A man decided to pull a hilarious prank on his friend during a flight, leaving his pal mortified in front of the rest of the plane on their journey.
Kyle Philippi, 37, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was flying from Davao, Philippines, to Doha, Qatar, with his friend Zeke when he decided to pull the prank and start singing "happy birthday" to his friend, even though it wasn't his birthday.
Philippi told Newsweek: "Zeke is fun to prank because he appreciates the joke but also still gets annoyed just enough."
In a viral video, which has been viewed more than 2.5 million times since it was posted to Instagram on August 22, Philippi films his friend in the row across from him and jokingly announces that it is his pal's birthday, getting other passengers to start singing happy birthday to him.
"Could you all help me welcome Zeke on his birthday today?" he says to his fellow flyers I the clip.
Zeke can be seen nervously laughing and shaking his head at the prank as others sing and clap around him. The flight attendant even hands him a toy gift, which Zeke holds up for the video.
"It doesn't have to be your birthday to bring strangers together!" the creator wrote in the video's caption.
Philippi and his friend, who are both mission workers with an organization called Far-Flung Tin Can, were returning to Qatar from the Philippines when the video was filmed. International travel is returning to record levels with a total of 38.7 million global flights expected to be taken in 2024, the highest number since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"There were some that sang along, the people next him wanted to see the gift he got from the flight attendant," Philippi told Newsweek. "Some wished him happy birthday later when going to the bathroom. It was a 10-hour flight.
"This was the end of our trip, so this was the last of my pranks from 10 days, so I'm sure he was just counting down the hours to going home to his wife and baby and away from my shenanigans.
"We were taking off and I saw him over there across many people, so I knew if I were to do anything to him it would have to be loud for him to even hear it. It's not the first fake birthday song I've started on a flight. He reacted exactly how I expected."
Instagram users took to the comments of the viral video to share their reactions.
"This made me smile!" wrote @jinksagre while @katerynaaa_b said: "The more embarrassed he got the more they joined in. Humanity at its finest."
@adventuresofagirl commented: "Lol I feel his embarrassment through the screen. HBD Zeke!"
Meanwhile, @dobleshotmusicau said: "The people next to him were so happy it warmed my heart."
@ejforter joked: "I'd unfriend them lol." @aceyshari said: "I love it when men actually have fun... he got a toy. So sweet."
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