Drunk Passengers Get Cut Off On My Flight

Intro

Yesterday I wrote about how I decided to take a very last-minute trip to Hong Kong and then onward to Bangkok for Songkran. Well, as it would turn out, a whopping 8 passengers got cut off on my United flight over to HKG. 

What Happened? 

About 5 hours prior to landing, I was woken up by a man standing in the aisle shouting and laughing with a friend who was sitting down in the Polaris seat. Considering it was 1 am Hong Kong time and most passengers were sleeping, I stood up and gave him the stare… 

Within a second, the man decided to be quiet but headed up to the galley where there was around 6 people laughing and drinking. I am all four a fun flight, don’t get me wrong, but when it is pitch black, most people are sleeping and you are being obnoxiously loud: that is when it crosses the line. 

At least I got to enjoy a good snack when I woke up

Eventually, I overheard the flight attendants say “I am going to cut them off as they seem visibly intoxicated and are disturbing the cabin”. Magically the seat belt sign turned on, and they returned to their seats and passed out drunk. 

United Handled This Situation Well

While the service on today's flight wasn’t actually that great, United flight attendants handled this situation really well. When there are 8 passengers in a galley, all drunk of their brains and being obnoxious, it can be a little difficult. However, the seat belt sign trick was a good one… 

This also isn’t the first time I’ve had drunk people on the plane. For 22 years I had never come across one incident, until a lady flying Ethiopian got denied boarding and stumbled over. 

Final Thoughts

Trying to rest up for the epic party in Songkran this weekend, I was rudely awoken by some drunk people talking obnoxiously loudly in the Polaris Cabin. It continued on as more and more people gathered in the galley, and were eventually cut off. Kudos to United, as they handled this really well. Also, shoutout to the purser for this note:: 

Well, how did you know some of these men were drunk? When they started asking for a shark… When the flight attendant asked, “you mean in charge”, the man replied with “no, a shark”.