When Vogue Williams’ 2022 altercation with a fellow passenger resurfaced after her stint on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!, I couldn’t help but groan. At the time, I was shocked by the irony of her complaining about someone on a flight, considering I had endured the exact opposite experience sharing a cabin with her.
She made the journey to Athens miserable—not just for me, but for many others. Yet, she seems to forget how dreadful a passenger she can be when the tables are turned and she’s the one facing inconvenience.
If you’re not familiar with the story, Vogue Williams was on a flight back from Gibraltar with her husband, Spencer Matthews, and their children when she clashed with another passenger over seating. On an episode of their Spencer and Vogue podcast, she admitted she had booked the wrong seats and called the man who refused to swap a “piece of s***”—a thoroughly entitled remark that, frankly, didn’t surprise me in the slightest.
In many ways, it felt like karma considering her behavior on a flight to Athens on September 9, 2017. I was on the 11:15 pm Aegean flight from Dublin, connecting to Heraklion, while Vogue and her party were flying onward to Mykonos. I didn’t find this out through any sleuthing or social media stalking—they were talking so loudly about it that it was impossible not to hear.
I take a lot of flights, often at all hours, and like most people, I understand the etiquette for late-night journeys—especially red-eyes—which is to stay quiet so others can sleep. Cabin lights are dimmed as a gentle reminder. That night, we were already delayed, and passengers were exhausted. Yet, Vogue and her friends ignored every convention. They yelled, laughed, and carried on as though the flight were a private party, clearly deciding their own enjoyment was far more important than anyone else’s need for rest.
Throughout the flight, Vogue Williams and her friends were giggling drunkenly and chatting nonstop, completely disturbing everyone else’s sleep. Perhaps they thought they were on a lively afternoon Ryanair trip to Ibiza! By the time we touched down around 6 a.m. Greek time, I was seething and immediately messaged a friend to vent.
Why didn’t anyone speak up? It was a tricky situation—saying something could have made the chaos even worse and inconvenienced others further. Later, when I spoke to fellow passengers, we all admitted we were hoping the group would simply pass out, as they seemed very drunk. It was somewhat comforting to know I wasn’t the only one frustrated by their behaviour.
As we staggered toward our connecting flights, exhausted from their antics, Vogue and her party continued to be loud and oblivious, clearly unaware of how much they had annoyed everyone around them. Their self-centred behaviour affected passengers for seemingly miles around.
Vogue finalised her divorce from Brian McFadden in 2017, so perhaps she was celebrating her freedom—but that doesn’t excuse making a flight miserable for others. My sympathies go out to anyone who has had—or will have—the misfortune of sharing a flight with her, whether heading to I’m A Celebrity or returning home.