Competition reveals Brits' worst in-flight travel experiences

With the summer holiday season in full swing, Brits have been sharing some of their grossest, weirdest, and most irritating incidents in the sky.

Online travel agents, eShores, ran a nationwide competition to find the most shocking experiences people have had recently on a plane.

Here are some of the best travel stories:

1. The rowdy hens who flashed the pilot

Competition reveals Brits worst in-flight travel experiences hen party Drunk passengers on planes are never ideal, but stag and hen dos can take it to the next level. On a morning flight to Malaga, passenger Emma Day was next to a hen group who were “totally and utterly newt-ed having come directly from a nightclub to the airport." – and even flashed the pilot! Emma explained, “Most people had boarded, and the last three hens were staggering up the steps in front of us. They saw the pilot in the window, started giggling and swooning, then all three of them flashed him! Unfortunately, we had front row seats for the entire incident!”

2. The overfamiliar sleeper

A nice nap is a great way to pass the time in the air, but maybe not as pleasant for your seating partners – especially if your comfort comes at their expense. Beverley Cordle was one such unfortunate passenger, who explains, “I had a complete stranger put his legs up on the empty seat to his left and then lay his head down on my lap to sleep. I pushed him off immediately and he was actually annoyed I'd disturbed him!”

3. The raunchy actor

There’s bound to be an aspiring actor or two on a flight to LA, which is what Emily Gallichan passenger encountered on her nightmare flight to the US. After being sat between two friends who declined her offer to swap seats so they could sit together, she said it “soon became clear one of the men was headed to LA to audition for a very badly written and rather raunchy role in a movie.” She explained, “he and his friend to my left ran lines for the same two awful scenes for most of the flight (sexual sounds and all). It was pure hell!”

4. The four hour PDA

Competition reveals Brits worst in-flight travel experiences couple The pandemic changed many things about flying, with masks becoming mandatory. However, not everyone followed the rules. On a flight back from Santorini, Rebecca Rowley encountered a couple who “obviously thought the rules didn't apply to them as they spent the whole four-hour flight French kissing – tongues and everything. We had to endure four-hours nonstop disgusting slurping and lip-smacking noises and a bit of groaning! It was awful, very annoying!”

5. The skin eater

Travel sickness is sometimes inevitable, but when it is self-induced, it’s easy to get frustrated with your fellow passengers. For Ellie Bromilow, her flight to Malaga was ruined by one such passenger who was “sick right into the aisle.” She explains, “it wouldn’t have been so bad, but she had spent most of the flight on the vodkas, then picking her feet and eating the skin – it was all pretty disgusting!”

6. The spitter

Spitting is a bad habit anywhere but is a definite no-no on a plane. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what Ian Major experienced on a long-haul flight to China. He describes, “for nine hours of hell, I was treated to an elderly man behind me clearing his throat and spitting into a paper cup.” Talk about bad manners!

7. The hair flicker

Flights can be long and tedious, with in-flight movies offering a much-needed distraction. If you can see them, that is! This was not the case when Denise Houghton boarded her flight to Barbados. Denise explains, “I settled back to watch a film – that is until the long-haired woman in the seat in front of me decided to flick her hair right over the screen! I gently moved her hair away from my view, but she instantly flicked it back again!”

For more infuriating travel stories, along with the most common flight pet peeves, please visit the eShores blog.