Has anyone ever sat next to a celeberty on a commerical flight?Who?And what airline?
My sister once claimed she flew on a Continental DC-9 to Birmingham with Mal Moore during Iron Bowl week in 1998. He is now the athletic director at Alabama.
Bill Cowher (Steelers)
William Devane (didn’t talk to him, he was reading a book)
R. Kelly (really nice for a “gangsta”)
Oliver North (head buried in newspapers, his assistant was very chatty)
Some guy from the Young and the Restless (didn’t recognize him because I never watched, but the women around us were really batty)
and a few others I can’t remember all on USAirways
Used to fly airlines a LOT, usually got First Class upgrades. It’s amazing who is up there.
Some years ago, I was flying back to the U.S. from Europe. The woman sitting next to me in first class was the main TV news anchor for a station in a city of 300,000 to 400,000 people. Since I lived beyond her station’s viewing area, I really didn’t know her. It was a long flight and she was very willing to spend her time telling me how great and how popular she was.
On the other hand, she really was quite attractive. 
Interesting thread.
US Airways flight from Charlotte to Aruba, I was in 1F. Had Cathy Ireland sitting behind me in (2F). I am used to celebs NOT looking as good as they do in photos but this was the opposite. Cathy is drop dead beautiful - photos do not do her justice. Later in the week I saw her again at a beach bar and she went out of her way to say “hello” and engage in conversation.
Sat next to Ivory Snow girl Marilyn Chambers on a US Airways ORD to PIT flight but that somehow was not the same.
See Bill Cowher and family often at a local restaurant but that will change now that he has bought a house in North Carolina.
Regards, John.
no
David Coverdale (White Snake) and Tawny Kitaen on a TWA flight years ago from LAX to STL the day following the MTV Music Awards in LA.
Fred DeCordava (Producer–Tonight Show with Carson).
Fred McMurry (My Threes Sons).
Yes, on my last flight which was SWA 2051 from BWI to BNA on 3/15 for a 8th grade school trip,Which was the most turbulent flight ive been on, My friend sat next to the lead singer of the group The Queens of the Stone Age. [The whole band was on board] 
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Patrick Ewing (NY Knicks) - coming out of a shop in CLT airport (he had to duck).
He shook hands with me, and my entire hand fit inside his palm… I’ve never felt so tiny in my life. -
Christy Turlington (Victoria’s Secret model) - on a flight I was working, I served her drinks (she sat right in the middle of coach class, which I thought was odd) and we chatted for a few moments about her line of yoga clothing.
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Scott Hamilton (ice skater) - on a flight I was working, I helped him get his bag into the overhead in first class. He was as nice in person as he seems on TV.
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Ray Liotta (actor) - met him in the CLT airport. We were both in a hurry, in opposite directions, but he smiled back and said hello as we passed. His eyes are gorgeous!
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Karen Grassle (“Ma” from Little House on the Prairie) - we were both on the same flight as passengers. I would have said hello, but she looked so tired she was about to fall over, so I didn’t.
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Barry Manilow (singer) - I was working first class, and he came on with an entourage. He sat in the back left corner of first class, with his handlers seated all around him like a barricade, and promptly fell asleep. He slept the whole trip, never spoke a word to any of us.
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Itzhak Perlman (violinist) - sat in first row of coach class. I helped put his cane in the overhead bin, and brought him drinks. He was very personable. I noticed that he had very beefy hands, which surprised me because he’s a master of the violin. I would have thought one needed gracile, thin fingers to play the way he does.
The One That Got Away: Back when I was based in CLT, sometimes I’d get to a gate to start the first leg of a trip and find out the gate had been changed to WAYYYYY across the airport. It was one of those days, and I was hauling arse so as not to hold up the preflight briefing. As I got on board, the other crew members told me I’d just missed Davey Jones (lead singer of the Monkees), who had gotten on the wrong flight. They told him his gate had changed, and he left… just before I got there. Damn! I wanted a kiss on the cheek, like he gave Marcia Brady, so I could walk around dreamily, saying, “I’ll never wash my face again!”
Myself- no.
Wife was a DL flight attendant (back when they were still “stewardesses”) in the 1970’s and 1980’s - during the year or so she worked the extra board, she probably met half the professional athletes in America on charter flights.
Her favorite celebrity encounter was Jackson Browne - he actually took her out to dinner while he was waiting out a connection at KATL.
Hakeem Olajuwon-Southwest San Antonio to Houston ( had three seats and boarded early)
Walter Cronkite and his wife-Austin to Laguardia Continental
Heisman trophy winner John David Crow-Houston to College Station Continental Express
Sheila Jackson Lee-Houston to Washington Reagen Continental
Jose Feliciano (and his whole band…about 10 people)- McAllen to Houston-Continental
1976: Coach John Wooden on an Air Wisconsin Metroliner from the Purdue Airport in W. Lafayette, IN to O’Hare. What an amazing man. The flight was way too short!
1998: The R & B girl group Destiny’s Child (including Beyoncé before she went solo) was across from us in 1st Class on a TWA trip from St. Louis to San Diego. They hardly spoke to anyone, but seemed exhausted and just covered themselves with their very nice fur coats and slept the entire way, including a stop in Phoenix.
2013: Actress Bernadette Peters was in the row behind my wife and I (again in 1st Class) on an AA flight from Indianapolis to DFW. Seemed very nice, but didn’t talk to her much.