Worst Fellow Passenger on a Plane: Travel Photo

Worst Fellow Passenger on a Plane

My husband went on holiday without me once. Actually, he’s done that a few times.

I usually manage to tag along, but sometimes he needs a boys only break. I don’t understand why but that’s how it is.

When we lived on Waiheke Island in New Zealand, the Mucho Man nipped over to Great Barrier Island one weekend. We’d been there ourselves before when our first-born child was six months old. It’s a beautiful, sparsely populated island that remains wild because it’s a two-hour ferry ride from Auckland so definitely not on the commuter track like Waiheke.

Apparently the Mucho Man and his mates had a lovely time scuba diving and drinking beer.

On the flight home the tiny three seater plane had an extra and non paying passenger. A very large and exceedingly hot black Labrador who smelt strongly, as only black Labs can, then panted and drooled the whole way there. His saliva pouring off his tongue, onto the plane floor and his fellow passengers’ feet.

worst fellow passenger on a plane trip

Fancy being stuck in a small plane with this hot dog? Lucky it was only a 30 minute trip

I guess that’s what you get when you go on holiday without me.

Finally, note that the Mucho Man sat next to the pilot (you can’t see him, he took the photo) and his travel mate (with a water bottle squeezed between his knees) got the back seat with the dog owner and her dear doggy. Did I tell you already he’s very smart?

I had one of my worst journeys on a bus from Bangkok to the Thai coast and some dreamy island destination. Long over night bus journeys are never fun but the Mucho Man made that one even worse… but that’s another travel story for another day.

Who, or what, is the worst passenger you’ve ever shared a plane, bus or train with?

Photo credit: Xlibber

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15 Comments

  1. Yikes, a drooling dog! Poor beast, it was not his fault, but I surely wouldn’t want him next to me!

    I’ve been very lucky. All the many, many flights I have taken in the last several decades all over the world blur together, and only a few really stand out. The only time really, that I had a seat-mate problem was when the passenger next to me was of enormous girth and was spilling out of his seat over into mine, arms and shoulders and all. It was a very long uncomfortable flight. For me. For him it must have been too.

    • Annabel Candy September 3, 2012 at 1:21 pm - Reply

      Hi Miss Footloose,

      Oh dear! Whenever I get on the plane with three kids in tow I can see people hoping and praying they’re not sitting near us;) Though of course my kids are angelic on planes since they get to watch TV and play computer games non-stop. It’s the only way we can stay sane!

  2. Red Nomad OZ September 1, 2012 at 10:31 pm - Reply

    We were once on the same flight as an orchestra when my sister and I were young children. The cellist insisted on travelling with his cello strapped in to the aisle seat beside him like an actual person. But this inanimate object displaced one of our family, meaning we could not all sit together. But my sister & I had fun watching the cellist squeezing past his cello to get to the bathroom – unlike a real person, the cello did not give an inch!!

    • Annabel Candy September 3, 2012 at 1:22 pm - Reply

      Hi Red,

      Oh, that’s funny. Aren’t people strange. Sounds like his cello was his stand in wife!

  3. Nancy Burcham September 2, 2012 at 11:54 am - Reply

    My worst seatmate was on a 5-hr red-eye flight from LA to NY… a woman who had incredibly bad gas and slept upright with her back angled slightly toward me. Every time she would wiggle, a puff of toxic waste would waft up out of her blanket, almost asphyxiating me! I at one time thought it was great that no one could hear me fart over the engine sounds on a plane, but now I try my hardest to hold it in, due to my very bad experience on the receiving end of someone else’s gas!

    • Annabel Candy September 3, 2012 at 1:23 pm - Reply

      Hi Nancy,

      Lol:) Oh dear, there’s a travel lesson there for all of us!

  4. Seana Smith September 2, 2012 at 10:20 pm - Reply

    Yuck! Those dogs can certainly drool. One of my worst flying companions was my very own son, who vomited all the way from Dubai to Glasgow, went through several sets of clothes and ended up just wrapped in a blanket and so ill we used a wheelchair to get him through immigration, customs etc. Luckily he is cute…

    Then there was the dreadful time the plane never took off from Nairobi for 24 hours and there was a weeping, quite hysterical young priest lamenting the entire time… all right so he needed to get back to Rome for a funeral, but no need to be so histrionic!!

  5. Teresa September 3, 2012 at 8:11 pm - Reply

    Strange that he didn’t take you to drool over him haha I have never had a bad air passenger but once my bestie told me he was in love with me (and was very offended I did not see it coming or feel the same) the night before we stepped on a yacht to sail for two weeks. We had a maximum of 30 feet of space between us at all times while he ‘dealt’ with it by getting drunk and muttering snide remarks. I honestly felt like pushing him in the sea a couple of times! haha

    • Annabel Candy September 3, 2012 at 8:16 pm - Reply

      Hi Teresa,

      Lol, the Mucho Man got what he deserved:) Oh that is terrible! For two weeks? Way worse than a plane journey where at least there are other people around. I can’t wait to share my worst plane passenger story but it’s not as bad as your sailing companion:)

  6. My Inner Chick September 9, 2012 at 3:12 am - Reply

    Ahhh, the photo of the hot dog is Priceless :) (drool and all)

    The worst passenger? Me. Nobody will sit w/ me on an airplane because I am saying things like “what if it runs out of gas? what if we can’t land? what if the airbag doesn’t work? what if there is a terrorist?”

    Xx Love the photos.

    • Annabel Candy November 19, 2014 at 12:59 pm - Reply

      Hi Inner Chick,

      You actually say that and don’t just think it?! Love that :)

  7. Travellooga September 17, 2012 at 10:58 pm - Reply

    I think hotdog had enough fun for rest of his life. That dog will never like to play even a toy plane.

  8. Laura Baker November 19, 2014 at 12:57 pm - Reply

    annabel – you saved me on my worst flight ever! Daughter Kelsey was maybe 18 months and we were flying back from Florida. She would SCREAM if not being walked, and it wasn’t a wide body plane. I remember you walking and bouncing Kelsey in narrow aisles and by steward cabin doors, opposite the galley.
    When your kid is screaming, you want to either hide under your seat or apologize to every passenger. Thanks Bill!

  9. Teresa November 19, 2014 at 6:14 pm - Reply

    i hope people aren’t going to be saying that my family is the worst experience in a couple of months! 20 hour journey with a 1& a 3 year old eek!

  10. Teresa Long November 19, 2014 at 6:23 pm - Reply

    i hope people aren’t going to be saying that my family is the worst experience in a couple of months! 20 hour journey with a 1 and a 3 year old eek!

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