On Christmas Day 2005, my family received the grim news that my grandfather had passed away from Alzheimer’s. While we knew this was going to happen within that 2 week period, obviously we were not expecting it to happen on Christmas Day. We had to book a ticket to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which anyone from the Midwest knows is always a pain in the winter time. Needless to say my prediction was not far off from disaster.
Leaving Jacksonville, Florida: Arrived at the gate 40 min early, ended up getting mixed messages from the ground crew that there were maintenance issues with the plane. Two hours later apparently the engine had failed so they had to issue a new plane for us.
Chicago: Fog delay in Cedar Rapids, Iowa is now causing our flight to be cancelled. Five hours later we are told that we will be flying to Moline, Illinois and that shuttle buses will be there to drive us to Cedar Rapids.
Moline, Illinois: No buses are there, they have not yet left Cedar Rapids and we will have to wait. At this point my family and I decide to rent a car; we caught our first break when we ended up getting the last car at Avis.
Return Trip: Delay at Cedar Rapids causes us to miss our connecting flight to Jacksonville from Chicago. After begging and pleading our story to the ground crew, all 3 of us were able to get First Class tickets on a flight leaving 2 hours later.
Tagged as:
death,
delay & cancellation,
holiday
My husband, three kids and I were traveling from Brussels to Chicago around Thanksgiving 2006 on emergency leave as my father was dying. In fact, they were just waiting for us to arrive before they “pulled the plug.” So, already a miserable trip.
Unfortunately, our newly potty trained little one peed his pants. I had packed so quickly that I had no extra clothes for him. So, we’re trying our best to get his clothes dried up. Meanwhile, some old white haired bitch proceeds to give us a ration of shit about it – accusing us of changing a poopy diaper at our seat (which we most definitely did not do). She calls a FA and complains, talks loudly about this on and on. Just horrible.
Then, as we’re leaving the plane, she shoves our oldest daughter. At the baggage carousel I confronted her about touching my kid. Almost kicked a 75 year old woman’s ass – but managed to control my rage only because we still had to clear customs and catch another plane to get to my family. But I did manage to scream at her and call her a WHORE. That made me feel a little better. I nearly got a standing ovation from her travel mates who didn’t think so much of her either – as she had nagged them about everything during their trip.
Tagged as:
children & babies,
death,
holiday,
pee,
poop,
senior citizen,
violence
I was flying from Cyprus to Frankfurt, Germany on Cyprus Air. An elderly Greek woman had been in the boarding area and was struggling with a suitcase and many helpful people assisted her and I was impressed with the European people’s kindness and respect of this elderly woman.
I was seated in my window seat in the last row of the aircraft and in a short time the elderly lady boarded and sat in the aisle seat and seat away from me. She still had her suitcase and put it on the floor between us as though to protect herself from a stranger. I was surprised the attendants let her keep it there as it would block me exiting the row. I tried to say something to her and neither of us could speak the other one’s language so we both busied ourselves in enduring the flight.
We were well on our way and I saw we were coming up on the Italian coast as a movie was being shown. The movie was interrupted as a meal was served then the movie started again. I smelled some unpleasant odors coming from the woman’s direction, but tried to ignore them as I did not want to embarrass her by looking at her.
I had my headset on and was concentrating on the movie when a flight attendant came and asked if we needed any more to drink. I said no, because I didn’t want to have to use the restroom as I couldn’t get out because the elderly lady’s suitcase was blocking any exit.
She spoke to the elderly lady and there was no response. She touched the lady and no response. She quickly got another attendant and felt for a pulse and then asked on the PA if there was a doctor or a medical technician on board. Two German doctors responded and they began to work with the woman who was totally unresponsive. I was blocked in my seat and all I could do was watch.
One doctor tried to open her mouth and her false teeth came out in his ungloved hand. He put the teeth on the seat beside me, facing me. Not a comforting experience.
They finally lifted her up and moved her to the rear galley and laid her on the floor and tried to treat her. When they moved the woman, I saw where some unpleasant smells were coming from. The seat had been very soiled as the woman had lost fluids from her body.
It was obvious the woman had died while sitting beside me. I felt bad that I was so involved in the movie I didn’t see anything happen until the attendant noticed the woman was most likely not alive.
They asked me to get up and offered me a first class seat but I found a seat closer to where my carry-on was located. After I got up, they then moved the woman back in to her seat and made her look like she was sleeping. The told the rest of people with the PA system that she had fainted and was now resting.
The flight continued another 3 hours and landed with no emergency vehicles called. We all exited from the front instead of both ends of the plane as they usually do. They most likely wanted to respect the deceased woman.
I will never forget that flight. Perhaps not a flight from hell, but it was an experience I would not want to repeat.
Tagged as:
baggage,
death,
doctor,
odor,
senior citizen
