During Thanksgiving weekend 2009 I was flying back to my home after a visit with family in Midland, Texas. Going through security, I removed my jewelry and shoes and put them in bins and then put my purse in another bin. I was wearing a velour jogging suit with a sports bra underneath. I was [...]
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I was flying from Toronto to NYC via JetBlue. The flight was really crowded, and as we were flying at Christmastime in poor weather, the flight attendants were very stressed – friendly and helpful, but really busy.
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My wife, our 14-month old son and I were flying from Baltimore to Los Angeles to visit my family for Christmas. Although we had been semi-frequent fliers, this was our first time flying with a child.
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After partying in Las Vegas New Year’s Eve, I was hungover and had not slept for 48 hours. I was not going to pay for an overpriced hotel, so I curled up on a seat at the airport with my jacket over my head and napped until they announced boarding. We were stopping over in [...]
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I was at Manchester Airport thinking about a solution to my cancelled flight to Helsinki. I was going to go via Helsinki to Kittila on a business trip. When Kittila with Monarch Airlines (who don’t fly there any more) popped up on the departures sign, I wasn’t sure whether to go on the flight. It was a [...]
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There I was, trying to fly the day before Christmas. Barely twenty-one, and still naïve enough to think the world should open its door up to me and give me everything I wanted. I spent the past week down in the south, wearing shorts and eating well with friends from long ago. Christmas lights on [...]
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October 1st, 2011, a happy day for many in China – National Day – going away day, not-going-to-work-this-whole-week day! Hence, not many people were really bothered by the extremely inefficiently run check-in line at Aeroflot’s desk at Shanghai Pudong International Airport because we were all going on holiday – or so we thought. Boarding was [...]
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My second flight from hell happened Christmas 2007. I booked a flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Portland, Oregon months in advance and I was really looking forward to seeing good friends again after quite a while. I was booked on United from Frankfurt to Chicago O’Hare and later to Portland. It was December 23rd and [...]
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I decided to visit my family in La Verne, California the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. There are several airports in the Los Angeles area, with Ontario International Airport being the closest one. I booked Delta flight 4756 from SLC to ONT the morning of Christmas Eve. Other than sitting next to a [...]
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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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I don’t know if this counts as a “Flight From Hell” – it might be better placed on a website called “Vacations From Hell.” But since every one of the problems was caused by American Airlines, I think it is relevant. Please note that I am not making any of this up. I know it [...]
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I think it was 1999. I was living in Virginia at the time and the week before Christmas I had to travel to Los Angeles for some business. I had traveled from Greensboro, NC which was only about 90 minutes from home, and US Air had an easy connection through Charlotte to get me to [...]
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