I had planned my trip home for Christmas well in advance, to make sure I would get a comfortable aisle seat for my large 6’5″ frame. I arrived at SFO and checked in at the gate well in advance (about 2hrs) of my flight. A few minutes after boarding the plane, an elderly gentleman came […]
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Upon boarding an Alaska Air plane for home from Seattle to Los Angeles just after Christmas of 2008, I sat in my aisle seat and put my belongings away ready for take-off. A husband and wife came along to take their seats in my row as well, whereupon it took the very, very large woman […]
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Last year I flew across country from San Diego to Hartford during the holidays. As I was waiting near the gate I noticed woman talking to her dog that she had enclosed in a pet carrier. I didn’t think much of it since pets are allowed on some flights. As soon as the flight took […]
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On Dec. 22 6:30am we checked in on flight 613 in Bangkok scheduled to fly out 8:15. The plane was basically empty. We departed from the gate, got on the runway only to hear the captain say we were returning because of engine problems. After a 3 hour wait they said the flight was being […]
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This goes back to when I was in college, back when US airlines were flying 747s domestically, Nixon was President, and the planes that are now flying for NW were only 10 years old. As a kid, I never knew what flying with a reservation was. I was an airline brat. It allowed me to […]
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My family (wife and daughters ages 6 and 3) and I just returned to Minneapolis from our trip to Florida over winter break and just when I thought customer service for airlines could not be any worse, Southwest Airlines went and proved me wrong. Everything I had ever heard about Southwest had been fairly positive, […]
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This flight wasn’t really hellish, just funny. When I was in college in Ohio in the ’80’s, I would fly home to Connecticut for Christmas via La Guardia to our local small airport. The now-defunct airline that I took from LGA to Connecticut was called Pilgrim Airlines, and they flew a fleet of small turboprops; […]
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This story is more about my asinine brother-in-law than it is about flights from hell. In all fairness the airline DID manage to lose his luggage on a nonstop flight from Las Vegas to Phoenix. So here we are, a few days before Christmas and my BIL, who ALWAYS drives when he visits us in […]
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Well, mine isn’t nearly as terrible as most of the stories posted hear but here’s my horror story. I was taking a flight to Seattle with my brother to go visit our family for Christmas. I was 14 at the time I think. Everything went smooth, the check in, boarding, seating, everything. Except for the […]
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My flights from hell are always holiday flights, which isn’t really surprising, all things considered. My worst thus far took place just before Christmas three years ago. The airline had just recently started a feature which allowed passengers to select their seats online up to 24 hours prior to departure, but I was unaware of […]
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Last Thanksgiving I flew from Burlington, VT to Santa Ana, CA. I used frequent flier miles and was lucky enough to end up with the final 4 1/2 hour leg of the journey in 1st class. I had thought that this would allow me lots more room than I normally would have in coach. I […]
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While reading this story, please keep in mind that this was the 1st time I had been on a plane by myself AND it was New Year’s Eve. It was a snowy night when I was headed down to Raleigh/Durham Airport from the Providence, RI Airport. I got to the Providence airport on time and […]
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