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?

Long Day Is No Child’s Play

December 16, 2007 Delay/Cancellation Stories

I was traveling home from Madrid to Houston this summer with my children, ages 9 and 7. We woke up at 6 a.m. in Madrid. Once at the airport, we realized that airlines weren’t labeled on the outside of the terminal, and we had to wander up and down the terminal to find ours (no [...]

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Feelin’ The Love

December 16, 2007 Delay/Cancellation Stories

Wound up on United today, although I usually don’t fly them… The flight was supposed to leave @ 0630… We boarded the plane, then were advised after about an hour that there was a problem with the “trim leveler thing, which is needed for the autopilot…” Disembarking, we were told to return to the ticket [...]

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Tornado On The Runway

December 13, 2007 Weather Stories

As a freshman in college a few years ago, I became extremely homesick within the first two days. I wanted to go home, but my mom promised me that if I stayed a while to give it a chance, she would visit me the following month. We booked flights for her that night. So mid-September [...]

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Crying And Wailing In Texas

December 13, 2007 Weather Stories

My wife, 10 month old daughter and I boarded a flight that was to take us from Seattle non stop to Dallas in the fall. The approximately 2 1/2 – 3 hour flight left the ground at about 2 pm and we were on our way without any problems. Just before we got to Dallas [...]

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Double Whammy

December 12, 2007 Weather Stories

My Hell Story has nothing to go with waiting in line or screaming babies. Actually, my Hell Story is a 2-part story of near death experiences – on my arrival AND return flights. The first flight was a very short flight on a 747 from NYC to Boston. It was a 10pm flight and they [...]

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White Knuckled Flight

December 12, 2007 Weather Stories

I was “lucky” enough to be on a NWA flight from Mpls, MN, that took off for Sioux Falls, SD, in spite of the fact that the flight had been delayed due to storms and despite the fact that there were some 57 tornados in and around Sioux Falls that night! As we were coming [...]

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No APU Becomes A Big SNAFU

December 12, 2007 Airplane Stories

On November 27, 2007, I was on Delta flight 1760 from Salt Lake to Orange County. The flight was boarding, and despite it being below freezing outside, the cabin temperature was in the high 80s. After sweating for several minutes following the scheduled departure, the captain came on and said the auxiliary power unit (or [...]

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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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