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?

Security Screening Misses Potential Weapons

April 10, 2010 Airport Stories

I consider myself a rather experienced traveler. I have MVP status and travel for business and pleasure. I also have a routine prior to traveling – when I pack I take my drill and tool kit out of my laptop bag and put it in my checked baggage. It was a hectic Monday morning when [...]

Read the full article →

Mrs. Hocker

April 9, 2010 Passenger Stories

In one of my trans-Atlantic voyages to Europe, I had the joy of sitting next to an expert in languages. I don’t remember the layout of the plane, but I normally take a window seat so I can sleep against the window so I am not completely zonked when I land in Amsterdam. I get [...]

Read the full article →

Norwalk Virus Hell

April 8, 2010 Medical & Illness Stories

The worst flight of my life turned into the all around worst experience of my life because it didn’t end when the plane did. The background info: I was returning from a friend’s wedding in the Dominican Republic, and like everyone else on the direct flight back to Regina, I had contracted the Norwalk virus that was [...]

Read the full article →

Passengers Boarded For Good On-Time Rating

April 8, 2010 Delay Stories

I was traveling from San Diego to Montreal in summer 2006 when I experienced this nonsense. I was traveling with a couple of colleges for a conference. We arrived a bit late at the gate. I was hungry and needed some coffee, but before I could find a café, the flight attendant announced boarding and [...]

Read the full article →

Dealing With A Claustrophobic

April 7, 2010 Portly Stories

My husband and I were returning from Mexico after a lovely two week vacation. He had the window seat and I had the middle seat. A very large lady seated behind my husband kept standing up and hunching herself under the overhead bins. I noticed she was sweating a lot and breathing quite heavily. That’s [...]

Read the full article →

Separation Anxiety

April 6, 2010 Baby & Kid Stories

I was traveling with my two year old from Denver to Toronto. When we got to ticketing they put us in seats eleven rows apart, and said sorry we can’t do anything, you will have to talk to the stewardess. As we boarded I took up the same conversation with the stewardess, who told me [...]

Read the full article →

Delayed, Over-Booked & Misinformed

April 6, 2010 Delay Stories

I want to preface this by saying that I usually fly three or four times a year and have never been on this airline before. I took a business trip from Tucson to Santa Barbara recently on US Airways. Arrived at the airport in plenty of time prior to the 8:15 AM departure. It was [...]

Read the full article →

Some Saints And Gravol Save The Day

April 5, 2010 Baby & Kid Stories

I was travelling with my two kids, 3 and 7 back from South Carolina for March Break (where we visited my folks). I had booked through Travelocity. Bad idea. Won’t ever 1) book through them 2) travel through Chicago EVER AGAIN. They booked us on a connection we did not stand a snowball’s chance of [...]

Read the full article →

Passenger Blames Hippie Girl For Stinkiness

April 4, 2010 Odor Stories

I went sailing one year in Key West during Race Week. I helped the owner deliver the boat back to Ft. Lauderdale when we were done. The sail from Key West back to the mainland was awful. The sea was so rough that we had to just piss ourselves as we sat on the edge [...]

Read the full article →

Stinky Like A Bad Public Toilet In France

April 4, 2010 Odor Stories

I was travelling from Atlanta to Newark, then on to Toronto with my then 2 year old. He has always been an excellent traveller by any standards. Plays nicely by himself, looks out the window, no screaming, etc. even back then. But you always get them, lots of dirty looks though from the business class. [...]

Read the full article →

Page 30 of 104« First...1020...2829303132...405060...Last »