No One Can Believe What Passenger Brought on Night Flight: 'Who Does This?'

An airplane passenger has shared jaw-dropping footage of the sight that greeted him on a six-hour red eye flight.

Sam Psihoyos told Newsweek he was traveling aboard American Airlines flight AA0305 from Miami to Seattle on January 2 when he spotted a woman sitting a couple of seats along from him plugging in an "abomination" of a phone charger.

Newsweek has contacted American Airlines on multiple occasions for comment.

"When I first saw the charger I thought it was a joke and had to laugh," Psihoyos said. Stunned at what he was witnessing, Psihoyos took out his phone and recorded a clip of the charger in action.

The resulting video was posted to Reddit under the handle u/tsitsifly22, alongside the caption "who does this?" and shows the woman, who has not been identified, using an LED light-emitting charger cable that shines brightly in the otherwise dark aircraft cabin.

"I was blown away by the woman's obliviousness," Psihoyos said. "I looked around and made eye contact with five other passengers all with a similar 'WTF' expression."

Air travel represents a leading cause of stress among Americans. In 2023, a poll of 1,000 U.S. air travelers conducted as part of the 2024 Air Travel Hacks Report from the Expedia Group saw 55 percent of respondents rank it as a more daunting experience than a trip to the dentists or filing taxes.

Psihoyos said the woman's charger impacted his travel experience "negatively," particularly as he had wound up on the same row after a seating mix-up.

"I was shocked," he said. "The cable was flashing brightly for over four hours during what was a six hour flight while the woman had her phone's screen brightness levels at maximum. Other passengers looked around to make eye contact like 'are you seeing this?'"

They were not alone in expressing incredulity at what they were seeing, with many on Reddit similarly stunned at the woman's lack of self awareness.

"This is so hard to fathom," one user wrote, with another commenting: "Why would someone own that? Seriously." A third said: "I'd be too embarrassed to use it," while a fourth added: "There's like 20 ways you could use this cable stealthily in that scenario though. Like just feeding the cable through a sweater or a shirt so the flashing is hidden."

Psihoyos had his own personal reasons for taking offense at the charger. "I'm an inventor," he said. "I made a device called a Toggletool and was taken aback by the lack of good taste in this abomination of a charger."

He also confirmed that staff on the flight attempted to intervene with the situation to no avail. "The onboard flight attendants and staff did mention to her that she's becoming obnoxious to the other passengers," he said. "But the woman wouldn't quit—we all had to endure."