It is, apparently, the season for flying nutters
In late January, a United Airlines flight from New York to Tel Aviv had to return to the US after two imbeciles moved themselves from their economy class seats to empty ones in business class and then refused to move.
The enitled Israeli passengers refused to provide proof they had been allocated seats in business class.
The pair decided to upgrade themselves on the half-empty flight, Israeli media reported.
Flight attendants asked the dumb duo for proof that they were sitting in their assigned seats, The pair objected and the pilot then turned back to Newark Liberty International Airport.
United Airlines provided passengers with meal vouchers, hotels, and alternative flights to Tel Aviv after the disruption.
The same week, an American Airlines passenger who refused to wear her face mask forced a flight to London from Miami to divert back to Florida roughly an hour into the journey.
Meanwhile, a man charged with groping a flight attendant has been sentenced to six months in prison.
Enio Socorro Zayas was sentenced in the US District Court in the Southern District of Florida, court documents show.
He was indicted after an incident on August 6 last year on board an American Airlines flight from Cancun in Mexico to Miami International Airport.
According to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, a flight attendant, believing Zayas was asleep, placed a snack package on his lap.
When she turned away, the flight attendant "felt a hand grip the bottom of her thigh and move upwards towards the lower portion of her buttocks before rubbing firmly from side to side," the affidavit read.
Zayas pleaded guilty to assault in October.
Disruptive passenger behaviour has been a serious problem during the pandemic.
Nearly 6,000 reports of unruly behaviour were reported in 2021, according to the Federal Aviation Administration - and that is for incidents on US carriers only.
Image: Erica Vigilante, scop.io
