This Traveler Was Woken Up on a Red-eye Flight After a Neighbor Started ‘Slapping’ His Head—and It Happened More Than Once

Disruptive airline passenger behavior is going viral on social media. 

During a recent red-eye overnight flight between Portland, Oregon (PDX), and Newark, New Jersey (EWR), a passenger claims that the person behind him repeatedly «slapped» his head to wake him up and caused a large amount of noise and commotion during the quiet flight. 

The experience was shared on Reddit, where the passenger detailed how the person seated behind him, in first class nonetheless, repeatedly tapped and slapped the person’s head and hat to awaken him to help retrieve a lost earbud. 

“What makes a person think they are allowed to touch another person?” the passenger shared in the post. 

Worst of all, after several minutes had passed, the passenger slapped the person again to let him know he had found the missing device, waking him up a second time. 

“If you need anything else from me on this flight, the one thing you WON’T be doing is putting your hands on me again,” the writer shared in their post.

“That’s fair,” the disruptive passenger allegedly replied back.

Within the comment section, fellow travelers commended the traveler for their relative patience despite the troubling circumstances.

«Handled it better than I would have, Kudos,» one person wrote in the comments.

Other passengers said they would have flagged a crew member after the first incident. 

Unruly and disruptive passenger behavior is on the rise, according to data collected by the International Air Transport Association. The agency recorded more than 24,500 incidents globally in 2023, which was 1 in 480 flights, versus 1 in 568 flights in 2022.

Within the United States, the FAA has referred more than 300 serious cases of unruly passengers to the FBI since 2021, according to a release. These cases included physical assault of travel companions, other passengers, crew members, and other «aggressive behavior.»

As a way to deter unruly and disruptive passengers, the FAA has developed a series of clever memes and social media graphics. Several of the graphics emphasize that FAA fines can total above $37,000 and include suspension of flight privileges.