Airports have become one of the last places where being rich, famous or powerful doesn’t always get people special treatment. At least not when TSA agents, gate agents or flight crews decide someone’s behavior has crossed a line.
There’s an acronym that’s been going around for the past few years: FAFO. It stands for “Eff Around & Find Out.” Plenty of people in the travel world have found that out the hard way:
- The airline that sued 2 passengers for $90K
- The woman who was told by security to put her phone away at Customs…and didn’t
- The woman who badmouthed the cruise line she was about to go on
Of course, there are some who the general consensus thinks effs around a whole lot, but because they’re “special” — typically people with money, power, influence or fame — often don’t wind up with the same consequences as you and me, if we were to do the same thing.
Turns out that’s not always the case. There’s a whole list of celebrities who are apparently in the “I FAFOed on my flight and got kicked off the plane” club. Here are a few of them:
Conrad Hughes Hilton III
Unfortunately, this heir to the Hilton hotel dynasty has had more than his share of problems with the law. On a British Airways flight from London to Los Angeles in July 2014, Hilton’s inappropriate behavior apparently lasted 10 hours — from before takeoff until landing.
An investigation revealed he smoked pot and cigarettes in the airplane bathroom, insulted and threatened crew members (“I could get you all fired in five minutes. I know your boss,” he told them), and repeatedly yelled out, “I will f—ing own anyone on this flight; they are f—ing peasants!”
He eventually dozed off, and flight attendants obtained authorization to restrain him using handcuffs. He was then arrested when the plane landed. Hilton was fined $5,000 and asked to complete 750 hours of community service after the debacle.
Odell Beckham Jr.
In late 2022, NFL wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was escorted off an American Airlines flight in Miami after reportedly refusing to fasten his seat belt and appearing unresponsive. According to a statement from American Airlines:
Flight 1228, with service from Miami to Los Angeles, returned to the gate before takeoff due to a customer failing to follow crew member instructions and refusing to fasten their seatbelt. The customer was removed and the flight re-departed at 10:54 a.m. local time.
Here’s the Miami Police bodycam footage:
Ivana Trump
In 2009, Donald Trump’s first wife was removed from a plane in Florida after she began yelling at children and calling them “little f**ks” when they began running and screaming in the aisles. She was asked by Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies to voluntarily leave the plane, but when she didn’t, the police escorted her off the aircraft.
Mike Tyson
In April 2022, Mike Tyson, commonly considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, was filmed repeatedly punching a fellow passenger on a JetBlue aircraft before it began its flight from San Francisco to Florida. Both Tyson and “the other guy” were removed from the flight, and police temporarily detained them both before releasing them pending further investigation.
Tyson did eventually explain why he began using the other passenger as a punching bag.
Samantha Fox
Singer and former model Samantha Fox was removed from a British Airways flight before takeoff in 2024. The pop star had boarded the flight to Munich in London, but allegedly got into a dispute with another passenger. The plane was forced to return from the runway to the boarding gate, where Fox was removed from the plane and arrested “on suspicion of being drunk on board an aircraft.”
Of course, anyone who gets kicked off a flight or tossed out of an airport is probably going to be embarrassed.
But when it happens to a celebrity, it tends to become a whole different level of humiliation because suddenly it’s not just the people in the terminal who know about it — it becomes national or international news.
And honestly? That may be the biggest surprise in all of this.
For all the complaints people have that celebrities, athletes and rich people get away with behavior the rest of us never could, airports and airplanes are still places where rules matter. FAA regulations matter. Crew member instructions matter. And TSA agents, gate agents and flight attendants generally don’t care how famous you are when you’re creating a problem at 35,000 feet.
At the end of the day, a boarding pass doesn’t magically turn into a “do whatever you want” pass just because your name is recognizable.
Which, as more than a few celebrities have learned over the years, is where the “find out” part of FAFO comes in. 😏
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