FAQ

Isn’t the website just about a bunch of whining?

The website offers a number of benefits. For example:

• It relieves stress by allowing people to vent and is therefore therapeutic.
• It offers entertainment by providing interesting and sometimes humorous stories about people’s experiences.
• It allows people to turn what had been a bad experience into something that others can enjoy and perhaps learn from. Therefore, a negative is turned into a positive.
• It allows all parties – passengers and flight crews – to contribute stories, thereby enhancing communication by enabling people to see things from each other’s perspectives.
• Storytelling is a primal activity. We have an innate attraction to it, just as we do to the flickers from a fire. It’s a part of human ancestry, used to share knowledge and provide entertainment.

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Isn’t the website unfairly beating up on the airlines?

People are justifiably frustrated with the state of air travel these days. To be fair, many of the things the airlines are criticized for are matters that are beyond their control, such as security, governmental regulations, and efforts needed to stay in business. But the airlines can do a much better job seeking consumer satisfaction, treating people with dignity, communicating, and improving the organization of operations.

Many if not most of the stories are about passengers, not about problems with the airlines.

The website allows both passengers and airline personnel to contribute stories and submit comments about them.

Anyone is welcome to submit a commentary whether it be pro or con. In fact, some of the posts on the Commentary page are complimentary of the airlines.

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Do you publish stories about actual flying disasters?

While there are stories about near disasters, Flights From Hell isn’t the proper venue for the seriousness and respect that should be given to incidents involving genuine disasters.

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Some of the stories seem too unbelievable. How do you know they’re true?

It’s difficult to determine the truthfulness of a story. Any stories that are found to be fictional or not original material will be removed. This has, in fact, happened on a couple of occasions. Please contact us if you have any concerns about a story’s veracity.

But you really don’t need to make this stuff up. The most amazing things happen on airplanes. For example, one story submitted to the website was about a flight out of Miami in which a woman with wild eyes and who acted jittery started ranting gibberish and had green foam expelling from her mouth. The flight crew ignored the matter as though nothing was happening. Understandably many would assume that the story was made up. However, it was entirely true and was experienced by Flights From Hell’s owner himself who wrote about it and published it as the website’s first story (Spewing Green Liquid).

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What are some of the most interesting aspects of the stories received?

The incredible variety of experiences that people have had while flying.

That many of the stories are about stresses brought about by other people. It’s a quandary we face in life. We have an innate need to socialize. But when we do, it often brings about stress.

The stories have prompted many of those posting story comments to relate their own interesting stories, and to offer advice on how to navigate the intricacies of commercial air travel.

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What other domain names do you own rights to? Any future plans for them?

Dot-com domain names include: Girlfriends From Hell, Husbands From Hell, Wives From Hell, Relatives From Hell, Websites From Hell, Offices From Hell, Airports From Hell, Travels From Hell, Cruises From Hell, Marriages From Hell, Honeymoons From Hell, and Haircuts From Hell. At this time there are no plans to publish any new “From Hell” sites. However, you never know what the future might bring!

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Where does the website originate from?

The home base for Flights From Hell and its sister site, Dinners From Hell, is in the Tampa, Florida area.

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Where is my story?

Your story is greatly appreciated. Stories are generally reviewed and published in the order in which they’re received. If a lot of stories have been received (as hundreds were when CNN’s Mr. Poopy Pants article was published on 4/2/09), it may take a while before your story is published. 

You can receive announcements about story postings directly via Twitter or a feed. If you provided an email address with your story, an attempt will be made to notify you when your story is posted.

Use the search engine to find your story. You can also look through pages of likely categories. Placement of stories into categories is determined by the predominant story theme, or by the issue that drives the story. Stories that don’t match any of the category topics, or consist of a number of topics of roughly equal emphasis, are placed in the Odds & Ends category. If your submittal was more of a commentary than a story, then it might have been placed in the Commentary category.

On rare occasion a submittal isn’t published because it’s not written as a story or a commentary, is off topic, requires too much editing, etc.

If you see some changes made to your story, then it was probably edited in order to remove overly offensive material, protect anonymity, or improve grammar and punctuation (this is done minimally).

You’re welcome to inquire about your story by sending an email to contact@flightsfromhell.com.