Flights From Hell flies you into the crazy skies with stories about the adventures and anxieties of airplane travel.

Commercial airline travel takes us far, far out of our comfort zone. We're herded into cylinders that zip hundreds of miles per hour at 30,000 feet, subjected to security screenings, confronted with delays and lost luggage, rushed to catch connecting flights, constrained to small seats, scrunched up with strangers, and surrounded by pathogens. Is it any wonder we end up becoming a bundle of raw nerves by journey's end?

Circus Freak Show

August 20, 2008 Passenger Stories

Welcome to the freak show, fellow passengers. Here’s the circus I’ve seen – people are what makes flights from hell… Passenger #1 – In the bulkhead – takes off his shoes, then proceeds to use the wall as some sort of foot scratching pad, rubbing his feet on every surface he could reach. He was […]

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Bookworm Prevents Shuteye

August 20, 2008 Passenger Stories

Me and my family were going to Hawaii for Spring Break of 2006. It took about 12 hours to get there. Since it took so long we had to spend the night on the plane. So as I was trying to fall asleep, I couldn’t because of a woman behind me and my family who, […]

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Unruly Kids (And Their Parents)

August 19, 2008 Non-Stories

Heard about the most recent case involving a family that was ejected from their flight for having unruly kids? You can read about it in Harriet Baskas’ Well Mannered Traveler column, and watch a news clip below. There was also a recent incident involving an autistic child and his mother who were kicked off of […]

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Compensated With A Cookie And Water

August 17, 2008 Delay/Cancellation Stories

So, this is not a flight I was on but my future mother-in-law. I am getting married this weekend and my future wife’s mother was to fly in last night on Delta Airlines from JFK to Denver. My fiancé and her mother were to have a special mother/daughter day of pampering. Her flight was scheduled […]

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Travelers Are On Their Own

August 7, 2008 Airport Stories

I had a direct flight on Delta out of JFK to go see my mother on her birthday. I got to the airport 1.5 hours prior to departure to ensure that I would be able to get my ticket and get on a plane with plenty of time to spare. I hate to rush. When […]

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The Garrulous Flight Attendant

August 5, 2008 Attendant & Pilot Stories

Seeing some of these stories on here made me laugh out loud, and reminded me of just about every time I fly!!! My wife and I just got back from a short vacation and the return flight was absolutely crappy. So here we are crammed into the MD 88 and I am excited b/c we […]

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Automatic Gas Emissions

August 4, 2008 Odor Stories

On my 10 1/2-hour international flight, I got stuck behind a man who dealt silent-but-deadly farts at regular intervals. It was about every fifteen or twenty minutes. I could almost set my watch on it. What’s more, he would look around before, during and after each one. My entire row was a little bit green […]

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No More Sympathy

July 27, 2008 Portly Stories

OK, no more sympathy for fat people. I was on a Southwest Airlines flight from Providence to Phoenix at the end of May, and a fat woman boarded and could not find a seat, so she chose to sit in the middle seat next to me on the bulkhead (no pun intended). I chose my […]

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The Family From Hell

July 24, 2008 Baby & Kid Stories

In January, 2008, I flew from LAS to BWI on Southwest for business. On my last evening in Baltimore, I missed a half-hour of a business cocktail part so I could check in on-line and get an “A” boarding pass. I got an “A” and was happy. The flight the next evening was scheduled to […]

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Cell Phones On Airplanes

July 18, 2008 Non-Stories

Air France introduced cell phone service on its aircraft, and other members of the European Union might follow suit. Concerned about cell phones becoming an in-flight annoyance, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio introduced a bill called the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace (HANG UP) Act which would prohibit voice communication use of cell phones […]

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Frequent Flyer’s Intricate Itinerary

July 17, 2008 Luggage Stories

I am a loyal AA Platinum member – but still shop to make certain I have a good fare. Travelling to MCO last March I found a nice fare on AA which required two flight changes, but it was a Saturday so I was fine with that. The itinerary was MCI-ORD-LGA-MCO departing MCI at 1155 […]

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Oxygen Masks Deployed

July 13, 2008 Airplane Stories

My husband and I had planned a quick 3 day trip over 4th of July weekend to Las Vegas. Our flight on Alaska Airlines from Seattle to Vegas was delayed over an hour due to mechanical issues. Finally they board the plane, close the doors and were almost ready to go when apparently there was […]

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