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?

Stressed about a Full Seat Recline

November 28, 2010 Seat Stories

We all know EVERYONE “fights for the armrest.”  Would you also “fight for the full seat recline?” This situation happened on a mid-1990s flight from Raleigh-Durham to Tampa.  Delta 757, first class upgrade. Sat down in my prized left aisle seat; super comfortable blue leather; nice.  NICE. “Thanks for the drink; will we be leaving [...]

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Booked on a Flight to the Wrong State

November 25, 2010 Airport Stories

In 2004, I was living in Pittsburgh, PA and attempting to come home to Joplin, MO for Christmas. It was the first time I had ever flown alone. My mother booked me a Delta flight from Pitt to Kansas City connecting in Cincinnati on December 23rd. I was dropped off at the Pittsburgh airport by [...]

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Happy Holidays!

November 24, 2010 Flying Hell Blog
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Pooptastrophe on Plane

November 21, 2010 Baby & Kid Stories

When I got to the airport, people told me I was “brave” for flying alone with two kids.  I wasn’t sure if I was more brave or stupid, but either way I was flying halfway across the US to St. Louis.  It was going to be rough because 1) Getting to my hometown is never [...]

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Frets Over Privacy Boost Sales of Pasties

November 20, 2010 Flying Hell Blog

  Concerns about airport scanners and privacy issues have come to a head. Many travelers have raised objections over images being taken by full-body scanners of their private anatomy, what some have termed a “virtual strip search.” TSA claimed that citizens had no need to worry since scanners couldn’t “store, print, transmit or save” images, and images [...]

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The Last Straw

November 17, 2010 Airport Stories

I believe I had the honor of witnessing THE LAST STRAW for Southwest Airlines’ ORIGINAL queuing process. Background: for those that never flew SWA, or maybe just fly Gulfstreams, SWA was unique in that they did open seating; line up and enter.  The problem was that lines would be silly long interfering with the hallways, [...]

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The Refill

November 16, 2010 Food & Drink Stories

I was young at the time; I won’t give a date (as I finally hit the age where I choose to ignore those details). I boarded a Delta flight (757) to Dallas in my first EVER First-class upgrade. It was then that I realized my co-worker Manny was on the flight–a few rows behind me.  [...]

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The Great Explosion

November 12, 2010 Passenger Stories

Those of us who traveled in the early to mid-1990s remember the ranch being given away on the frequent flyer programs.  One could actually MAKE points by flying first class on Delta – the upgrade cost was paid back greater with bonus points for BEING THERE.  Costs of a free flight were also less, relatively [...]

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The Creature in the Cage

November 10, 2010 Animal Stories

It all happened in January 2010 at the irritating DFW Airport – irritating as this place was designed back in the day of many carriers.  We all hate walking from one end to other just because [INSERT YOUR SMALL TOWN HERE] has few passengers so they stick you on the end. We queued up to [...]

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Sensitive Stomach Stressed by Stinky Passenger

November 8, 2010 Portly Stories

Working in Dallas and having family in Austin, I am used to a 3 hour transit period. So when I attended a scholastic logistics competition in Jacksonville and learned that the flight time was three hours from DFW, I thought that the flight would be cake, nothing compared to the overseas flights I had taken [...]

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Cigar Smoking Passenger Pollutes Plane

November 6, 2010 Passenger Stories

Believe it or not, back in the sixties smoking cigarettes was allowed on airplanes in the United States. Passengers and flight staff would breath in polluted air and reek of smoke when they disembarked from the plane. Yet no one thought anything of it because so many people smoked back then. I think that cigar [...]

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Knitter Drives Passenger Nuts

November 3, 2010 Passenger Stories

OK.  We all have had told or heard of classic airplane/airport stories.  I know when I traveled as an auditor in the early 90s I had experienced many; specifically, when a guy next to me tried to stuff his bag under my feet because he “wanted to stretch his legs during the long two hour flight.”  [...]

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