What is your worst airplane horror story?
What was your most miserable airplane experience? Does anybody have an airplane horror story? I have one. I was on a 4 and a half hour flight and the airline changes numbers. They moved me to the back of the plane on a 757. An aisle seat in the very last row. A german man in his wife are there. He laughed at the movie and safety video. He was singing and was just acting odd. An hour into the fligh he needs to uses the bathroom. Instead of askinh me to move he stepped on top of my seat and climbed over it. Has anyone else have this happen? Edit: punctuation. Traveling with a 7 year old daughter, I'm a divorced dad. Southwest, but we've got boarding group A. We arrive from one flight and have to head to the connecting gate. Gate agent looks at our tickets and told me where the next flight was, so we head that way and wait in the lounge, I'm normally anal about double checking stuff, but I was preoccupied trying to keep my daughter in a good mood. (This is my 'visitation' time and I'm bringing my daughter to see my family, ex didn't make it easy) Realize that we are in the wrong area. Run to the actual gate area. Plane is pretty much already boarded. We get on board to a packed plane, one middle seat in the front, one middle seat in the back. I'm looking around frantic. Stewardess looks at me like, "Oh well?" I'm not going to put my daughter with people she doesn't know on a 6 hour flight after her mother has got her worked up enough already. I'm about to turn around and walk off when the lady sitting next to the front empty middle seat says, "Here, take mine," and moves to the back middle seat. I say thanks, but not sure she heard me. Couldn't find her afterwards to really thank her. Another time I flew down a long weekend to see my daughters recital at school, tried to get home and got stuck in Baltimore for 24 hours due to a snowstorm that hit the east coast. I didn't take a voucher and a hotel in Norfolk that I should have, figuring I needed to get back to work, instead got stuck in Baltimore with no open hotels or flights, finally made it in on Monday evening around midnight. My wife and I were on our way to Hawaii for our honeymoon (cliche, I know; bear with me) on a United flight in 2002. When we were about halfway through our flight and 100's of miles over the Pacific Ocean, the captain comes over the PA.
"Ahhhh... Some of you may have noticed that we just turned around. Our sensors indicate that there's a fire in the baggage compartment. Control is telling us to head to the closest airport, so we're hoping to make an emergency landing in San Francisco." So to sum up, WE'RE TWO HOURS FROM LAND AND THE PLANE IS ON FIRE.
The plane goes silent. You could hear a pin drop. Remember, this was less than a year removed from 9/11, so plane crashes were on the collective mind. Everybody's thinking the same thing: "Well, this is it. We're dead." The flight attendants are nowhere to be seen (strapped in to those jump seats for safety, I'm sure). They start playing weird safety videos I've never seen before that demonstrate how to double over into your seat and cover the back of your neck with your hands. Meanwhile, I'm still a virgin, so I'm thinking, "NOOO... I HAVEN'T HAD SEX YET!!!!" WHY, GOD?!?!?!? (In all seriousness, that thought didn't cross my mind at all. When you think there's a very real chance you're going to die, your priorities really shift.) To everyone's credit, nobody completely freaked out. One lady hyperventilated a little about 45 minutes from SFO, but she held it together ok. As we descend into SFO, the have us assume the safety position, and then we land in a special section of the airport with no other planes and a lot of emergency personnel (fire trucks, ambulances, etc.). They have us leave all our stuff on the plane, and then escort us via shuttle to a terminal. Eventually, they pull the plane up, we get our stuff, and then they re-book everyone on other flights. We arrived in Oahu about 12 hours later than expected, and then my wife and I repeatedly had awkward virgin sex for the next two weeks. To this day, I still wonder about what happened (with the flight; I completely understand now why the sex was bad; we needed practice; don't worry, we're good now). United never gave us any kind of explanation. The really weird part was that I called them about about three days after we arrived because I was trying to get a free flight as compensation for our traumatic experience (I know, I'm cheap). I talked to several people on the phone, and they all said the same thing: We have no record of the event you're describing. It was like they scrubbed it from the records completely. What was the most disturbing thing that your seatmate did during a flight? Were you ever on a flight where the turbulence was just too bad and scary? Have you ever been on an airplane that had the worst turbulence, and you thought for sure it was going to crash? How can I deal with people asking to switch seats with me on a plane? How can you handle someone who wants to take your seat on a flight? How was your experience on being upgraded on a long haul flight to first class? Have you ever had a scary experience flying through a thunderstorm? What is your most awkward/funny/scary experience while travelling on a plane/train/bus/any kind of public transport? What has been your weirdest experience sitting next to someone on an airplane? What's your most unbelievable experience on an airplane? As a flight attendant, what's the nastiest thing you've seen a passenger do? Why do you feel so dreadful after a long-haul flight? How can you make your long-haul flight more comfortable? How do you feel better after a long- haul flight? Have you ever made friends with someone who was sitting next to you on a flight? Have you ever made a really good friend on an airline flight? What was the worst take off that you have ever experienced on an airplane? What is the toughest landing on an airplane you have been in? Have you ever had a bad seatmate on an airplane? What did they do, and how did you deal with it? Have you ever voluntarily given up a seat on the plane to get a perk from the airline? What is the most disrespectful and rudest thing someone did to you while you were on an airplane? Have you ever had a great seatmate on an airplane? What did you like about sitting next to them? Have you ever been forced to give up your seat on a plane for another passenger for an unjust reason? What are the most wonderful experiences you encountered while flying? I am a nervous flyer, but I know that, statistically, air travel is the safest. What makes it so safe? What is the most unforgettable emergency you had flying an airplane? Have you ever been in an airplane that had to do an emergency landing? What's the hottest and naughtiest moment you've experienced on a plane? What's the most obnoxious thing you've seen someone do at the airport? Have you ever refused to give up your seat on an airplane? Have you or someone you know ever had a conflict with another passenger getting your seat back after they took it during an airplane flight? Have you ever had a disagreement or confrontation with the person sitting next to you in an airplane? What is the most offensive thing you overheard someone sitting near you on a plane say? What was the rudest behavior you have ever seen on an airplane? What did the airline do about it? What was your most exciting air travel experience? Which airline is the absolute worst you've traveled on? Have you ever met annoying passengers on a flight? As a flight attendant, has a passenger ever pushed you to your breaking point? Where can I write about a dreadful experience my family had with an airline company?
"Ahhhh... Some of you may have noticed that we just turned around. Our sensors indicate that there's a fire in the baggage compartment. Control is telling us to head to the closest airport, so we're hoping to make an emergency landing in San Francisco." So to sum up, WE'RE TWO HOURS FROM LAND AND THE PLANE IS ON FIRE.
The plane goes silent. You could hear a pin drop. Remember, this was less than a year removed from 9/11, so plane crashes were on the collective mind. Everybody's thinking the same thing: "Well, this is it. We're dead." The flight attendants are nowhere to be seen (strapped in to those jump seats for safety, I'm sure). They start playing weird safety videos I've never seen before that demonstrate how to double over into your seat and cover the back of your neck with your hands. Meanwhile, I'm still a virgin, so I'm thinking, "NOOO... I HAVEN'T HAD SEX YET!!!!" WHY, GOD?!?!?!? (In all seriousness, that thought didn't cross my mind at all. When you think there's a very real chance you're going to die, your priorities really shift.) To everyone's credit, nobody completely freaked out. One lady hyperventilated a little about 45 minutes from SFO, but she held it together ok. As we descend into SFO, the have us assume the safety position, and then we land in a special section of the airport with no other planes and a lot of emergency personnel (fire trucks, ambulances, etc.). They have us leave all our stuff on the plane, and then escort us via shuttle to a terminal. Eventually, they pull the plane up, we get our stuff, and then they re-book everyone on other flights. We arrived in Oahu about 12 hours later than expected, and then my wife and I repeatedly had awkward virgin sex for the next two weeks. To this day, I still wonder about what happened (with the flight; I completely understand now why the sex was bad; we needed practice; don't worry, we're good now). United never gave us any kind of explanation. The really weird part was that I called them about about three days after we arrived because I was trying to get a free flight as compensation for our traumatic experience (I know, I'm cheap). I talked to several people on the phone, and they all said the same thing: We have no record of the event you're describing. It was like they scrubbed it from the records completely. What was the most disturbing thing that your seatmate did during a flight? Were you ever on a flight where the turbulence was just too bad and scary? Have you ever been on an airplane that had the worst turbulence, and you thought for sure it was going to crash? How can I deal with people asking to switch seats with me on a plane? How can you handle someone who wants to take your seat on a flight? How was your experience on being upgraded on a long haul flight to first class? Have you ever had a scary experience flying through a thunderstorm? What is your most awkward/funny/scary experience while travelling on a plane/train/bus/any kind of public transport? What has been your weirdest experience sitting next to someone on an airplane? What's your most unbelievable experience on an airplane? As a flight attendant, what's the nastiest thing you've seen a passenger do? Why do you feel so dreadful after a long-haul flight? How can you make your long-haul flight more comfortable? How do you feel better after a long- haul flight? Have you ever made friends with someone who was sitting next to you on a flight? Have you ever made a really good friend on an airline flight? What was the worst take off that you have ever experienced on an airplane? What is the toughest landing on an airplane you have been in? Have you ever had a bad seatmate on an airplane? What did they do, and how did you deal with it? Have you ever voluntarily given up a seat on the plane to get a perk from the airline? What is the most disrespectful and rudest thing someone did to you while you were on an airplane? Have you ever had a great seatmate on an airplane? What did you like about sitting next to them? Have you ever been forced to give up your seat on a plane for another passenger for an unjust reason? What are the most wonderful experiences you encountered while flying? I am a nervous flyer, but I know that, statistically, air travel is the safest. What makes it so safe? What is the most unforgettable emergency you had flying an airplane? Have you ever been in an airplane that had to do an emergency landing? What's the hottest and naughtiest moment you've experienced on a plane? What's the most obnoxious thing you've seen someone do at the airport? Have you ever refused to give up your seat on an airplane? Have you or someone you know ever had a conflict with another passenger getting your seat back after they took it during an airplane flight? Have you ever had a disagreement or confrontation with the person sitting next to you in an airplane? What is the most offensive thing you overheard someone sitting near you on a plane say? What was the rudest behavior you have ever seen on an airplane? What did the airline do about it? What was your most exciting air travel experience? Which airline is the absolute worst you've traveled on? Have you ever met annoying passengers on a flight? As a flight attendant, has a passenger ever pushed you to your breaking point? Where can I write about a dreadful experience my family had with an airline company?
