I give great credit to the FlySafair flight attendant who restrained herself from retaliating against a racist and intoxicated passenger who attacked her onboard. The passenger, we’ll call her Karen, is making waves across South Africa for what she said during her onboard ramage.
Intoxicated, Racist Passenger Invokes Party Of Nelson Mandela, Attacks Multiple Flight Attendants When Denied More Alcohol On FlySafair
On December 26, 2024, A FlySafair flight from Durban (DUR) to Cape Town (CPT) went sideways when a passenger works (well, maybe worked) for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC, the public radio and TV in South Africa) got nasty after flight attendants denied her more alcohol.
She allegedly showed up drunk onboard, ordered more alcohol, was denied, and then went crazy.
During her rage, she invoked the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party for 30 years until it finally lost its parliamentary majority earlier this year, among her other remarks:
- “You don’t know who my father is!”
- “I’m an ANC b***h!”
- “I’m a mystery shopper!”
The video below has gone viral across South Africa and even prompted condemnation from the ANC.
The African National Congress (ANC) has noted with disgust and disdain the behaviour of a woman aboard a domestic flight who acted in an unruly and unbecoming manner, while invoking the name of the ANC as if to justify her actions.
Regardless of whether this individual is a member of the ANC, we unequivocally state that no person has the right to behave in such an unacceptable manner, and certainly not while misusing the good name of the ANC.
As someone who loves South Africa and has been there many times, my heart breaks for that gorgeous country and its people of all colors…oh how the corrupt ANC has mismanaged this nation, its people, and its resources. This drunk may be a power-tripping, racist, fool, but the more recent plutocrats of South Africa have been cut from the same cloth…
The SABC says it will deal with her internally.
FlySafair has added her to the no-fly list. Amazingly, when she landed she posted on social media saying she was the victim and FlySafair would be hearing from her attorney. You go ahead, Karen!
Per a FlySafair spokesperson:
We condemn any behaviour of this nature. Flight attendants have a primary duty as safety officers and interfering with their duties is a criminal offence. This passenger will be placed on our no-fly list and will not be welcome on future FlySafair flights. After the police get involved [in] matters like this, they manage the situation and we don’t get insight into what transpires.
That post has now been deleted…
Here’s video from multiple angles of what happened:
https://twitter.com/KingMntungwa/status/1873058660521492856
As View From The Wing noted, incidents like this happen outside of Spirit Airlines…and I’d add outside the UK as well. What a piece of work…kudos to the flight attendant for not brutally beating that passenger after she slapped her and dislodged her wig…
Obviously a drunk POS but not sure she’s a “racist”. Unfortunately the word has little meaning anymore anyways due to misuse.
This article should be rewritten to eliminate “Karen” for several reasons.
1. Akin to blackface. The woman is not white.
2. Hurtful to people named Karen
Calling her a DYKWIA instead of a Karen is fine.
I swear I remember Matt writing an article saying that he will NOT use the word Karen to describe misbehaving women due to the many wonderful women named Karen who don’t deserve to be thrown into the same bag. This was years ago, maybe three? Matt, am I misremembering this?
It’s just too ingrained in culture now – it’s a word that has taken on a whole new meaning.
Nonetheless offensive against Karen nation 🙂
What’s the offensive K word that she used over 30 times as mention in the IG post?
I’m confused. When a person of a certain ethnicity attacks someone else with the same ethnicity, how is that racist?
Its a common knee jerk defence in South Africa whenever any person is held to account for anything…whether it be corruption, abuse, theft or incompetence. As Matthew aludes to in his article, its a strange and awful cultural / sociopolitical byproduct of the last 30 years in this country. Thankfully the entitlement and hubris is finally starting to be challenged and rejected, Lets hope for better days ahead!