What a flightmare! From Keke Palmer’s ‘breast milk discrimination’ to Matthew Lewis’ rant at Air Canada over first-class ticket — a look back at bizarre celebrity dramas at the airport
Flying is a stressful enough experience for regular seasoned travelers, but celebrities bring a new level of drama and exposure when they have bad experiences at the airport or on a plane.
The stars have made their unpleasant encounters with TSA and airline staff highly public with social media posts, and they often can’t conceal their own poor behavior due to their public profiles.
One of the most recent airline kerfuffles involved former Real Housewives Of New York City star Bethenny Frankel, who was disgusted with the ‘garbouj’ conditions at a pricy international terminal in Newark Liberty International Airport.
Others, like Keke Palmer, have faced seemingly unreasonable searches while trying to get through security in recent months, while Harry Potter star Matthew Lewis took Air Canada to task in 2022 for allegedly ripping up his first class ticket and bumping him down to economy without an explanation.
DailyMail.com looks back on the worst and most bizarre celebrity airplane and airport encounters in recent years below.
Keke Palmer claims ‘breastmilk discrimination’ at Houston airport
Keke Palmer accused TSA staff of discrimination against her for being a breastfeeding mother in June.
Like many nursing mothers before her, Keke was allegedly hassled at security over breast milk she had pumped for her four-month-old son Leodis.
‘Breast milk discrimination at the Houston airport ruined my mood,’ she tweeted last month.
‘I should’ve popped my t*t out right then because the discretion and comfort of pumping is thwarted with threats to throw out over 16oz my babies food?!?!!!’ she vented on the social media platform.
‘Why is that not a crime?? I’M A MOTHER for crying out loud’ she concluded, along with crying emojis.
Other current and former nursing mothers offered sympathy in the comments and shared their own similar experiences.
According to TSA guidelines, breastmilk, formula and other food and drink intended specifically for children are exempt from the rules governing the allowable size of all other liquids.
The guidelines state: ‘Formula, breast milk, toddler drinks, and baby/toddler food (to include puree pouches) in quantities greater than 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters are allowed in carry-on baggage and do not need to fit within a quart-sized bag.’
However, many TSA agents appear to be unaware of this nuance — or have chosen to ignore it — based on the negative experiences of many mothers.
Harry Potter star Matthew Lewis says Air Canada ripped up his first-class ticket
Matthew Lewis, the child actor–turned–celebrity hunk who played Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films, shared his anger at Air Canada in 2022 after he was unceremoniously bumped from his first-class seat to an economy seat.
He called the Canadian airline the ‘worst airline in North America’ after his flight from Orlando, Florida, to Toronto was shaken up.
He claimed that agents at the gate ‘tore up’ his first-class ticket and then issued him an economy ticket without offering him a chance to rebook his flight, or even offering an apology.
The apparent reason for the change of seating was due to overbooking by the airline, in which it sells more tickets than it can accommodate on a flight, in the hopes that after some people cancel or don’t show up there will still be a full roster.
However, when too many people show up as scheduled, some unfortunate people are either shuffled around or completely bumped from the flight.
‘Confirmed. @AirCanada is the worst airline in North America. And that’s saying something,’ Lewis tweeted.
‘No email. No offer to rebook. Literally tore my first class ticket up in front of me at the gate, gave me economy ticket and walked away.
‘Not a single word. I had to call her back to ask umm why? Lol. Privileged problems, sure. But still wild.’
Lewis complained that flyers had ‘inexplicably normalized’ overbooking by airlines over the years, though he contended that his main issue was the lack of advance warning about the downgrade and the poor customer service.
He also complained that the Air Canada employee told him the only way he could receive an apology or even a refund was to contact the airline himself via email.
Bethenny Frankel is underwhelmed by lackluster terminal at Newark Airport
One of the most recent unpleasant celebrity airport experiences occurred just this week, when former RHONYC star Bethenny Frankel shared her displeasure at spending time in the disappointing La Compagnie terminal at Newark Liberty International Airport.
She paid $6400 for a roundtrip flight with La Compagnie, an all-business class airline, so she was particularly upset at how cheap everything in the terminal appeared to be.
‘The international terminals are really one of the most exciting parts about traveling, except for the La Compagnie Terminal. Non event,’ she said on Instagram as she toured around the terminal.
‘This is the whole pretty much terminal. And the duty free is garbouj,’ she added.
She complained of a lackluster — and cheap — display of available snacks to guests, calling them ‘garbouj.’
The reality star added that the bathroom was a ‘s*** show’ with dirty shower towels left out, a box of Clorox disinfecting wipes left out by the sink, and unsightly trash cans were in view.
In addition to that, the lounge was cramped and poorly organized, making the space far less fancy than it should have been for such an expensive international airline.
Taylor Swift is branded a climate criminal over numerous emissions-spewing private jet flights
In July of 2022, the UK-based sustainability marketing agency Yard listed Taylor Swift as the top carbon dioxide–emitting celebrity from January to July of that year due to her numerous flights on private jets.
In that time, she allegedly spent a total of 15.9 days in the air when combining all of her flight times.
However, Taylor has a habit of taking extremely short flights, many of which might be unnecessary or could be accomplished via other means of (less-polluting) transportation.
Representatives for Swift disputed the flight data and claimed that some of those flights were taken by other people that Swift loaned her jet to, though she still would have been on the hook for more carbon dioxide emissions than the average person could expend in multiple lifetimes.
Swift was later labeled a ‘climate criminal’ by environmental activists over her exorbitant emissions
Jessie James Decker’s pregnant sister is told to ‘clean up’ after her children on a flight
Jessie James Decker advocated for her sister Sydney Rae Bass after she had a traumatizing experience on a United Airlines flight in April of this year.
Bass, who Decker said was traveling while ‘five moments pregnant, high risk’ and ‘with her two small children,’ was reportedly told by a flight attendant to get on her hands and knees to pick up popcorn spilled by her kids during the flight.
‘The flight attendant came up to Sydney with a trash bag, and a wet wipe, telling her the captain wants Syd to clean up every drop,’ Jessie claimed.
She wrote that her sister had to get on her ‘hands and knees,’ and she said the humiliation of the event left her in tears.
‘Way to go united,’ she added sarcastically.
The incident sparked discussion online, with several people feeling sympathy for Bass, while others thought that flight attendants and cleaning crews shouldn’t be forced to take care of every little mess passengers make.
Savannah Chrisley misses her flight after refusing to check a bag
Savannah Chrisley of Chrisley Knows Best fame was allegedly booted from a flight in April 2023 after refusing to check her carry-on bag.
‘I went to board my flight [from New York to Nashville] and [a Southwest Airlines employee] told me that I had to check my bag. I was like, “OK, if you wouldn’t mind, I’m going to take my bag on the flight, see if I can’t make it fit and if not, I’ll check it,”‘ she claimed in her Instagram Stories.
She then said that the Southwest employee called her an ‘unruly passenger’ and tried to prevent the pilot from helping her to place her bag after they offered assistance.
After she allegedly told the employee there was ‘no need for him to be an a—hole today,’ she was ‘thrown off’ the flight.
However, Southwest later disputed her story.
‘Our initial reports indicate a different story than the one from the Customer’s account, as she arrived at the gate late in the boarding process and repeatedly insulted our Employee after being asked to gate-check her bag,’ the airline claimed.
It added that she ‘was denied boarding on her original flight, and we booked her on a later flight the same day.’
Brielle Bierman says mom Kim Zolciak and family are kicked off a flight due to ‘service dog’
In 2019, Kim Zolciak’s eldest daughter Brielle Biermann claimed that a Delta Airlines employee ‘kicked my WHOLE FAMILY OFF the flight to ATL’ while they were ‘waiting on my dad with our service dog to finish going thru security.’
Kim later added on social media: ‘Unacceptable Delta but police are now involved.’
However, Delta disputed their account in a statement to Us Weekly, and also claimed that the animal was not a ‘service dog,’ but an ’emotional-support animal.’
‘Mrs. Zolciak Biermann and family elected to deplane their flight after her husband remained behind to provide proper paperwork for an emotional support animal,’ the airline claimed.
Marlon Wayans cited by police after trying to board with too many bags
Actor Marlon Wayans was booted from a United Airlines flight in April after he allegedly refused to check some of his baggage.
‘I took my three bags and I turned them into two,’ he claimed in a video, saying he was complying with the company’s two-bag policy.
However, he said an employee told him he would still need to check his bags, making him wonder why he allegedly saw people going before and after him with ‘two bags and three bags.’
Without mentioning him by name, United later claimed in a statement that he ‘pushed past a United employee at the jet bridge and attempted to board the aircraft. The customer did not fly on United to his destination.’
Odell Beckham Jr. kicked off flight after refusing to fasten his seatbelt
On a flight from Miami to Los Angeles in November 2022, Odell Beckham Jr. was forced to get off his flight.
‘Mr. Beckham fell asleep with his blanket over his head, which is his normal practice for long flights,’ his attorney claimed to NFL Network. ;He was [awakened] and told that the plane was back at the gate and that he needed to get off the plane because he did not put his seatbelt on when asked.
‘He responded that he was asleep, and that he would put his seatbelt on at that time. He was informed that it was too late, and that either he would have to get off the plane or everyone would have to deplane.’
However, police later said that the flight attendants ‘called for police and fire rescue … fearing that Mr. Beckham was seriously ill. Upon the officers [sic] arrival, the flight crew asked Mr. Beckham several times to exit the aircraft, which he refused,’ though he eventually chose to get off the flight.