Simple Plan, Hoobastank and The Used play surprise gig on a plane

Passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Florida got an unexpected live gig from Simple Plan, Hoobastank and The Used on Friday (November 13) while a nationwide FAA ground stop disrupted flights across the US.

The bands were heading to Orlando for Vans Warped Tour 2026 when they decided to turn the plane into a flying rock concert. Not a bad upgrade from the usual screaming babies and overpriced snacks.

Simple Plan frontman Pierre Bouvier busted out his guitar and treated passengers to acoustic versions of 'I'm Just a Kid', 'Perfect' and 'Welcome to My Life'.

Hoobastank's Doug Robb and Dan Estrin got amongst it too, performing 'The Reason' and 'Crawling in the Dark'.

Then The Used's Bert McCracken and Joey Bradford joined the fun with 'All That I've Got' and 'The Taste of Ink', with passengers singing along.

Turns out the performances were actually part of Southwest's 'Live at 35' surprise concert series, but the timing couldn't have been better.

Robb told Rock Sound their flight was one of the last to take off before the shutdown.

“[It] was just an extremely awesome and hilarious coincidence,” he said.

“It felt like a tube full of happy people.”

Ya love to see it.