Influencers hit the road with the best intentions: creating videos that inspire wanderlust.
But it turns out that some people are quite pushy while on the road. One former flight attendant even claimed that it’s the stars of the internet who are the biggest annoyances, not the ones on the silver screen.
Skye Taylor, 49, from Southampton, worked as a flight attendant for 16 years, starting with budget airlines and working her way up to a job with Virgin Atlantic.
When asked who the most annoying passengers on board were, Skye told MailOnline: ‘The biggest problems are on routes like Dubai and Vegas, where you get the type of influencer who may not have paid full fare. They can be quite a nuisance.
“I think if you look at superstars and people who can afford their tickets, they are generally nice people and very respectful.”
Skye Taylor (above), from Southampton, worked as a flight attendant for 16 years and rose to a position with Virgin Atlantic. She told MailOnline Travel that influencers make much worse passengers than celebrities
Skye believes that many of the problems flight attendants experience with passengers on board are ‘primarily caused by alcohol’, which causes people to ‘behave strangely’.
But Los Angeles’ influencers can also be hurt by other means, the former flight attendant said.
Skye noted, “It’s very common in LA for people to take sleeping pills, things like Valium, and then they go on board and drink. And that changes people’s character. I think you just have to be vigilant and see how things change people’s behavior.”
Are there more problems with passengers in economy class than in business class?
Skye said, “It could be one person in economy class, or a few people in the upper cabin. [Virgin’s business class]…you can never predict what will make someone behave differently than they are, and it’s very difficult to estimate what they’ve done.’
Luckily, Skye believes the Virgin Atlantic crew know how to deal with passengers who misbehave… although she admits it can be tricky at times.
She said: ‘You get a very good service on Virgin Atlantic, and that takes a lot out of the crew, and it’s very, very difficult to keep control of the cabins and things like that. But yeah, most of the time it was done well – but it takes a lot out of you too.’
Former flight attendant Skye, 49, says: ‘The biggest problems are on routes like Dubai and Vegas, where you get the influencer type. They can be quite tricky.’
Skye (above) noted: ‘It’s very common in LA for people to take sleeping pills, things like Valium, and then they go on board and drink. And that changes people’s character’
However, Skye admits that budget airlines do not support their crew in the same way.
Skye added: ‘With security we were very well looked after I would say. But I do feel sorry for the low cost airline crew at the moment who don’t seem to have the same back up as we do.
“You see so many incidents these days, most of them involving alcohol and the way people behave on board… it seems like it’s being encouraged at the moment, which is dangerous in itself.”
Skye admits that other events that can be tricky include “security incidents” and medical issues.
The ex-flight attendant said, “You try to provide good customer service. I’ve only ever done CPR at 35,000 feet — dealing with that and flying the plane at the same time, and making sure that other passengers who may not even know what’s happening aren’t affected by it.”
Want to hear more from Skye? She posts on TikTok under the username @slkye_taylor_xx and Instagram at @skye_taylor_xx.
