(I’m a flight attendant. I ask a passenger what she wants to drink.) 

Passenger: “Coffee… black with two sugars, please.”

(I repeat it back to confirm and she nods. I hand her a coffee with two sugar packets on the side.)

Passenger: *as she takes it from me* “Two more sugars, please.”

Me: “Oh, sorry, I thought you said two.” 

Passenger: “I did. But when I said two I really mean four.”

Me: “…”

(My husband and I are the couple from “A Long Time Ago, In A Ballet Performance Far, Far Away.” We’re flying from New York to Washington State for an Alaskan cruise. He’s a very nervous flyer, and this is a long trip. The plane starts to rumble down the tarmac for takeoff.)

Husband: *looks nervous and a little sick*

Me: “Just pretend the plane is the Millennium Falcon, and we’re blasting off from Mos Eisley spaceport.”

Husband: *smiles and remembers why he married me*

(He was fine, the plane was fine, and we had a great trip.)

(I am a flight attendant. We always get some weirdos at work, but this one conversation recently has particularly stuck with me. Context: we are boarding a flight to Baltimore, and we have assigned seats.)

Passenger: “Hey, can we just sit anywhere?”

Me: “No, sir, it’s assigned seating! Your seat is printed on your boarding pass.”

Coworker: “The seat number is in the bottom right corner.”

Passenger: “Yeah, I saw it.”

Coworker & Me: *internally screaming*

(Flying on short notice one trip leaves my young daughter and me seated separately; I am in an aisle seat in one row and she is one row back on the opposite side in the center seat. My daughter gets airsick. After I inquire about changing seats to be together, the flight attendant says to wait until boarding is complete and then ask the occupants. A businessman sits down in the aisle seat next to my daughter.)

Me: “Sir, would you mind changing your aisle seat for my aisle seat so I can sit next to my daughter?”

Businessman: “NO! I requested this seat and if you can’t manage to plan your trip to be seated together, then that’s your problem.”

Me: *rather taken aback at his obvious attack at such a simple request* “Okay.”

(I get up and collect three “barf bags” from my seat pocket and those next to me, and I stand in the aisle next to the businessman and reach over him to hand said bags to my daughter.) 

Me: “Here you go, honey. Use these on take-off; I’m sure this ‘gentleman’ will help.”

(Then, I smiled sweetly at said businessman and went back to my seat. I’ve never seen someone change his mind about a seat change so fast. The flight attendant got a good laugh out of it, too!)

I am flying home from Spain with my two-year-old son. The airline gave us the option of pre-selecting our seats beforehand to ensure that I would be next to my son.

However, bizarrely, our seating arrangements put me on the window and him on the aisle with a space in between.

I try to appeal to the stewardess but she tells me that I will have to ask the person who was assigned the seat if they will move.

Just before takeoff, a group of lads boards the plane. They are wearing matching shirts. All of them look worse for wear and are clearly coming home from a stag do/lads holiday.

One of the lads comes and sits in the seat between me and my two-year-old. I ask nicely if he wants to move to either the aisle or the window, but he declines. In fact, his exact words are, “Don’t rabbit on at me, love. I’ve had a long week and I just want to sleep off some of these drinks.”

Fair enough.

What follows is what I can only describe as a nightmare to a childless, 21-year-old male with a hangover.

My son decides that this new man is his best friend. He asks him every question under the sun. He tries to get him to play Paw Patrol and help him with his colouring. When the drinks trolley comes around, the man has to help him with his drink as I can’t reach.

This goes on for an hour before I get up and take my son to the toilet.

When I get back to our seats, the man has silently moved to the window seat and fallen asleep against the glass.

I did warn him.

This story is part of our Spain-themed roundup!

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