Furious American Airlines pilot goes viral for his speech about 'selfish and rude' passengers on flight
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: Pexels/Rafael Cosquiere / Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
We all know people don't always behave the best on planes, and one American Airlines pilot has absolutely had enough.
From a 'disruptive' passenger who forced a plane to turn around after calling crew members 'waiter' to another passenger who was slammed for watching adult films during a long haul flight - it seems we're all sick and tired of a seemingly relentless conveyor belt of passenger drama and their various plane etiquette blunders.
Well, one pilot has decided to finally let loose and give his cabin of jet-setters a piece of his mind and - heads up - he's not held back one bit. Check it out:
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In the viral speech, the American Airlines begins his tirade with: "Remember the flight attendants are primarily here for your safety after that they're here to make your flight more enjoyable.
"They're going to take care of you guys but you will listen to what they have to say because they represent my will in the cockpit or in the cabin and my will is what matters."
And it only got more intense from that point onwards.
The pilot began to relay some of his rules and words of advice for the plane passengers, starting with: "Be nice to each other, be respectful to each other. I shouldn't have to say that.
"You people should treat people the way you want to be treated, but I have to say it every single flight because people don't."
He went on. "They're selfish and rude, and we won't have it. OK?"
The rules continued: "Get out of everybody else's way. Put your junk where it belongs. Everybody has paid for a space.
"Don't lean on other people. Don't fall asleep on other people. Don't pass out on other people or drool on them unless you've talked about it and they have a weather-assisted jacket."
At this point, the cabin let out a chorus of laughter.
Still going strong, the pilot went on: "The social experiment of listening to videos on speaker mode and talking on a cell phone on speaker mode, that is over. Over and done in this country."
He informed the passengers that 'nobody wants to hear your video' before adding: "I know you think it's super sweet, it probably is but it's your business. Right? So keep it to yourself."
Instead, the pilot advised such flyers use their 'AirPods' or 'headphones'.
"That your business, OK?" he reiterated to really hammer the point. "It's just part of being a respectful society."
And then, as the cherry on top, the pilot mapped out one golden rule to set the age-old middle seat debate to bed once and for all.
"Middle seaters," he called out, "I know it stinks to be in the middle."
He went on to tell them: "You own both armrests. That is my gift to you."
The pilot concluded the iconic speech with a simple but nonetheless punchy: "Welcome aboard our flight."
The speech has since been shared across social media by passenger Anna Leah Maltezos who captioned the clip: "Thank you for coming to his TED talk."
It has already clocked up over 4.4 million views in the six days since it was first posted.
The majority of the internet agreed with the pilot's tongue-in-cheek speech with one Instagram user writing: "He’s not wrong. For him to say this, that means he’s fed up with all these childish adults."
A second hit out: "The people complaining about his speech are the people that need to hear it."
A third echoed: "If you're offended by this speech, congrats, you're the problem lol."
Some even loved the speech so much they wanted to compensate the pilot for his work.
"Great speech, Captain," praised one Instagram user. "There should have been an applause for it. Bravo well done!"
Another added: "I can rate my Uber driver. Why not a pilot? I’d like to give this guy 5* and I wasn’t even on this flight!"
"He’s done with the nonsense," commented a final Instagram user, "and I love it."
What do you make of it?
UNILAD has contacted American Airlines for a comment.