Photo: TikTok
It’s difficult to lose a loved one.
By Zayda Slabbekoorn — Written on Feb 08, 2023
Planes can be tough – other people in your space, kids crawling everywhere, and the occasional horribly bad flight food service.
For this batch of passengers, though, they dealt with a completely different type of passenger.
Recorded on TikTok by a nearby passenger, and uploaded to the Public Freakout, or r/PublicFreakout, Reddit forum — one passenger was caught in an extremely vulnerable moment.
After losing her mother hours before the flight took off, passengers witnessed firsthand this women’s heartbreaking grieving process.
The Public Freakout forum on Reddit is for users to post stories and clips of people having meltdowns in public places — many comments either justify or tear these vulnerable people apart.
Passengers record a woman having a meltdown on a plane — yelling ‘God, you’re my savior.’
At the beginning of this shocking video, a passenger across the aisle from this yelling woman captures a scene right out of every frequent flyer's nightmare.
Not only does the video highlight an absolute look of annoyance from the woman sitting just one seat away, but viewers can hear this woman yelling at the top of her lungs on a silent plane.
“You’re my savior,” the woman yells between pauses for air.
Rocking back and forth in her window seat, the reading light above her shows the woman flipping through some sort of pamphlet in her hands.
Before her meltdown this woman walked down the flight’s aisles, telling everyone her mother had passed.
As the camera shakes around, it shows aisles and aisles of passengers looking confused, annoyed, and concerned over what’s happening just ahead of them on the flight.
With this woman’s loud meltdown happening just a few seats over, the man recording on his phone takes a second to provide some context to viewers.
“She’s been freaking out for the last 20 minutes,” the man says holding his phone’s microphone close to his mouth.
“She started off by telling everyone that her mother just passed away. Then, she went up and down the aisles telling everyone to pray for her mother.”
As the phone captures two women behind the meltdown pointing to this man’s camera, he says, “She’s been like this for the past 15 to 20 minutes.”
With the continuous screams of ‘God, you’re my savior’ in the background, the man pans the camera back over to the woman.
Now, the passenger right beside her has his back completely turned to the camera — in an attempt to comfort the woman next to him, he speaks to her with his hand on her shoulder.
Nearby passengers look severely annoyed by her meltdown — one tries to comfort and calm the woman.
“The guy next to her has been trying to calm her down the whole time,” he says while filming the man trying to speak to the woman mid-meltdown.
Reaching to put his hand on her shoulder again after she continues to yell, the woman takes a break from her chants to yell, “Don’t f—ing touch me.”
The woman in the aisle seat, who had been staring ahead of her with a blank expression the whole video, takes a moment to look back over at the scene.
Flight attendants warn passengers to alert them if her meltdown escalates — worrying she’ll endanger others.
“The flight attendants asked me to make sure she doesn’t try to go to the back door and open it,” the man says, “If she gets up, they’re going to try to stop her.”
Clearly worried about her safety, as they have conversations with nearby passengers, the video doesn’t seem to capture any of the airline staff near the meltdown.
The only person who seems to be worried or even concerned with the woman’s situation is the man sitting next to her — who doesn’t even seem to be traveling with her.
Now with a flashlight out on her pamphlet, the woman’s screams and cries only grow louder as she continues to chant.
Few comments seem empathic towards the woman’s meltdown after losing a parent.
While the woman is clearly distressed and going through a terrible situation, both nearby passengers and comments under the video are incredibly disappointing.
“No fly list — immediately,” one of the top TikTok commenters writes.
“Where’s the d— duck tape?” another says.
While the majority of comments follow a similar narrative, some display some type of empathy for this woman grieving her mother.
“Sometimes the stress of a profound loss can cause a breakdown — if someone is fragile.”
“Bless her heart,” another woman writes, “She’s obviously having a crisis.”
According to psychologist Elena Sanz, grief can induce psychotic symptoms.
"There are different scenarios in which grief and psychosis can appear together. In all of them, recognizing the presence of both disorders is essential when planning any intervention," says Sanz.
"Ignoring one of the factors to focus only on the most salient will only hinder and lengthen the patient’s recovery process. It must be remembered that every person’s situation is both unique and complex. Indeed, it’s imperative that this fact be taken into account when planning any intervention."
While many of us dread having anything but peace and quiet on our flights, hopefully, some will have the care to empathize with this grieving woman — dealing with the unimaginable ten thousand feet high.
If you or somebody that you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, there is a way to get help. Call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or text "HELLO" to 741741 to be connected with the Crisis Text Line.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer who focuses on pop culture analysis and human interest stories. Catch up with them on Instagram or TikTok.