Post your worst air travel experience

[K1052]

Flying American into Lambert field (St. Louis) flight was delayed 7 hours from Dallas. Get to Lambert only to wait two hours for baggage. Get to car (about 3 A.M.) in long term parking to find it buried in a 5 foot deep snow wall made the by plow. Dig car out and drive another two hours home.

Share yours.

 

[scorpmatt]

here

that's mine, just happened sunday and monday

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: scorpmatt
here

that's mine, just happened sunday and monday

Your thread reminded me.

 

[scorpmatt]

Originally posted by: K1052

Originally posted by: scorpmatt
here

that's mine, just happened sunday and monday

Your thread reminded me.

had a feeling that's what happened. although I didn't add to the story that I pulled my right knee out of socket and then it got shoved back into socket a second later on saturday night. the muscles are still hurting

 

[apac]

I while back I wrote a rant about sitting next to a gay 15 year old kid any his mom for 4 hours. Can't find it any more though

 

[Ipno]

I once had a flight from Cleveland to Las Vegas where I had to sit beside this girl who thought she had to pray loudly the entire time for the plane not to crash. I would normally not care but it was a red-eye and I was trying to get some sleep.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Originally posted by: Ipno
I once had a flight from Cleveland to Las Vegas where I had to sit beside this girl who thought she had to pray loudly the entire time for the plane not to crash. I would normally not care but it was a red-eye and I was trying to get some sleep.

Weird. I had a flight OUT of Las Vegas back to Burbank, and I sat next to a girl who first wept audibly during take off, yelped and gripped my arm tightly against the arm rest at every slightest bit of turbulence, and even screamed so loud that everyone turned around to look at her when the plane banked hard around to align itself with the runway (we were in the very back).

Under any ordinary circumstances, that would have bothered the sh!t out of me, but since the flight was only 50 minutes long, and I was hardly sober, it was actually kind of entertaining.

-Garth

 

[Lola]

ours was this past january.
we were on a cruise from Ft Lauderdale and took Spirit Airlines (first mistake). The way there, a stewardess had a bad heart attack (not the airlines fault) and we had to do an emergency landing in TN. that took an extra 2 hours.

THen, on the way back, we got to the airport to check in for our return flight and the line just to check in for Spirit was literally at least four blocks long and went around a good part of the airport. we waited and waited, most people missed their flights.
we just made ours, but we sat on the plane before take off for another hour at least.

It was just awful. We did learn our lesson: pay more and have a better trip.

 

[Schadenfroh]

unpressurized cabin from Memphis to Jackson

The pain from the ears popping and the babies screaming because they did not know wtf was going on.

 

[vi edit]

I'm still here to write about it. So I haven't had any *that* bad yet. Or hopefully ever.

 

[dug777]

abcess in my gum and the pressure changes coming down hurt more than anything else ever

 

[DT4K]

This past May, I was returning home after a trip to disney world with my wife and 4 kids.
The plane out of Orlando was delayed for several hours. Long enough that we weren't going to make it to Atlanta in time to get a connecting flight home back to Portland, OR that night. So Delta rebooked us on America West through Las Vegas and assured me that our luggage(7 bags and 2 car seats) would get transferred and get to Portland.
So on the flight to Vegas, I started feeling sick. Nauseous, feverish, sweating, overall not good. Once we got to Vegas, I was so sick that I ended up laying down on the floor outside the bathrooms for about 20 minutes before finally throwing up in a nasty airport bathroom. Just in time to board the plane from Vegas to Portland about 10 minutes later. Luckily I felt better and slept the whole flight.
So we get to Portland at about midnight and of course, they have no idea where our luggage is. They think for sure it will come in on the next morning's flight. Since we have a 5 hour drive from Portland to get home, we ask about a hotel so we can see if our bags get there in the morning. Since they say it's Delta's fault and not theirs, they won't pay, but get us a discount rate at a crappy motel nearby. So I go to get our van out of long-term parking and the battery is dead. Have to call and get someone to come jump start it (luckily, it didn't take too long) and we finally get to the motel around 2am. Get up around 8, go back to the airport, and of course, they still have no idea where our bags are, they say maybe it will come in that afternoon, but we don't have much faith so we give up and make the 5 hour drive home. Finally got our bags brought to our house a few days later.

 

[mitaiwan82]

flew from Taipei to Macau last summer to visit China...the flight was delayed for a few hours due to problems with the plane. We got on and off the plane about 3 times, almost flying one of those times, only to be stopped by another failed safety check. Some people got really pissed off and called the press (Taiwanese people like to make a scene), so there were camera people around before everything got sorted out. I just hated it cuz I had to wait on the airplane without A/C...hot, stale air sucks.

 

[Mrvile]

Recently took a 2 week vacation to China, the flight home was delayed two hours so we missed our connection in Chicago, we had to stay in a hotel that night (no one could sleep anyway the jetlag was so bad) and our 1 hour flight home was the next day at 12:30. So we spent an extra two days traveling home.

 

[neutralizer]

Originally posted by: mitaiwan82
flew from Taipei to Macau last summer to visit China...the flight was delayed for a few hours due to problems with the plane. We got on and off the plane about 3 times, almost flying one of those times, only to be stopped by another failed safety check. Some people got really pissed off and called the press (Taiwanese people like to make a scene), so there were camera people around before everything got sorted out. I just hated it cuz I had to wait on the airplane without A/C...hot, stale air sucks.

Wow. I had the same situation. I was flying Shanghai Airlines from Shanghai to Guangzhou, the plane was delayed and then suddenly they let everyone onto the shuttle bus to the plane, but drove us in circles around the airport and refused to let us out. It was hot and stuffy in the bus because it was packed so when they finally let us back off at the gate, so many people were so pissed off and rallied up that they wanted to call the press. Not to mention this was the date of the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square incident. They asked the manager what was happening and she said that she couldn't tell them and they all got so pissed off and arguing and stuff. I just went back to the lounge and got my free drinks and food. They finally let us on the plane, but we still waited an hour in the plane without A/C.

 

[Pepsei]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
unpressurized cabin from Memphis to Jackson

The pain from the ears popping and the babies screaming because they did not know wtf was going on.

wow, hypoxia could kill in seconds if it is really bad.

 

[Ranger X]

Had some people that smelled real bad sit in front of me and beside of me.

 

[loup garou]

1) I was sitting in the plane, on the runway at JFK, #2 for takeoff, behind an AA plane. The AA plane took off and crashed while I watched. Scared the absolute crap out of me. Our plane was brought back to the terminal, where I waited for 14 hours for a return flight.

2) I spilled a sprite on my lap an hour into a flight to Switzerland, nothing makes an 8 hour flight more fun than a sticky crotch.

 

[lokiju]

Well what I thought was going to be my worst experience was my last trip on my way back I had a layover in Charlotte NC and when I got on the new plane to go back to Ft. Lauderdale, FL I see that there is a HUGE man sitting in the middle seat and over flowing into my window seat, I was thinking "fvck I need to find another seat!" but luckily no one came to sit in the isle seat so he moved over and I rejoiced!

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
ours was this past january.
we were on a cruise from Ft Lauderdale and took Spirit Airlines (first mistake). The way there, a stewardess had a bad heart attack (not the airlines fault) and we had to do an emergency landing in TN. that took an extra 2 hours.

THen, on the way back, we got to the airport to check in for our return flight and the line just to check in for Spirit was literally at least four blocks long and went around a good part of the airport. we waited and waited, most people missed their flights.
we just made ours, but we sat on the plane before take off for another hour at least.

It was just awful. We did learn our lesson: pay more and have a better trip.

I do the security system at Port Everglades where you "sailed" out of. I see tons of people all the time coming and going for cruises.

 

[RollWave]

Puked on by baby oh hour 2 of a 12 hour flight.

 

[Armitage]

Munich -> JFK in December. Earlier in the day somebody slid a 747 off a runway, so that's one runway down. Still snowing, I think some airports were closed and had diverted flights to JFK, plus snow on JFK & closed runway meant we were stacked up for a long time until we started getting low on gas. So we diverted to Cincinatti. Of course Cincinatti didn't have any/enough customs people available to process in international 747, so they wouldn't open the doors - which really pissed off some folks whose final destination was Cincinatti

Anyway, we gas up, and they are talking to JFK control from the ground - we waited forever to get clearance to take off. Despite that, we waited forever again circling JFK before we could actually land. Finally touched down about 8 hours late(all on the plane), at about 2 a.m.

Of course the airport was under construction at the time - JFK is a miserable airport to begin with, but under construction it was impossible. And frankly, more people spoke english in the Munich airport then @ JFK. Finally find a payphone - two actually, one was out of order. Of course its packed, people almost fighting to get to it. And I didn't have any US change. Borrowed some and called my dad - I had arranged about a 36 hour layover on this flight to drive down and see him. Then went out to get the rental car. Eventually got a car, though not from the company I was supposed to, and drove home about 3+ hours in the snow. Came back a few hours later.

Then there's the time that some ass decides he *has* to recline his seat despite the fact that my knees were against it before he tried to recline. So I left my knees there (not that I had a choice) and he couldn't recline, so he starts slamming his seat back against my knees! We had some words, and damn near became an air-rage statistic on that guy.

 

[Law]

Didn't happen to me but one of my coworkers lost her luggage twice (back to back within a week) and the first time they couldn't recover it.

 

[Lola]

Originally posted by: lokiju

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
ours was this past january.
we were on a cruise from Ft Lauderdale and took Spirit Airlines (first mistake). The way there, a stewardess had a bad heart attack (not the airlines fault) and we had to do an emergency landing in TN. that took an extra 2 hours.

THen, on the way back, we got to the airport to check in for our return flight and the line just to check in for Spirit was literally at least four blocks long and went around a good part of the airport. we waited and waited, most people missed their flights.
we just made ours, but we sat on the plane before take off for another hour at least.

It was just awful. We did learn our lesson: pay more and have a better trip.

I do the security system at Port Everglades where you "sailed" out of. I see tons of people all the time coming and going for cruises.

thats cool! it was sooo awful. i will never do that again. and the bitch of it was... the line was JUST for spirit.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: LolaWiz

Originally posted by: lokiju

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
ours was this past january.
we were on a cruise from Ft Lauderdale and took Spirit Airlines (first mistake). The way there, a stewardess had a bad heart attack (not the airlines fault) and we had to do an emergency landing in TN. that took an extra 2 hours.

THen, on the way back, we got to the airport to check in for our return flight and the line just to check in for Spirit was literally at least four blocks long and went around a good part of the airport. we waited and waited, most people missed their flights.
we just made ours, but we sat on the plane before take off for another hour at least.

It was just awful. We did learn our lesson: pay more and have a better trip.

I do the security system at Port Everglades where you "sailed" out of. I see tons of people all the time coming and going for cruises.

thats cool! it was sooo awful. i will never do that again. and the bitch of it was... the line was JUST for spirit.

I've never flown Spirit, but have never had any issues with that airport (FLL, free wi-fi!)