Influencers travel with the best intentions: to make videos that awaken the desire to travel.
But it turns out some of them just become a nuisance along the way, and one former flight attendant says it’s the Internet stars, rather than those on the big screen, who are the most annoying.
Skye Taylor, 49, from Southampton, spent 16 years working as a flight attendant, starting out at budget airlines and working her way up to a job with Virgin Atlantic.
Asked who the most irritating passengers on board were, Skye told MailOnline: ‘The main problems are on routes like Dubai and Las Vegas where you get the type of influencer who may not have paid full price. They can be quite difficult.
“I think if you look at the superstars and the people who can afford to buy tickets, they’re generally lovely people and very respectful.”
Skye Taylor (above), from Southampton, worked for 16 years as a flight attendant and worked her way up to a role with Virgin Atlantic. She told MailOnline Travel that influencers are much worse passengers than celebrities.
Skye believes that many of the problems flight attendants face on board with passengers “are mainly fuelled by alcohol”, which causes people to “act out of character”.
But influencers in Los Angeles can be made worse by other substances, the former flight attendant said.
Skye noted: “It’s very common for people in Los Angeles to take sleeping pills, things like Valium, and then get on board and drink. And that changes people’s character. I think you just have to be vigilant and see how things are going to change people’s behavior.”
Are there more problems with passengers in economy class than in business class?
Skye said: ‘It could be just one person in economy, or it could be a couple of people in premium (Virgin’s business class)… you can never know what’s going to cause someone to, you know, act strangely, and it’s very difficult to assess what they’ve taken.’
Fortunately, Skye believes the Virgin Atlantic crew know how to deal with misbehaving passengers… although she admits it can be difficult.
She said: “With Virgin Atlantic you get very good service, and that puts a lot of demands on the crew, and trying to keep control of the cabins and things like that is very, very difficult. But yes, most of the time it was done correctly, but it also puts a lot of demands on you.”
Former flight attendant Skye, 49, said: “The main problems are on routes like Dubai and Las Vegas where you find the influential types. They can be quite difficult.”
Skye (above) noted: “It’s very common for people in LA to take sleeping pills, things like Valium, and then get on board and drink. And it changes people’s character.”
However, Skye reveals that budget airlines do not support their crews in the same way.
Skye added: “Safety-wise I’d say we were looked after very well, but I feel very sorry for the budget airline crew at the moment who don’t seem to have the same backing as we did.”
“We see so many incidents now, most of them related to alcohol and the way people act on board… it seems to be something that is encouraged at the moment, which is dangerous in itself.”
Skye admits that other events that can be difficult include “security incidents” and medical issues.
The former flight attendant said: “You’re trying to provide good customer service. I’ve done CPR at 35,000 feet by myself, dealing with that and having to manage the plane at the same time, and not letting that affect other passengers who may not even know what’s going on.”
Want to know more about Skye? Post on TikTok with the username @slkye_taylor_xx and Instagram at @Image courtesy of Skye Taylor.