew and had to be dragged off the flight by his feet and arms.
  • American passenger Joe Rickey Hundley was on a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta when he slapped a crying toddler, leaving a scratch below the boy's right eye. Hundley also used a racial slur to refer to the 19-month-old boy who was sitting on his mother's lap. According to the FBI, when the child started crying, he leaned over to the boy's mother and "told her to shut that (N-word) baby up".
  • Thought a naughty child kicking your chair was bad? In August 2013, 30 adults created the flight from hell when they ran riot on a Ryanair flight from Prestwick to Ibiza, swearing, threatening and even sexually harassing crew in front of other holidaymakers, including families with young children. The men were warned by police about their behaviour before boarding but this didn't stop their drunken rampage, which saw them shouting and jumping on the seats too.
  • One US Airways plane passenger was removed by men in hazmat suits and tested for ebola after joking that he had the fatal disease. The 54-year-old man reportedly yelled, "I have Ebola, you are all screwed," on a flight from Philadelphia to the Dominican Republic and added, "I've been to Africa!". When the plane arrived in Punta Cana, a medical team boarded the plane and removed the man. He was found not to be infected with the virus, and it also transpired that he had never been to Africa.
  • In June 2013, a man on a United Airlines flight from Hong Kong to New York told flight attendants he had "poisoned everyone on board". There was no indication that anyone had actually been poisoned but imagine having to spend the rest of a long-haul flight wondering if someone had tampered with your airline meal. FBI agents waited to meet the flight as it landed and the passenger was restrained by fellow travellers after making the claim.
  • Terrified passengers on board an easyJet plane had to overpower a man who twice attempted to open a cabin door mid-flight at 35,000ft. The man, in his 40s, became agitated during the flight from Krakow to Edinburgh and started pacing up and down the aisles while clutching onto a flight safety instruction card, which detailed how to open the exit during an emergency situation. He then put on his rucksack and lunged for the door handle before being tackled by cabin crew and passengers and forcing an emergency landing at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
  • If the sound of babies crying on a flight is disruptive enough to your journey, you certainly wouldn't have enjoyed the American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to New York, which saw an "unruly" passenger repeatedly sing Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You. We've watched the video and the woman is no Whitney Houston! She ended up being handcuffed and removed from the flight - but not before putting the other passengers off Whitney's music for life!
  • One passenger was forced to clean up his own mess after he pulled down his pants and urinated in the plane galley on a flight to Johannesburg. The passenger was reportedly intoxicated and wanted to use the bathroom during takeoff. He was reminded to take his seat during takeoff but then decided to walk to the front of the plane and urinate in full view of fellow passengers. The man was detained when the flight landed.
  • A plane destined for Edinburgh had to be diverted to Gatwick Airport after a woman allegedly threw her prosthetic leg at cabin crew. Police said trouble kicked off when the woman, 48, began "swearing blue murder" and throwing food at staff on the Thomson Airlines flight. The captain became so alarmed by her behaviour that he diverted the plane and the woman was arrested by police when upon landing.
  • A man who had several drinks during his stopover in London told flight attendants, "I am going to f****** kill you, I am going to open this door, I am going to set off a bomb," when he was approached about his behaviour on a flight to Los Angeles. The captain gave him a warning to which he responded mockingly, "Ooo, El Capitan, can I pretend to be a stewardess?" He was eventually handcuffed and restrained by four flight attendants but spat at them.
  • One passenger was removed from an American Airlines flight after flipping out over a 'merry Christmas' greeting. The man was waiting for a flight from New York to Dallas when a gate agent welcomed passengers with the cheerful greeting while checking boarding passes. He said: "You shouldn't say that because not everyone celebrates Christmas." The agent replied, "Well, what should I say then?" The man shouted, "Don't say, 'Merry Christmas!'"  before brushing passed her. Once on the flight, he received another festive welcome by a flight attendant. The man began shouting and refused to calm down. He was removed from the flight as other passengers cheered.
  • Passenger Orion Koshinsky, 23, was on his way to rehab in Florida when he reportedly claimed to be a soldier to get free drinks before threatening to kill a flight attendant and forcing an emergency landing. He allegedly stood up and said: "I want to make sure everybody on the plane knows that I'm in the military and you can buy me drinks." Flight attendant Jeannie Piel told the FBI his behaviour changed "very quickly". After refusing to unbuckle his seat belt, she says he violently snapped and said: "Don't touch me, I'll kill you!" The pilot was alerted and the flight was diverted.
  • In one incident that will make you cringe, a British woman was caught having sex in a plane toilet with a male passenger she had just met - while her parents sat just metres away. The 'drunken' 20-year-old was travelling on a Virgin Atlantic flight from London Gatwick to Las Vegas for a family holiday when she disappeared to the toilet with the man sitting next to her. And as if this wasn't embarrassing enough, she then had to be handcuffed to her seat after verbally abusing cabin crew. A passenger told The Sun: "She was travelling with her mum and dad, and she started getting heated with the guy sitting next to her. They went to the bathroom, and people could hear loud noises. The cabin crew forced the door open. Then she really kicked off, screaming drunken abuse."
  • A passenger who took her pig on a US Airways flight was asked to leave when it became disruptive. The pig was travelling with the woman for emotional support. A passenger who was sat next to her said: "We could smell it and it was a pig on a leash. She tethered it to the arm rest next to me and started to deal with her stuff, but the pig was walking back and forth. I was terrified, because I was thinking I'm gonna be on the plane with the pig."
  • A Dutchman travelling to Frenc Guiana was caught trying to smuggle more than a dozen live hummingbirds inside his pants. The tiny birds were discovered hidden in special pouches sewn inside his underwear. They were individually wrapped in cloth and taped up to stop them from escaping. Airport officials noticed the passenger fidgeting and acting suspiciously, and, unsurprisingly, the man was detained by customs officers.
  • And if you thought what you've already seen was bad, feast your eyes on the most inconsiderate passengers in the world. One former flight attendant who has witnessed everything, from people clipping their fingernails on the plane to others putting their feet where they don't belong is exposing the worst behaved passengers on website passengershaming.com. See more flyers you don't want to be sat next to on a plane in a roundup.

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