What Man Does on Packed 5-Hour Flight Branded ‘Indefensible’

The moment a man did the “indefensible” on an airplane has gained viral attention after his friend shared footage of the incident.

A video posted by New Yorker Will Chizek on TikTok revealed the moment his friend, Ryan Koplinick, decided to eat a tuna fish salad wrap mid-flight, much to the dismay of their fellow passengers.

The text overlay on the video joked: “POV: Your ‘best friend’ and ‘travel buddy’ pulls out a lukewarm tuna fish salad wrap on a 5-hour flight. Heads start to turn. Noses wrinkle. Sighs are heard from row 58B. And I can’t defend the indefensible.”

The friends were flying from Los Angeles to New York City, where Chizek and Koplinick were returning after a weekend in LA.

“Ryan and I were both in LA for business and decided to stay the weekend to see friends,” Chizek told Newsweek. “To end any great LA trip, I’ve made it a tradition to make a stop at Erewhon for some airport and inflight snacks. That is where everything went downhill. I should have stopped him when I saw him reach for the tuna wrap… I got a sensible turkey sandwich.”

But even Chizek was caught off guard when his friend opened the wrap mid-flight. “The smell hit my nose, and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud as I saw everyone turn and Ryan remained completely unfazed,” Chizek said. “He was gonna enjoy that Erewhon wrap. I almost had to respect it. People sighed, but everything remained civil. No tuna was spilled in the making of this video.”

With more than 650,000 views on TikTok, people shared their reactions in the comments, with many stunned by the fishy decision.

“The gasp I just gusped,” said Katherineeee. While Eric wrote: “That’s wild.”

Others, like Mary, thought that it may even have been intentional. “I 100 percent believe this is a strategic power play,” she wrote.

While it prompted Dan_in_STL to suggest stricter rules on airplanes: “Airlines need more rules and etiquette training videos (in multiple languages) that are required viewing after booking.”

Chizek was surprised by the video’s viral success, admitting that he didn’t expect it to take off. “It’s important to say my friend Ryan is not a devil and is a very seasoned well-traveled person. Everyone survived, and it was a hilarious story for us. So many people were hating on him in the comments, but it truly was very innocent—I’ve encountered many worse smells on airplanes than an Erewhon tuna wrap,” he said.