Celeb air travel tales that put Prendeville to shame

Neil Prendeville has apologised for the Aer Lingus wank-gate incident, but he’s not alone in his shame – here’s five other celeb air travel horror stories.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers gets racist

Prendeville isn’t the only Irish celeb to be spun into a temporary bout of madness and inappropriate behaviour by the stress of air travel. Earlier this year, Jonathan Rhys Meyers turned up for a flight to Los Angeles pissed drunk and was not permitted to board. Rather than take it on the chin, he decided instead to see if he could convince airline officials to let him onto the plane by using the word n**ger and generally spiralling into a drunken horror show. Sadly, the Tudors star was banned from using United Airlines.

Elvis Crespo has a mid-air hand-shandy

Prendeville can’t even take credit for inventing the mid-air celebrity monkey spank. Back in 2009, Puerto Rican-American Grammy Award-winning musician Elvis Crespo was enjoying his status as one of Latin America’s biggest stars and to celebrate, he decided to whip out his penis and bash the oul’ bishop while on a flight from Houston to Miami.

Sadly, the meringue star was spotted by a female fellow passenger who complained to staff about his untimely bout of self-love. The plane's captain radioed Miami International Airport's air traffic control tower, and police were waiting on the tarmac.

Officers interviewed Crespo upon his arrival but didn't arrest him. Mysteriously, no charges were filed. When quizzed about the accusation, Crespo simply ‘did a Prendeville’ by telling police: "I don't recall doing that."

Ralph Fiennes gets frisky at 30,000 feet

Back in March 2007, British actor Ralph Fiennes found himself embroiled in the centre of an airline sex pest scandal. The Schindler's List star was travelling from Australia to India when he got chatting to 38-year-old Qantas stewardess Lisa Robertson. She takes up the story: "While conversing with Mr. Fiennes during my break, I expressed a need to go to the toilet. I went to the nearby toilet and entered it. He followed me and entered the same toilet.”

Sadly, Fiennes had badly misread the signals and Robertson’s job was suddenly on the line when other airline staff spotted the pair leaving the same cubicle. However, the air hostess was adamant nothing untoward happened: "I explained to him that this was inappropriate and asked him to leave,” she later told a British tabloid. “Mr. Fiennes became amorous towards me and, after a short period of time, I convinced him to leave the toilet, which he did. I left the toilet a short time later."

Björk goes mental in Bangkok

Back in 1996, Björk arrived at Bangkok International Airport with her son Sindri after a longhaul flight. When reporter Julie Kaufman said, "Welcome to Bangkok," the squeaky Icelandic songstress turned into some sort of a vicious she-wolf. A bout of manic punching, gouging and hair-pulling followed before Björk was finally prised off the journalist, while still clutching clumps of her hair in her Icelandic talons.

Björk later blamed journalists for asking her son questions in the airport before escaping charges with an apology to the victim. It rang slightly hollow, however, when the pop star attacked a second journo in another airport. In January 2008, Björk had to be pulled off a photographer with The New Zealand Herald at Auckland International Airport.

Kevin Smith is too fat to fly

While the other celebs featured in our list found themselves in a mortifying airline extravaganza due largely to a moment of madness, Hollywood director Kevin Smith came by his after a lifetime of poor menu choices.

The 39-year-old, responsible for the likes of Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Clerks, went on standby in the hope he might get a spot on a Southwest Airline flight. Luckily, one seat became available. Unluckily, he was far too fat to fit in it and he was unceremoniously ejected from the plane.

Smith hit back at his tormentors, saying: "I know I'm fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated? I broke no regulation, offered no 'safety risk'.” I bet the passenger next to him was chuffed to bits all the same.