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?

Customers Are Responsible For Flying Woes

December 8, 2007 Flying Hell Commentary

Anymore, I think the “Flights From Hell” have more to do with fellow passengers than the airlines themselves. As a former airline employee of the big UA, I have endured years of complaints about service, delays, food, etc. The funny part, passengers want first-class service and smiling employees, but they want to pay bus-fare for […]

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Total Humiliation

December 5, 2007 Airport Stories

A few years ago, I was flying as an unaccompanied minor. To ensure that the flight attendants know that you’re unaccompanied, the usual song-and-dance was that they would give you a red and white 3″ badge to pin on your shirt, and they would write on it with a black magic marker. This time, however, […]

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The Flight Warden

December 5, 2007 Attendant & Pilot Stories

While flying from Frankfurt to Philadelphia, my family and I encountered a very disgruntled flight attendant. My husband and I, being seasoned travelers in our pre-baby lives, had traveled to Europe to visit family with our son who was just shy of 2. Knowing the headaches of traveling with young children, we had obtained 3 […]

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Surly Service

December 5, 2007 Airport Stories

United Red Carpet Club, SFO: I recently flew to London from San Francisco. My travel companion has membership in the United Red Carpet Club. He asked that I meet him at the club before the flight. Now, please understand, I’m REALLY polite and mild-mannered; it’s often pointed out to me that I’m “too nice.” I […]

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Parked Plane Gets ‘Discovered’ – During A Landing

December 5, 2007 Odds & Ends Stories

In August of 2001, my mom, younger sister & I flew from our home in D.C. to Phoenix, Arizona for my older sister’s wedding. At the time it was cheaper to use BWI than National and we didn’t live within sight of Dulles until a few years later. Because we had booked a flight earlier […]

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Helpful Passenger Upsets The Queen

December 5, 2007 Attendant & Pilot Stories

I was flying from London to San Francisco on United recently. The British guy next to me was, I’ll admit, a little “tipsy.” Our flight attendant was a fairly scowly and very grouchy somewhat queeny guy in his late forties. On one of the flight attendant’s trips around to offer water, the tipsy British guy […]

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Late And Irate

December 5, 2007 Airport Stories

My older daughter and I took my younger daughter to the San Francisco airport to catch a flight to Cincinnati. My younger daughter was going to visit my parents, her grandma and grandpa. She was 14 and Delta policy was that parents of unaccompanied minors wait in the boarding area until the flight had safely […]

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Mr. Poopy Pants

December 4, 2007 Odor Stories

January — flight from Fort Lauderdale to Minneapolis/St Paul. SO what’s the absolute worst thing that can happen on a plane? Well, it happened to me. Actually, the second worst thing happened to me. THE absolute worst thing happened to the lady who was sitting behind me, next to the antagonist. Guy in the 2nd […]

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Hearing Impaired

December 4, 2007 Odor Stories

On a flight in 2005 from Dulles International to San Francisco, I was traveling with a large group of classmates on the way home from the school’s DC trip. About 20 minutes after takeoff I decided to plug into the movie being shown. I absentmindedly reached for the courtesy headphones, putting them on my head […]

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Puking Up Toenails

December 4, 2007 Odor Stories

My friend and I were on an early morning flight from Jacksonville to Atlanta. We arrived in good time and checked our bags, went through security and made a pit stop at the bathroom before going to the gate. In one of the stalls was a woman puking up her toenails. I felt sorry for […]

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Mom Lost And Neglected In The Airport

December 3, 2007 Senior Stories

My mom lives in Southern California and flies from LAX to Dallas/Fort Worth to visit us once or twice a year. She is 82 years old, walks unsteadily with a cane, and easily gets lost in unfamiliar places. Pre-9/11 we would meet her at the gate, but since that is no longer an option, we […]

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Dog Busts Loose

December 3, 2007 Animal Stories

Twelve years ago, I was on a Varig Airlines flight from Manaus (Amazon) to Rio de Janeiro. I had been living for one year in the Amazon, working as manager of a jungle lodge, and had brought my cocker spaniel with me from Rio. So, to move back to Rio, I bought a very expensive, […]

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