Simple Plan, Hoobastank, and The Used Turn Southwest Flight into In-Air Concert

Hours before the FAA brought departing flights across the US to a standstill on Friday, passengers on a Southwest flight from Los Angeles to Orlando got a much more enjoyable alteration to their travel itinerary: an impromptu concert from Simple Plan, Hoobastank, and The Used.

Videos shared from the flight show the bands making their way through the aisles for stripped-down renditions of some of their biggest 2000s songs. Hoobastank led the cabin through “The Reason,” Simple Plan broke out “Perfect” and “I’m Just a Kid,” and The Used offered “The Taste of Ink,” as passengers sang along from their seats. All three bands were headed to Orlando for the final stop of the 2026 Vans Warped Tour, set for November 14th and 15th at Camping World Stadium.

The passengers were lucky in more ways than one. Jordan Orion, who shared several clips from the flight on TikTok, said it was among the last to depart LAX before the FAA issued a nationwide ground stop later Friday afternoon. The rare order halted departing flights across the country after a telecommunications outage affected air traffic control centers, making it the third stop of its kind since 9/11.