Woman smashes man with laptop during violent argument on an American Airlines flight. Video / Julia Scorupco
Flying has a special way of bringing out the very worst in people, from the rude and the unruly to the just plain disgusting.
And just when we thought we'd seen it all on planes, these unfortunate travellers managed to set the bar even lower.
Lucky for long-suffering passengers like you and me, a new global treaty governing international air travel may help stamp out the bad behaviour of others.
The Montreal Protocol 2014 comes into effect on January 1, which means passengers who act up on flights will be prosecuted for their mile-high crimes in the country in which the plane lands. This means some mid-air misdemeanours could land people in jail.
Prior to this, disruptive passengers were dealt with by the country in which the aircraft was registered, which was a less effective system. The International Air Transport Association estimated some 60 per cent of mid-air offences went unpunished due to issues over legal jurisdiction.
So, as we look forward to a safer and calmer era in the cabin, here are some of the worst offenders from 2019 we hope very much to never fly with again.
This woman who clearly isn't a fan of kids
A drunk woman was kicked off a Las Vegas flight in February after she spat at passengers and refused to sit next to a "f***ing three-year-old" on the plane.
Valerie Gonzalez, 32, was aboard JetBlue's flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when she realised she was seated next to a child and quickly burst into a rage.
A group of passengers were branded "savages" by social media users in November after they left a plane littered with rubbish.
Plastic cups, half-eaten salads, magazines, soft-drink cans and a shoe were just some of the things left strewn on the floor, as seen in a video shared on Instagram.
"I'd ban them from flying again! Can't imagine what their house looks like," one person commented.
Another simply said: "F***ing savages."
This Jetsar passenger
A man, 26, was finally arrested and removed from a domestic flight after he refused to leave and injured two AFP officers. In May, a man was filmed allegedly attacking Australian Federal Police officers on a Jetstar flight.
The man, 26, was on the flight from Sydney to Melbourne but was escorted off the plane before takeoff after he was allegedly disruptive and abusive towards staff on the plane.
He refused to leave the flight when asked and was later charged with assault after allegedly injuring two AFP officers who were trying to remove him from the plane. He was later charged to face court.
A plane passenger was horrified after spotting a stranger's dirty feet on her headrest in November.
The rude passenger put his feet just above her head during the flight.
The image, posted on a forum on Reddit, shows a woman frowning at the camera.
"This is the one thing I am most worried about before getting on a plane," the woman said.
… And this foot
Don't mind the baby. Photo / Instagram
And in another disgusting incident involving feet, a passenger was shamed online after putting one of theirs close to a baby's head.
Passengershaming shared the image and asked its followers: "Thoughts on a random bare foot peeking through your seat and almost touching your baby's head?"
Not surprisingly, the vast majority of commenters were upset by the image.
"Dude would be missing toes if his foot was that close to my baby's face," one said.
The woman who did this
Chloe Haines was charged over an alleged air rage outburst on a Jet2 flight from London to Dalaman, Turkey. Photo / Supplied
Dramatic footage emerged in July of a woman who allegedly stormed the cockpit of a Jet2 flight yelling "I'll kill you all".
British woman Chloe Haines, 25, had to be restrained by fellow passengers and crew after the reported rant just 45 minutes into the flight from London's Stansted Airport.
She was later fined $150,000 by the airline for her antics, and was recently seen crying outside court as she faced charges of assault by beating and recklessly or negligently acting in a manner likely to endanger an aircraft or person in an aircraft.
In June, British woman Rebecca Naish boarded her Virgin Atlantic flight to Las Vegas and found her seat. Then she saw something the previous passenger seemed to have left behind.
The airline checked in with Lufthansa, which confirmed the man was not one of its pilots.
It wasn't the first time the man had attempted the stunt – reminiscent of the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks — in order to score flight perks.
The people behind these horrific stories.
Here are a couple of stories from 2019 strictly not for the faint-hearted.
In May, a photo emerged of a passenger's leg injury so disgusting news.com.au decided to censor it.
Then in September, a woman's foot blister burst on an American Airlines flight, splattering a neighbouring passenger with her blood.
