At Least the Wheels Stayed On: American Airlines Flight Delayed by Gaseous Passenger

Just when you thought it was safe to get back on an airliner: Last Sunday, an American Airlines flight from Phoenix, AZ to Austin, TX, was forced to return to the departure gate to debark a passenger who apparently thought the flight was short on gas.

The big stink over the flatulent flyer unfolded while a recent flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to Austin, Texas, was still on the ground, according to a viral Reddit post.
“Before most people had boarded, I observed that this man was audibly disgruntled about something, maybe hungover, rough day idk, but as soon as he sat down he was grumbling about something under his breath, like ‘f—ing hell’ or something,” user lamgalatx wrote.
After the majority of passengers had boarded, the man reportedly exclaimed: “You thought that was rude? Well how about this smell” — and proceeded to pass gas.
“(I don’t know) what provoked that comment, and while kinda funny to overhear, it was uncalled for especially coming from a grown man on an airplane nonetheless,” the user wrote.

At least all the wheels and doors stayed on.

You can read the original Reddit post here.

Anyone who has traveled a lot has, at one point or another, dealt with a seatmate who was unsettling in one way or another. I've had seatmates who overflowed their own seats, I've had seatmates who insisted on talking all the way through a 14-hour trans-Pacific flight, I've sat in front of fractious pre-schoolers who insisted on kicking the back of my seat. But I have not had to deal with excessive effluvia like this, for which I count myself fortunate. The question that arises from this American flight, though, is just what this passenger has been eating that allowed him to transform himself into a weapon of ass destruction.

After the initial round of emissions, the plane returned to the gate. The odoriferous passenger was removed from the flight.

“An announcement comes over saying ‘Apologies for the interruption but we are returning to the gate, we will give you more info when we have it,’” the user wrote
“We get back to the gate and a flight attendant comes back and informs fartman that he will not be staying on this flight. He simply replies, ‘I don’t understand’ and she tells him they’ll talk about it off the plane.”
The man grabbed his bag and got off the plane.
“We all breathed a sigh of relief when he was removed, I think most ppl were on edge about what he may say or do next. The trip was only delayed by 15-30 minutes, so all in all I think American handled it swiftly,” he added.

Note that line: "We all breathed a sigh of relief." I should say! One can only imagine the havoc this flatulent fellow could have reeked on his fellow passengers. It's easy to joke about this kind of thing. That's the thing about fart jokes — they are hard to hold in. These kinds of jokes should come naturally, of course, because if you force them, they're going to be crappy.

Back to the incident: American Airlines, for once, handled this about as well as they could have done. There was no other recourse; this stinker had to be removed for the comfort and sanity of the other passengers. Hopefully, perhaps after a few doses of activated charcoal, the gaseous gentleman was able to board another flight without any more air-biscuit incidents.

Related: There are rumors of a recent event in Britain during which the King passed gas loudly during a state dinner. Nobody said or did anything, of course.

Noble gases have no reaction.