Story highlights
Cranberries singer Dolores O'Riordan held after allegedly assaulting airline crewmember
Insisting on a game of Word With Friends, Alec Baldwin was kicked off a flight for refusing to turn off mobile device
Gerard Depardieu was escorted off plane for urinating on plane floor
Director Kevin Smith was booted off Southwest Airlines due to a "safety concern" regarding his weight
Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan was arrested in November 2014 after allegedly assaulting a member of airline staff on a transatlantic flight and headbutting a police officer who tried to arrest her.
O’Riordan, 43, was removed from the plane by officers at Shannon Airport in mid-West Ireland following the alleged incident on board an Aer Lingus flight from New York to Shannon Airport.
Police said the singer was taken to a local hospital but later discharged and released from custody.
It’s not the first time, and doubtless won’t be the last, a celeb has been accused of an in-air disturbance.
Indeed, these days some might say you’re nobody until you’ve been kicked off a plane.
Whether by dressing inappropriately, taking up too much space or simply being themselves, plenty of irritable celebs have made flying a little more interesting for the rest of us.
Alec Baldwin: Volcanic PR coup
Alec Baldwin versus American Airlines: let’s face it, the only winner here was Words With Friends.
The Scrabble-like online game increased its daily active user count by 100,000 within one day after Baldwin’s December 2011 drama, from 5.4 million players to 5.5 million players, according to AppData.
The 30 Rock star touched off the game’s explosion with an explosion of his own – leaving an American Airlines plane in a huff after a run-in with flight crew over powering down his electronic device.
In an e-mail to CNN, Baldwin spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said, “He loves WWF so much that he was willing to leave a plane for it.”
Zynga reacted by launching the #letAlecPlay Twitter campaign.
“That was the most brilliant PR move I’ve seen this year,” said John Vlautin, who runs SpinLab in Los Angeles to the Los Angeles Times.
A week earlier, Josh Duhamel was booted off a flight from New York to Kentucky when he refused to turn off his BlackBerry, but in the wake of the Mt. Alec eruption, everyone pretty much forgot about that.
MORE: Who are the most annoying airplane passengers?
Kevin Smith: Fat fury
Hell hath no fury like a plus-sized celebrity scorned.
On February 13, 2010, noted director Kevin Smith boarded a Southwest Airlines flight in Oakland bound for Burbank when he was asked to get off the plane because his weight and size were a “safety concern.”
Bad move. Smith went on a Twitter tirade.
“I’m way fat … But I’m not THERE just yet. But if I am, why wait til my bag is up, and I’m seated WITH ARM RESTS DOWN. In front of a packed plane with a bunch of folks who’d already I.d.ed me as ‘Silent Bob.’”
Southwest later apologized to Smith and offered him a US$100 voucher, which Smith promptly scoffed at on Twitter while vowing to post anti-Southwest Twitter messages daily.
He also devoted an entire episode of SModcast to a play-by-play of the incident and released 24 video statements about it on YouTube.
We’d like to note that a year later, Smith lost 65 pounds by eating less and exercising.
Billie Joe Armstrong: Fashion police now on board
Passenger suitability appears directly proportional to pant sag when flying on, again, Southwest Airlines.
Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong was kicked off a plane in 2011 for wearing pants that hung too low on his hips.
Armstrong tweeted on September 1, “Just got kicked off a southwest flight because my pants sagged too low!”
The musician was on a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to Burbank – is this the same flight that Silent Bob was kicked off of?
Southwest apologized to Armstrong, who really should be thankful he wasn’t arrested.
University of New Mexico football player Deshon Marman was cuffed on June 15 after failing to pull up his sagging pants on a US Airways flight out of San Francisco.
The college student faced charges of trespassing and resisting arrest after he refused to obey a pilot and female flight crew member, who claims she saw the outline of what was under his exposed boxer shorts.
We’d look, too.
Leisha Hailey: No aerosol cans or tonguing
Grope your girlfriend on Southwest Airlines and you might get booted off, as “The L Word” actress Leisha Hailey found out in September 2011.
Hailey said she and her girlfriend shared “one, modest kiss.”
But a purported eyewitness and TMZ comment leaver later said, “There was major breast groping going on.”
The couple deny the gropage accusation. In a statement aimed at clarifying the incident, they said, “We were not making out or creating any kind of spectacle of ourselves … We are responsible adult women who walk through the world with dignity.”
Hailey has since called for a boycott of Southwest by gay people. GLAAD are looking into the incident.
Gerard Depardieu: 50 ways to reuse a bottle
Celebrity survival test: You’re on a plane. The seat belt sign is on. You feel an urge to pee. What do you do in this desperate situation?
According to Gerard Depardieu – France’s biggest actor, both figuratively and literally – the only logical and mature thing to do is pee into a trusty plastic bottle.
In August 2011, the Frenchman was stuck on a delayed flight from Paris to Dublin when nature called … or rather began screaming with terrifying insistence.
Unsympathetic flight attendants wouldn’t allow the actor to use the bathrooms, which were locked until takeoff.
Fellow actor Edouard Baer offered Depardieu an empty bottle to pee into.
The bladder-challenged 62-year-old went ahead and did what he had to do.
Depardieu probably would have gotten away with it if his aim was better. But some urine got onto the floor.
Depardieu offered to clean it up himself. The crew offered to escort him off the plane.
One of the passengers said Depardieu had obviously been drinking. Depardieu’s anonymous friend said the actor claimed he was absolutely not drunk.
Depardieu was once known to drink five or six bottles of wine a day.
MORE: The etiquette of crowded flying
Liam Gallagher: Most epic and absolutely reasonable in-flight meltdown
A lesson in true rock star behavior: in 1998, Cathay Pacific banned Oasis croaker Liam Gallagher for life from the airline, after the hard-to-please front man allegedly kicked up a fuss over a scone.
During a flight from Hong Kong to Perth, Gallagher began his scone rage.
Some reports said it was the shape of the scone that upset the testy Oasis vocalist. Others claimed that the snarly 1990s icon and Q Magazine obsession became anti-social after he was refused a flaky treat.
Many reports had him threatening the pilot with his baked good, possibly after he buttered it.
Passengers complained that Oasis band members refused to stop smoking, threw objects at people and swore at flight attendants.
The captain considered diverting the flight and forcing the band and their 30-member entourage to get off the plane.
After the ban, the unhappy snarler said that he’d rather walk to Australia than fly on Cathay Pacific.
Ashleigh Cowie and Greg Botelho, CNN, contributed to this article.