I remember the day as if it were yesterday. It was May 1976, I was 18. My first time and alone on an airplane and headed out from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Denver, Colorado. I was going to spend the whole month of May with my cousins hiking, camping and enjoying the Rockies. It was […]
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When did it become an unwritten law that “thou shalt cram all your stuff into carry-on baggage so thou mayest avoid checking luggage?” On most busy flights, attendants do not have time to make sure every passenger conforms to the size and weight limits for carry-on baggage. So the overhead compartments get full fast. It […]
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On a business trip to Dallas, my co-workers and I had to rush to the airport to catch an early flight home. We decided not to check bags when checking in, but to check them at the gate. This resulted in the loss of a few personal items from my bag. Since we got the […]
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I was flying from Charleston, SC via Detroit to Sault Ste. Marie, MI three flights, in August. The first two legs of the trip were routine. In Detroit we switched to one of those little turbo prop puddle jumpers. We had two intermediary stops even though all on the plane were going to the same […]
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On a short business trip from Buffalo, NY to Newark. I was on a completely full US Air plane. Two seats left on the plane, one next to me and one behind me. An elderly man with an English accent, filthy clothes, and pants unzipped, no underwear and held up with only his belt, boards […]
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No one ever wants to fly in the throws of an illness, but I found myself in this predicament on a flight from San Diego to Las Vegas 6 years ago. I had been struck by vertigo, congestion, and a stomach bug…all before we took off. I sat patiently in my seat until we were […]
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I was flying from Canada to Germany in the Bulkhead area, so I had roughly 3 feet of space in front of me. I always take extra strength Advil on the flight as I get a migraine once every couple of weeks, however I had never had a migraine on a flight before. We had […]
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Two years ago, I flew from Boston to Philadelphia to get a connecting overnight flight to Ireland. Due to summer storms, we circled Philadelphia for about 90 minutes and then sat on the tarmac waiting to dock at a terminal. There were about six people trying to make the connecting flight to Ireland, and what […]
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So we booked our flights MONTHS in advance with said airline. At the time I had a 6 month old, and we didn’t get an extra seat for her since they stated that there is no way the flight would be full – we could use the extra seat for more room after take off. […]
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I measure 6’6″ tall, which doesn’t seem that large to me. I dread flying though. The thought of putting myself through that is, frankly, masochistic. In perfect posture, I have my knees planted firmly against the seat in front of me. The seat that is always occupied by someone who NEEDS that extra 3″ of […]
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I am a flight attendant for a major carrier. Last week, while boarding a full flight from JFK to LAS, with each passenger having at least two bags, a man on the aisle, about 6′ 5′, was leaning inward away from a short man trying to stow his bag in the overhead bin. The short […]
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My story probably isn’t as bad as most. I had started out from Moscow, connecting through Vienna and then to Frankfurt, so I had already been flying for 5 hours. At this point I was on a 9 hour flight from Frankfurt to NYC, then was getting on a 6 hour connecting flight back to […]
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Overstuffed & Oversized Bags
August 19, 2009
in Flying Hell Commentary
When did it become an unwritten law that “thou shalt cram all your stuff into carry-on baggage so thou mayest avoid checking luggage?” On most busy flights, attendants do not have time to make sure every passenger conforms to the size and weight limits for carry-on baggage. So the overhead compartments get full fast. It […]
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