A Passenger Curled Her Hair Mid-Flight — and the Comment Section Was Surprisingly Nice About It
A viral airplane video could have gotten ugly fast. Instead, a lot of people told everyone to let her live.
A woman curling her hair in the middle seat of an airplane is apparently enough to stop the scroll.
A video originally posted on TikTok by @abernathy_habit and later shared by LADbible shows a passenger using a curling iron mid-flight, with the caption asking, “Who curls their hair at 30,000 ft?!”
The original TikTok caption tagged Delta and said, “this feels dangerous,” so I expected the comments to be rough. Plane etiquette content tends to bring out very strong opinions, and filming strangers in public already feels like a messy place to start.
But this was not the pile-on I expected. A lot of people were more annoyed that she was being filmed than they were about the actual curling iron.
The comments were surprisingly on her side
“She’s focused on her and you’re focused on her,” one TikTok commenter wrote. “She is the main character in every life.”
Another person pointed out that she seemed to be trying not to crowd the passenger beside her: “She’s even turning her head so she don’t get in your space… Let that girl be!”
The bar is apparently on the floor, but I did appreciate how many people looked at this and decided, “She’s not bothering anyone.”
“I’m not flying to my full potential,” one person joked.
Another wrote, “I don’t even have the energy to curl my hair at sea level. Good for her!”
I felt that one. My in-flight beauty routine is usually lip balm and trying not to look deceased at baggage claim.
Plenty of people told everyone to mind their business
The LADbible comment section had a similar vibe, with several people pointing out that she appeared to be keeping to herself.
“Why not? Why is that bothering you? Awesome if she could do my hair too!” one commenter wrote.
Another added, “Looks like she’s minding her own business.”
One person was more direct: “You know what’s really nice? When you don’t judge others for simply being and Mind your own business.”
A few commenters also admitted they had done their own version of this before.
“Not an influencer & I’ve been doing face mask, eye mask, curling hair, and makeup on most of my flights since MySpace days,” one person wrote. “If it’s not effecting u in anyway or ur bank accnt, just watch ur in-flight movie & mind ur business.”
Another added, “I used to get ready on the bus on the way to work.”
Someone else said, “Girl some of us are just doing what we can, when we can. At least you can’t smell her.”
That last line made me laugh because airplane behavior can get so much worse. One commenter wrote, “I’ve sat next to a man eating hard boiled eggs and raw onions from a ziplock bag.”
After that, a curling iron starts looking almost polite.
@abernathy_habit 👀 @delta this feels dangerous… #fyp #delta #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp ♬ original sound – abernathy_habit
Some people still had safety questions
Not everyone was ready to defend it. A few people were worried about turbulence or the smell of burnt hair in an enclosed cabin.
“If we hit turbulence and that touched me, I’d sue her, delta and my dern self,” one TikTok commenter joked.
Another wrote, “The smell of burnt hair would kill me in such an enclosed space.”
While TSA does allow many curling irons on planes, that does not automatically mean using one mid-flight is a great idea — or that a flight crew would be fine with it.
TSA allows corded electric curling irons and hair straighteners in both carry-on and checked bags. Cordless curling irons are more restricted: butane- or gas-powered versions must go in carry-on only, need protection from accidental activation, and spare gas refills are not allowed. So bringing a curling iron through security is generally fine, but using one mid-flight may still come down to airline policy, crew instructions, and basic common sense in a cramped airplane row.
My take
Would I curl my hair in the middle seat of a plane? Absolutely not. I can barely untangle my headphones without elbowing someone.
But I also kind of respect the commitment.
The woman in the video appears to be keeping to herself, turning away from the person beside her, and getting ready for wherever she was headed after landing. Maybe she had an event. Maybe she had a meeting. Maybe she simply wanted her hair to look good when she got off the plane.
I understand why some people side-eyed it. A hot styling tool in a cramped airplane row is not exactly the most relaxing thing to witness from the next seat over.
But the reaction was still nicer than I expected. A lot of people saw a woman doing something slightly unusual in public and decided it did not need to become a character assassination. And it sure was nice to see.
Airplane etiquette has become its own internet genre at this point. I also recently covered the long-haul flight essentials frequent flyers actually rely on, and the airport pajama “ban” that had travelers arguing about where comfort crosses the line.
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Compared to some things people do on flights, this barely registers.
The comment about eating hard-boiled eggs and raw onions is too real. Compared to that, someone quietly curling her hair is the perfect seatmate!