Airborne Urban Legends...

[theskyboy]

Hi Everyone....

One of my favourite things about the job is all the tales and stories you hear about what passengers and crew have said or done, or what they are said to have said or done. And thus how these things have earned urban legend status in them selves.

One of my best is the American pax flying in to Heathrow over Windsor and is heard to comment loudly to her travelling companion;

'Gee I wonder why the Queen built Windsor Castle / Fort Windsor / The Tower of London so close to the airport'

Now I know I've recounted this 'first hand' to my friends and family. But how long has it been going around for? And what are your favorites?

PS No offence to our American colleagues, but most of our stories in this part of the world seem to involve American passengers ;)

[Timba 2B]

Hi,
One of the funniest stories I have heard travelling the skies is one about a new crew members supernumary flight. A cup was apparantly loaded with some dry ice and hot water (you can imagine the smoke created) and was then placed behind the pipe of one of the toilets. The SNY (oblivious to what had just been done) was then asked to complete a toilet check. When SNY entered said toilet, SNY came flying back out panick stricken. When the scheming crew asked what was wrong, SNY replied:
"The clouds are coming in!" :ugh:

BLESS!

(In all honesty, a risky pratical joke to play when something more serious could have been on the cards - don't want to create a "Boy who cried wolf scenario" - but that's crew for you) :=

[gib]

with a previous airline a cc member was given a hard time by a pax for the entire flight of 4 hours. after one particularly snide comment the hostie in question (a large south african bloke) went to the pax and quietly said "why dont you just f:mad: k off"
the pax replied "I cant beleve you just said that"
"no, and nobody else will ether"

as far as i know he got away with it

the sort of trick you only get away with once:}

[Dolley]

A nice one I heard was about a pax boarding an easyjet plane and telling his son in front of the crew to better study hard at school or he would end up working as one of us.
The senior supposedly turned to the boy and said: "And if your daddy would have worked hard at school he would be flying British Airways today!"
:)

[aw8565]

Dolley I love that one!

One I heard was similar to gib but ocurred at a deserted checkin desk during checkin for a delayed flight out of Gatwick. The supposed perpetrator is now an easyJet manager!

Apparently two loaders pulled a dog kennel from an aircraft and found it frozen stiff and very very dead. It was apparently 'defrosted' on the A/C brakes for a while before being placed back in the kennel to die of 'natural causes.'

A shift on this is where the loaders, fearing legal action, claimed to the owner that the dog had been mis-sent to the wrong destination and replaced the dog with a lookalike. When the dog was delivered a couple of days later the dog's owner had a heart attack when she saw it as she was actually transporting the pet home for burial!

I also heard one where a ramp worker took pity on a dog that was getting hot and panting away in an aircraft hold as the flight was delayed. He fashioned a lead and walked the dog round the ramp for a bit. On returning the dog to the cage he read the sign on the top. "DANGER: WOLF. Property of Chicago Zoo..." or so it goes.....

[bhx_boi]

One i heard, was a female pax asked the steward, "is it true all stewards are gay"
which he replied, " i dont know madam i havn`t had them all yet"

[flightlevelchange]

once when flying for a foreign carrier, ie the flying goat

passenger turned round to me after a heated discussion about his daughter not wearing her seat belt, if you were a proper steward you would be flying for British Airways

My answer 'Sir' if you were a proper passenger you would be flying with them also

LOL,

[GalleyChick]

The one about the white south african woman who was seated next to a black south african man. She blatently told the flight attendant that she refused to sit next to someone like him as he was below her. The flight attendant said to her "of course madam, i'll fix it straight away for you" turned to the male passenger and told him "sir, this lady refuses to sit next to you, we'll move you to first class so you don't have to sit next to her".

Actually something similar to this happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I was in upperdeck business when a pax approached me very upset saying the lady next to him wanted him moved as he was a snorer and she refused to have him next to her. We had him moved to first class as there were no other seats.

[tart1]

Actually something similar to this happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I was in upperdeck business when a pax approached me very upset saying the lady next to him wanted him moved as he was a snorer and she refused to have him next to her. We had him moved to first class as there were no other seats.
Sounds like someone's thought of a new way of getting an upgrade!! :p

[nojwod]

I remember this as a story in Australian Aviation years ago so credit where credit's due and all that.

Apparently DC3's had a hydraulic pump handle in the space behind the cockpit that was redundant unless the pipes were configured (for emergency gear down maybe?) anyway this flight attendant on her first shift was sent to the cockpit and was surprised to see her co-worker busy pumping the handle for all it was worth. She was then directed to continue the pumping (I don't remember what the supposed function of the pump was, perhaps supplying hydraulic power or as a standby generator??) and was nearly dropping from exhaustion when the crew took pity on her and told her it was a setup. She was not amused as she had put in a superhuman effort into ensuring that the plane kept flying through her efforts alone.