Reddit Stories
With 2,900,000 passengers flying annually, there are a lot of recounts of weird things happening on planes. And fortunately, many of these flyers have shared their experiences on Reddit and given us a lot of stories to talk about.
From near collisions with other planes to straight-up human stupidity, there's a lot to get through. Let's get started on some of the weirdest stories from frequent flyers while high up in the sky onboard a plane.
Near Miss
One Redditor recounted their harrowing experience with a near miss while on one flight. They saw the light in the distance from out of his window. He asked the passenger next to him if he could see them too. Unfortunately, he could.
The two men feared the worst as they realized that it was another plane, and as it got closer, they could see into the cabin windows. Thankfully the plane ducked below their plane just before it would have collided. Now that's a close call!
Human Stupidity
Another Redditor remembers a passenger displaying what has to be the single most dumb thing you can do on an airplane. They told the Redditor that they were getting up to use the restroom. Nothing weird about that, wrong!
The passenger then got up marched towards the bathroom. But the Redditor noticed that they then walked straight past it towards the emergency exit - the one that will depressurize the cabin! Thankfully a flight attendant quickly stopped the man from opening the wrong door.
"Kick Me."
A Redditor had an encounter with a particularly nasty steward that would sigh at any request or downright refuse to do the simplest things. Soon the entire plane got in on a joke at his expense.
Someone managed to tape a "Kick Me" sign on his back which he walked around with for two hours. Every passenger would laugh behind his back, and he was none the wiser until an elderly lady told him about it.
"Packed Prepared."
A man in a fancy-looking suit boarded a plane and sat next to one Redditor. The man proceeded to go to the bathroom with a carry-on bag and come back changed into nice silk pajamas and slippers.
He slept through the whole flight, and just before they landed, he changed back into his suit. The Redditor admits that they were a little jealous of how comfortable the man looked when he slept.
On Fire
A Redditor's mother was on a flight from Belfast to Birmingham and looked out of the window mid-flight only to see that the engine was on fire! She calls the stewardess, who says she'll tell the pilot.
The pilot reassures everyone on the plane that the fire they see is only excess fuel burning up. To this day, their mother has no idea if they were telling the truth or not. But she said that she doesn't ever want to know.
Secret Affair
One Redditor witnessed something they probably wished they hadn't. There was a 60-year-old woman sitting next to a 40-year-old man with an empty seat between them. They soon started speaking in hushed voices, but the man could still hear what they were saying.
All that the men kept hearing was the woman saying that she was married, but the man kept trying to convince her to make a move on him. Nothing ended up happening, but the woman seemed to come close to giving in a few times.
Medical Emergency
A Redditor was on a flight back from vacation with his father when he had a medical emergency. He was a diabetic and passed out from a sugar low which means he didn't have enough sugar in his blood.
He was rushed to the back of the plane, where a nurse onboard tended to him. Thankfully at the end of the flight, he was stable and taken to hospital, where he made a full recovery. Still, it just shows how anything can happen on a flight.
No Bags
A Redditor was on a flight to Chicago, O'Hare, when they were notified that they'd been diverted to Midway instead. The two are 26 miles apart, and after landing, the crew explains that they are actually going to fly to O'Hare after all.
The Redditor wanted to just disembark the plane and stay in Midway, but the company would keep their bags if they did that. In the end, they had to get on an unnecessary 15-minute flight just so they could keep their luggage.
Really Needing To Go
A man sitting next to a Redditor got up just one minute into the take-off sequence. As passengers are supposed to stay strapped in, the flight attendants insisted that he stay seated.
But the man explained that he was in dire need of the bathroom and otherwise couldn't hold it. He said it was a number 2. The funniest thing is that the entire plane clapped for the man when he finally came out of the bathroom.
A Biter
A Redditor was on a flight from Amsterdam to New York when they noticed a small child running up and down the aisle. They thought at first that they were just playing a game, but then they noticed what they were actually doing.
They were trying to bite any passengers whose arms stuck out even slightly. Fortunately, a flight attendant managed to stop the child and get it strapped back in with their family. The child didn't try again afterward.
Personal Space
On a flight to the Dominican Republic, a Redditor witnessed something unbelievable. Some naughty kids were pulling a large man's cornrows from behind, and when he turned around to tell them to stop, their father retorted. But that was a mistake.
The Redditor watched in shock as the large man threw a punch at the dad, knocking him out of his seat. He didn't think that the man deserved it, but he should have kept better control of his kids.
Sitting On Glasses
One Redditor's father was reading a book on a flight to Los Angeles. He needed reading glasses, and at one point, he put them down on the vacant seat next to him. Unfortunately, that was a mistake.
A few minutes later, a man came walking down the aisle and mistook the vacant seat for his. He sat down right on the glasses as everyone heard the crunch of the glasses. There was an awkward silence afterward.
A Silver Tongue
One stewardess on a Redditor's flight had a silver tongue that avoided what could have been an incident on the plane. A passenger was drunk before the plane had even taken off and kept asking for alcohol.
The flight attendant could tell that this man could have been a potential hazard, so with a silver tongue, she convinced him to rather get off the plane, sober up, and book a later flight instead.
Struck By Lightning
One Redditor's flight was actually struck by lightning. They said that they remember the captain explaining that they had to pull up to avoid a collision with another aircraft. Unfortunately, that resulted in another incident.
The plane flew too higher than it was supposed to, and because it was so high up, it was struck by lightning. All the Redditor saw was a bright flash of light as the captain later explained what had happened.