Date: 201704
Aircraft: B767-300 and 300 ER
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Cruise
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Flight Attendant (On Duty)
Reporter qualification: Flight Attendant Current
Human factors: Situational Awareness
Anomaly: Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Misconduct
Detector: Person Flight Attendant
When detected: In-flight
Contributing factors: Human Factors
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: Passenger Ms. X was disruptive during flight as she was unhappy with her seat assignment and came into the FC cabin demanding a better seat. I led her to door 1L jumpseat to speak with her as fellow crew members continued the service. She was loud and telling me 'I'm a senior citizen and I should have been upgraded; I can no longer sit in that middle seat! Does [the company] have senior citizen seating?; I responded with 'No ma'am but we do have [premium economy seats].' She gets louder and say '[the company] discriminates against senior citizens? Even the XX Transit has senior citizen seating!' I kindly ask her to keep her voice down; that I am right here listening and we do not need to disturb the FC customers. Then she really starts yelling and says 'No I won't keep my voice down! What will you do - punch me in the teeth and drag me out!? You want to be on the news?!' Fellow crew member leads her to the main cabin to get away from FC and the flight deck and I called the flight deck to let them know of the situation. We agreed that if this escalated; authorities might need to meet the flight. At this point she sat in 16A; in our designated crew rest area. I sit next to her to explain that unfortunately with our full flight I could not offer a different seat and that this was designated for crew use and not passengers. I ask her to kindly take her assigned seat as we would need to take up her seating issue with ground staff upon landing. She refused. She actually crossed her arms and closed her eyes and refused. She said 'I'm not going; you can just drag me out.' She would not tell me her name or seat assignment; she said she lost her boarding card. I told her if she did not comply with crew direction I would need to get the captain involved and that would likely mean that authorities would need to meet the flight. She said 'I don't care; I'm not moving.'I went forward to advise crew and flight deck. When I returned to the main cabin with a fellow flight attendant to find her original seat so I could look on my Link at her name; I saw that she had then taken her original seat. I did not further engage her as now she was where she needed to be. She was fine the remainder of the flight. Upon deplaning; as I stood at door 1L; she deliberately slammed her carry-on luggage into/against my legs. I was completely dumbfounded; as were the captain and 2 other flight attendants that witnessed this. The captain stepped on to the jet bridge to stop her but she was already gone. This woman was disruptive and belligerent and advanced herself to a level 2 security threat; though fortunately while on the ground. It is out of principle that I am so upset and feel this needs to be addressed. The blatant disrespect for crew and disregard for civility is a major problem.Additionally; she was traveling with her daughter whom was also a bit of a problem. During the service she was in the FC cabin waiting for a restroom. When I asked her to please utilize the restrooms in the main cabin; as now those carts were out of the aisle and we were in the middle of the service; she refused. She complained later to crew about me that 'That witch told me I cannot use the bathroom up front.' These customers are on return flight next week. At the very least; crew and ground staff should be notified and they need to know their behavior is a violation of FARs and totally unacceptable.




Synopsis: B767-300 Flight Attendant reported a disruptive passenger on a trans Atlantic flight who demanded an upgraded seat due to her senior citizen status and refused to return to her assigned seat.