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The picture below has been making the rounds, including recently on The Jay Leno Show. The photo was received by the blog Unusual attitude which is on the aviation news site Flightglobal. The blog stated that it purportedly was taken by an American Airlines flight attendant concerned about inconveniences and safety issues. Click here to see a follow-up post from […]

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Over last summer when I was returning to home in Michigan after a meeting in New York, I had a rather lousy experience. First I arrived there with some 2 hours to my departure time so I should have plenty of time. Right? Wrong, it seemed a lot of employees had called in sick or something […]

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I’m at the window. My wife is in the center and this large guy (about 350lbs) takes the aisle seat. Before he sits he reaches down and flips up the arm rester that will be between him and my wife who we’ll call Faye. He does this because he already knows he won’t fit into […]

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Bouncing Leg & B.O.

November 27, 2009

in Portly Stories

The worst planes these days are the Canadair and Embraer regional jets that are now used on longer and longer routes. “Worst” because of the 3/4 sized seats. Just yesterday, I was on a Delta flight from Memphis to Oklahoma City and was seated next to a man 50% larger than his seat was intended […]

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I was on an Atlanta to Ft. Myers flight waiting at the gate for a couple of passengers to fill the remaining seats. It was a full plane with the exception of the three seats a couple of aisles ahead of me and on the left of the plane. All the passengers have been on […]

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This happened this past summer on my way from IAH to ABQ. I had gotten on the flight early and had settled into my window seat. I was lucky enough to get a bulk head seat, as I like to stretch out my legs. I was reading my book when a big, I mean BIG […]

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I was on a Virgin Airlines flight from Tokyo to London back in ’99. At first I had this wonderful aisle seat and a sweet FA who had this wonderful British accent. I chatted things up for a bit with her and was then greeted by a Senior FA (an old hag BTW) who asked […]

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My son and I were flying to his great-grandmother’s funeral. He was 11 at the time and I was 7 months pregnant. Due to the fact that we bought the tickets the day before, we were pulled aside at security for a special search. They separated my son and I and frisked both of us […]

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Middle Seat Hell

November 11, 2009

in Odds & Ends Stories

At the time I worked for a marketing firm. I was just starting out and so I got to do the jobs that no one else wanted. This time I was flying around the west coast, stopping in each and every airport interviewing travelers about new travel products. If spending all day in nothing but […]

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Two years ago, I was in my window seat on the 2-seat side of an MD-80 and this very large (est. 400+ lbs) woman sat next to me, apologized while she put the arm rest up, and then then proceeded to arrange her folds of fat, like they were pleats on a dress.  She literally […]

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The Pancake Flight

November 5, 2009

in Portly Stories

I was on a flight from Phoenix to Providence that had a change of planes in Atlanta. The Atlanta to Providence leg was on an MD-80 and, sure enough, I got the window seat in the last row next to the rear engine nacelle. For those not familiar with the back of an MD-80, the […]

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I was flying from Los Angeles to Seattle in first class. My husband was on one side of the aisle and I was on the other so I asked the person sitting next to him if he’d switch with me so my husband and I could sit together. They agreed and we switched. A few […]

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