A former flight attendant has revealed which passengers are the most troublesome on flights.
Skye Taylor, 49, from Southampton, worked as a stewardess for 16 years on low cost airlines and then at Virgin Atlantic.
Speaking to MailOnline, she was asked who caused her most grief when she worked in the industry.
She said: “The main problems lie in the routes like Dubai and Vegas where you get the influencer type that maybe hasn’t paid full price. They could be quite difficult.
“I think if you’re looking at superstars and people who can afford their tickets, they generally were lovely people and very respectful.”
Skye added that alcohol and drugs contribute to these problems.
She continued: “It’s very common for people in LA to take sleeping tablets, things like Valium, and then they would get on board and drink. And that changes people’s characters.
“I think you just have to be vigilant with watching how things are going to change people’s behaviour.”
Skye praised her former employers, Virgin Atlantic, for helping staff to deal with difficult passengers.
She said: “It can just be one person in the economy cabin, or it can be a couple of people in upper [Virgin’s business class]… you never can tell what’s going to cause somebody to, you know, act out of character, and it’s very hard to assess what they’ve taken.
“You get very good service with Virgin Atlantic, and that takes a lot out of the crew, and to try and maintain control of the cabins and stuff like that is very, very difficult. But, yeah, most of the time it was done properly – but it takes a lot out of you as well.”
Skye said that low-cost airlines were not as good in this department.
She continued: “With security, we were very well looked after, I’d say. But I do feel so sorry for the low-cost airline crew at the moment, who don’t seem to have the same backup that we got.
“You see so many incidents now, most of them involving alcohol and the way people act on board… it seems to be encouraged at the moment, which is dangerous in itself.
“You’re trying to provide good customer service. Myself alone, I’ve done CPR at 35,000 feet – dealing with that and having to run the aircraft at the same time, and not let that impact other passengers who might not even be aware what’s going on.”
