One of the worst flights I had ever been on started as one of the best flights. I was 8 ½ months pregnant, almost 6 weeks from my due date and had no choice but to fly from Frankfurt Germany to Sacramento CA. Yeah a long flight. All the gate agents/attendants were really nice and made sure that I didn’t need anything. I usually arrive early for flights so as I was sitting in the waiting area I started speaking to this woman. She was telling me she didn’t much like her seat because she was right next to a bathroom and on the aisle. I laughed and told her here I was huge as can be and stuck in the middle seat in the middle of the plane. She offered to switch with me which was AWESOME since, being pregnant, I had to pee very often.
So we get on the plane and I am talking to the woman next to me. She notices I am very fidgety and asks me if I am ok. I told her I had heard horror stories of women going into labor when they were flying and was a bit nervous about it. She laughed and said I don’t have to worry, that she was a doctor and if there were any issues she was right there to help me. So I was finally calm.
Finally we take off and the guy in front of me lowers back his seat normally that would be fine for me even pregnant (I’m only 4ft 8in and was about 120 lbs) but his seat was broken and ended up right on my stomach. I asked him nicely if he could pull it up a little bit and that it was on my stomach but he just glared at me and told me it was his seat and he could do what he wanted. Everyone, the flight attendant, and other passengers asked him to put it up and he wouldn’t.
I finally stood and stayed in the galley with some of the other passengers for a while. The flight attendant came to me and told me that she had found a passenger who didn’t mind sitting with the seat up and the CPT had the men switch seats with a bit of an argument there. I finally made it back to Sacramento without any more issues but I did have plenty of passengers who told me they were ready to knock that passenger out!
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{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
8 ½ months pregnant and 1 ½ months from your due date? Are you an elephant?
Holy crap, though. I hope that guy dies in an accident. What a hateful fucktard. I certainly hope karma is real.
I thought this was "flights from hell", not "flights with inconveniences", or "flights where I don't get my way"… Although this describes an unfortunate situation with a passenger who should have behaved more like an adult, especially when asked nicely by a pregnant woman – but it's far from a "flight from hell"… Now – if there was actually labor involved, and a mid-ocean birth, THEN…. maybe…
you must never have been pregnant
Oh, SAW, how sweet and sensitive you are to understand that some jerk smashing a PREGNANT woman's belly is just some inconvenience. There's no way he could have accidentally hurt the baby.
SAW automatically sides with whoever is being a jerk in every story. Just ignore him.
1) Writer never complained about her belly being "smashed" 2) Problem was resolved, although with a bit of grumpyness. THEREFORE… not a flight from "hell". Is it me or is everyone getting a little wussy lately? A "flight from hell" is not one person giving you grief for a 1/2 hour – come on people! get a grip.
Look, SAW, people come here to relieve the stress of a bad flight, no matter how "small" the inconvenience. They don't come here to have some jerk like you whine about what wussies they are just because they want to share their stories of flights from hell. It may not seem like a big deal to you, but it would scare the crap out of me if some idiot squashed my belly and it just happened to have a BABY IN IT. Showing sensitivity to others isn't a bad thing, jackass.
Elodie… Maybe you should re-read the original post.. Nobody SQUASHED anybody's pregnant belly. If they HAD, my feelings on the story would have been different.
BUT
This website is Flights from "HELL", not "Here's where I can go to vent every little annoyance or discomfort I experienced while on a plane".
Face facts, EVERY flight these days is an annoyance. EVERY flight has people doing stupid things and behaving badly. It's just a fact of the situation.
What we're here to read, are things that transcend the ordinary – that are truly unusual or so horrible that they constitute "HELL" (what was the name of this site again?).
saw the title of the story is guess what PREGNANT AND SQUASHED BY A SEAT. so therefore she was squashed
Fine. Apparently, you're too thick in the head to get what I'm trying to tell you. Whatever.
And it says "squashed" in the title, moron.
And apparently you're too think in the head to read the whole thing carefully. And if you want to call people names, go do it somewhere else. If you can't form a proper argument, then who's the moron?
What you seem to be missing … is that it is NOT A FLIGHT FROM HELL IF YOUR PROBLEM GETS SOLVED IN A TIMELY AND APPROPRIATE FASSION, regardless of someone's bad behavior.
Apparently you have a pregnancy bee in your bonnet somewhere – leave it at the door.
SAW, just give it up. You're wrong. That was a shitty flight. Having to deal with a insipid fuckstain like that guy is completely unpleasant and it IS enough to ruin the whole damn trip.
And apparently, people don't get the point… This isn't a HORROR STORY, this is people behaving badly and a problem that got solved in an appropriate way. It's NOT a flight from HELL.
Yes – it sucks that that person was a jerk. Yes, it's unfortunate she was inconvenienced. Yes, people should be more polite and respectful of pregnant women.
NO – it's not a "horrible terrible experience". It's just one more event in life that was unpleasant. Move on.
Why don't you "move on," SAW? Or perhaps you were (or could be) the dickwad who decided that your "rights" (which are no more than mere privileges on a flight) were of more importance than the safety and comfort of someone who has not only put up with pregnancy, but your holier-than-thou attitude?
At 8 1/2 months pregnant, I'm very surprised that the airline let you fly at all, unless you had a doctor or nurse with you. Sadly, I'm not surprised at the behavior of the idiot you had to deal with – but I am surprised that you were able to fly.
I'm kind of thinking she was actually 7 ½ months pregnant and just wrote it wrong. Which would still make her massive. 😛
Oye Nacho… You don't READ anything before you REACT, do you?
My reading comprehension skills seem to be far superior to your own, SAW, as are those of everyone else who seemingly disagrees with you. Hmm, coincidence, or a product of one's (read: YOUR) faulty logic?
Hahahaha is this the big kids' table version of a forum flame war?
OP – Maybe the recliner was worried he'd have to fly with your kid in the future (he sounds like he could be one of those "NO BABIES OR CHILDREN SHOULD EVER FLY ANYWHERE EVER" people) so he was trying to do a late term abortion.
Well Laura, some people do like to voice their opinions with nastiness instead of a clear argument.
Instead of taking the time to clearly read and evaluate comments, they tromp on them over a point they THINK is being made, rather than the point that it IS making. They then further ignore any attempt to direct their attention at the real issue in their continued attempt to "slam".
Sometimes though, I'm of the mistaken belief that these people could eventually see the light, so I try to keep pointing them back at the issue in question. Unfortunately – in this case – the "issue ship" has long since sailed, and it's more fun for those personality types to keep up their random slamming.
Is this very post, nothing more than another attempt to get such readers to stop… actually THINK… actually READ and UNDERSTAND?
Maybe…. but alas – the "thinking ship" too, may have sailed.
No doubt, this particular post will be followed by even more people telling me how awful they think I am, and how I hate pregnant women and babies, am a dirty communist, support late term abortions, rape and sodomize little boys for fun, take candy from babies, and that my very existence is the root cause behind Islamic extremism.
But then, I suppose also, it IS my fault. I mean… I ever so slightly criticized a pregnant woman's equating her unpleasant situation with "hell" as being extreme, and then followed up with a piece of dry humor that was apparently far above the intellect level of many readers. Plus – we all know that you can't say ANYTHING even slightly negative about a pregnant woman, can you… Maybe, if she were fat, the responses would have been completely different eh?
SAW, you're funny. Thanks for brightening what would have otherwise been a very dull morning. ;D
I also have the feeling that you will never understand why so many women, myself included, are raising their eyebrows at your initial response. Despite your oh-so-clever witty remark, it still underscores the idea that you will never be put in that position, and therefore can't even muster up any sympathy for the OP.
Oh well, there are still plenty of people who "get it." One less, while it may be a burden on those of us who can sympathize (regardless of whether or not we can relate), isn't really going to hurt the world. Just your iEgo.
Nacho… I have plenty of SYMPATHY for her… I think I've stated in almost EVERY post that what happened was unfortunate, and the people doing it were jerks.
The point I was simply making, is it was not a "flight from hell", that was all… done… fin. But that point keeps getting missed among all of the misdirection.
Cheers to the kind doctor who put this flyer's fears at ease! What kind of jerk is so insensitive to a woman that pregnant? I bet that guy also lets them stand while he sits on the subway/bus/etc.
Okay you all need to get a life and stop arguing over a post on a website. LOL
As for the lady who was in this situation, I'm glad it was resolved and I hope your baby is healthy
Two points:
First, find it fascinating how selfish people can become when forced to behave in a civil manner towards strangers. Flyings is a very unique experience.
SAW, you manage to maintain articulate communication………….while your head is so firmly wedged up your own ass! Quite a feat.
The idea that a fellow passenger would rest their seat upon the abdomen of a woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy IS ABHORRENT and clearly makes this a story qualify for this site. Passengers from hell or their hellish behavior are the sources of these stories. Were I there to witness this, I would have confronted that asshat in about 5 min or by the 2nd refusal to move the seat up. I'm not normally violent, but I have my limits re: what I can tolerate. So SAW, shut the F___ up!
Second, to the para gravida writer. Flying during the third trimester of pregnancy is against current medical recommendation, I'm not an OB but I don't believe that guidance has changed since my limited exposure to that discipline.
Unless it was absolutely necessary for you to have flown, e.g., famiy emergency, then flight was not a valid option. Having had your abdomen mildly compressed by seat back was a source of discomfort, no doubt. But nothing near the risk imposed by rapid pressurization /depressuriartion…..NO NOT EXPLOSIVE (for you knuckle heads reading this) , rapid ……..of that cabin during takeoff and approach. Rapid enough to make your ears hurt with out swallowing, or pinching nose and blowing as I do……….it hurts. You can't pinch the membranes -OR- swallow to equalize the pressure between fetal and maternal compartments. You had no buisness flying, unless you needed to fly to labor and delivery. If you were not advised having inquired about being safe to fly, then get a new Doc.
So, I guess that's it, now I can finish reading my daily dose of Aberrational Human Behavior (aka Flights From Hell) while I finish my tea, and get back to something more productive.
Now play nice, children, and try not to piss me off. Mike Rosen, M.D.
ACOG, along with pretty much every airline you can mention in the free world will not allow you to travel past 8 months pregnant, some recommend much less.
Why you had to squeeze that extra 1/2 month into the story is a bit sad, really.
Why the hell were you flying 8.5 months pregnant anyway? What was so important you had to take such a risk?
8.5 months=34 weeks! 34 weeks+6 weeks =40 weeks. Women are pregnant for an equivalent of 10 months not the mythical 9.
BS my wife is pregnant and we checked with KLM and compared with many other airlines
over 26 weeks and they will not allow you to fly. we HAD to provide a doctors note AND ultrasound to prove the dates of the pregnancy to even be allowed to check in.
They have that rule for a reason, so incompetent mothers to be like you don't put their unborn child at risk
fyi we checked because my wife was flying, not because of this dumb story