I work for a major American airline, and I’ve had a plethora of entitled people call me in my career so far, but this story takes the cake.

I pick up the phone.

Me: “Thanks for calling [Airline]. How can I help you?”

Caller: “I’d like to get seats for my flight.”

Me: “Do you have your confirmation number?”

Caller: “No, but I’ve been on hold for an hour!”

Me: “Okay, ma’am. Do you have anything I can use to help you look up the flight information?”

Ten minutes later…

Me: “Okay. I see that is a [Retailer’s Travel Agency] thirty-party booking with [UK Airline] but as a whole domestic flight.”

What this means is that, for some reason, [Retailer] booked this passenger on flights within the USA, but technically, [UK Airline] controls the flights.

Me: “This means there will be an external reservation fee of $50 per person.”

Caller: “Okay. I just need seats so my family can sit together.”

I pull up the seat map.

Me: “Okay, ma’am, I see we only have paid seats available to seat your family together; they are the only seats left open on the plane.”

Caller: “What? I’m not going to pay for those seats! You all need to accommodate me as I have a fifteen-year-old who isn’t sitting near me!”

Me: “Well, ma’am, I am just telling you what I have available; [Retailer] booked the seats how they did when you were booking with them.”

Caller: “My fifteen-year-old will have an anxiety attack if you don’t seat us together!”

Me: “Ma’am, while I understand what you are saying, a fifteen-year-old is old enough under our rules to be a young adult traveling alone.”

Caller: “Well, you are going to have a ‘young adult traveling alone’ who’ll have a panic attack if you don’t give me those seats, you f***er!”

Me: “Ma’am, do not curse at me again, or I will end the call and make sure that the next agent who gets a call from you understands how you treat us.”

Caller: “Okay, I’m sorry. Please don’t hang up on me. So, what can you do to seat us together?”

Me: “Again, ma’am, we only have the Main Cabin Extra seats available. I cannot unassign other passengers from their seats.”

Caller: “You know, I don’t like your tone. You have a bad attitude!”

Me: “Ma’am, I am just working within the rules corporate has given me.”

Caller: “Listen here, you f***er!”

Me: “And I’ll be disconnecting you due to your bad attitude.” *Click*

I’m a Disrupted Operations Supervisor (DOS) for my airline — the same person from this story. The story here happened before that one, back in 2020, when I was twenty-six years old, had been a DOS for two years already, and had been a shift supervisor for a year before that.

This story happens the day after I gave birth to triplets (one boy and two girls), so, as you can imagine, I am feeling tired and sore when I get a phone call from one of my airline’s supervisors at the airport where I work. She’s a thirty-year-old woman who was promoted last month, transferring from a smaller airport.

Supervisor: “Hey, [My Name], I know you’re on vacation, but we have a plane doing an emergency diversion landing in thirty minutes, and since you’re the DOS, we need you here.”

Me: “First, I’m not on vacation but on maternity leave. Second, the DOS manual I wrote for these situations is on my desk in front of the PC, which you know as a supervisor. Third, I’ve been home for two months, and since I just gave birth to three babies, I’m gonna be on leave for another six months, so the protocol is the same as for my days off. The supervisor on duty is in charge of fixing whatever goes wrong with a flight.”

Supervisor: *Raising her voice* “Listen, young lady! I don’t care if think you’re a bigshot, but if a supervisor calls, you answer ‘yes’ and run to work!”

Me: *Interrupting her* “You realize that I’m above you in the company, at the same rank as a station manager, right? You don’t talk like that to anybody, let alone me, so I’m going to hang up, call the station manager, and ask him what’s going on, okay? Cool. Bye.”

I hung up, called [Station Manager], explained what had happened, and went to breastfeed the babies.

Later that day, [Station Manager] called to tell me that he had taken control of the situation, as [Supervisor] had put my manual in the trash while calling me a whore, was screaming like a lunatic at the staff, and even threw a monitor at him. He informed me that she no longer worked with us, congratulated me, and said to bring the kids to the airport for a visit as soon as possible.

The triplets are now three years old, very happy, and their eleven-year-old sister’s joys and darlings.

Related:
The Cringe Heard ‘Round The World
Could’ve Been An Email

I have paid extra for seat allocation for my flight since I like having a window seat. A mother and her maybe-ten-year-old son have been seated in the two seats next to me. The mother looks at me, tuts, and just stares at me expectantly.

Me: “Yes?”

Mother: “Well? My son wants the window seat. You need to move.”

If she had been polite, I would have obliged. I might have paid for the seat, but it’s only a three-hour flight, and I know it can be tough managing kids on flights, even short ones, so I sometimes have sympathy. Not with this mother, though.

Me: “No, I don’t think I will. I paid for this seat specifically, thanks.”

Mother: “You heartless b****! My son needs to sit by the window!”

Me: “Then maybe you should have reserved a specific seat like I did. Take care.”

With that, I close my eyes, put on my headphones, and lean my head against the window

A minute or two later, my shoulder is being aggressively tapped. I open my eyes and see the angry mother glaring at me, hands on my shoulder, with one of the flight attendants protesting. I take off my headphones.

Flight Attendant: “—not to touch other passengers, ma’am!”

Mother: “The b**** was ignoring me!

The flight attendant stares pointedly at the mother’s own child.

Flight Attendant: “Ma’am, please calm your language; there are children present.”

The flight attendant looks at me with a sympathetic look.

Flight Attendant: “Ma’am, apologies to interrupt you, but may I please see your boarding pass?”

Me: “Absolutely! I’m always happy to oblige people who ask nicely.”

I present my boarding pass.

Flight Attendant: *To the mother* “Ma’am, this is the lady’s assigned seat, so she doesn’t have to move. Please take your assigned seats and prepare for take-off.”

Mother: “You need to make concessions for my child! He needs the window seat—”

Mother’s Child: “Mom, I don’t care! It’s you who always wants the window seat.”

With that revelation from a thoroughly embarrassed child, I go back to my music, and mother and child take their seats.

After the in-flight meal is served, the mother gets up to use the toilet and the boy speaks to me.

Mother’s Child: “Sorry about her. I usually travel with my dad because this kind of stuff always happens with my mom.”

Me: “It’s okay. It’s nice to know you’ve learned some manners despite… well…”

Mother’s Child: “Yeah… Thanks for standing up to her.”

And with that, he went back to his iPad and I went back to sleep. Stay strong, little man. Keep that apple far from the tree.

Me: “So, you’re looking at flights from London to Los Angeles on July 3rd? Prices come in at £950 return, but if you travel the next day, it drops to £650.”

Caller: “Why does it drop so suddenly on July 4th?”

Me: “Well, most Americans won’t be travelling on that day, so it’s cheaper.”

Caller: “Why… Oh, wait. That’s like American New Year, isn’t it?”

Me: “Haha, not quite. It’s their Independence Day.”

Caller: “Independent? From whom?”

Me: “From… us. From Britain.”

Caller: “Oh, really? When did that happen?”

Me: “I can’t recall exactly, but 1776 rings a bell.”

Caller: “Oh, so it wasn’t that thing I saw on the news the other day?”

Me: “Doubtful, madam.” 

Caller: “Oh, well, anyway, I’ll take the flight on the fourth. I’ll save some money, and I don’t have to worry about American Christmas.”

Customers buying plane tickets at the airline’s customer service desk at the airport rarely happens outside of the movies, but it does happen occasionally.

Customer: “I need the next flight out; it’s urgent.”

Me: “What is your destination, sir?”

Customer: “It doesn’t matter! Just your next flight!” 

Me: “Uh… well, that would be Chicago in about forty minutes.”

Customer: “No, you idiot! International flight!”

Me: “That would be London Heathrow in about seventy minutes.”

Customer: “London, as in England?”

Me: “The United Kingdom, yes.”

Customer: “Do they have extradition treaties with the US?”

Me: “I… believe they do, sir.”

Customer: “S***! When is the next flight out to a country that doesn’t have extradition rights with the US?”

Me: “I… don’t have that knowledge to hand, sir.”

Customer: “Ugh! Useless! Fine, I’ll take the flight to London, but if they find me when I get there, I’ll complain!”

This guy spent $3,000 for a last-minute economy ticket to London, one-way. Just to be safe, I told my manager, who in turn told airport security and TSA, but I don’t know what came of it.

I wonder if “they” found him?