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?

Third-Party Site Changes Flight

March 2, 2014 Odds & Ends Stories

Over Labor Day weekend, my girlfriend and I decided to take a trip together to Seattle to sightsee and get away from work for a little bit. We had booked our flights separately, and I chose to book using Expedia to get a better deal on the hotel room as well as the flight. My […]

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Teen’s Air Travel Tribulations

February 27, 2014 Odds & Ends Stories

When I was in high school, we went on a Caribbean cruise for Christmas. The airline the cruise line made us use was TWA. This was right after the TWA crash over France, so flying that airline scared the life out of me. Nothing happened on the way over other than the plane being really […]

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Passenger Pretends Not to Speak English

February 23, 2014 Attendant & Pilot Stories

I’m a former flight attendant, and I was working a JFK to DFW trip. A woman from a French-speaking country (heard her speaking on her cell phone) enters the plane, and then plunks herself into a first class seat. I thought nothing of it. However about ten minutes later an elderly couple arrive, and it […]

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An Experience to Remember

February 21, 2014 Odds & Ends Stories

In August 2006 I was flying to Amsterdam from SFO to take a cruise to the Baltics three days later. This was on the day of the “fluid bombers” scare on British Air. American Airlines to JFK to Heathrow, then British Air to Amsterdam. I used miles, hence the many stops. Luckily I was in […]

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Kids Create Consternation

February 19, 2014 Baby & Kid Stories

I really love kids – most of the time. We were flying from Brussels to New York last March. First of all, our plane was 40 minutes late because we had to wait for a large group of people coming from Paris. So we were sitting there in the plane waiting for that group.

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Message Delivered Too Late

February 17, 2014 Airport Stories

I was part of a university trip from Ontario to Tanzania, Africa. Seven students, myself included, were flying from Toronto to Amsterdam. The rest of the group, the professors included, were flying from Ottawa to Amsterdam. We would all meet up on our connecting flight and fly into Tanzania together.

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Child Nervous About Security Check

February 13, 2014 Airport Stories

This isn’t a horrific story like some of the others on here; it was more embarrassing really. It happened pre-9/11 and I was flying with my family from the east coast of Canada to Alberta. The flight there was fine; I passed with security no problem.

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Complaints About Child Crying from Pain

February 10, 2014 Baby & Kid Stories

This occurred several years ago on a short flight (about 5 hours) when my little sister was no more than 3 or 4 years old. Not long after take off she began whimpering and crying very loudly, complaining that her ears hurt her. We tried all the tricks: yawning, chewing gum, etc. Nothing was helping. […]

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Checked In but Denied Boarding

February 7, 2014 Airport Stories

If you fly on United Airlines you may be treated to a little public service video they share before the safety video, pre-departure. It details how much they care about their customers, and has touching vignettes of UA staff going above and beyond for their customers. What a crock of sh*t. I’ll try to make my […]

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Several Seat Stories

February 5, 2014 Seat Stories

I fly about once a year so I am not a frequent flier, but I have experienced many of the same bad experiences. Seat reclining really should be limited.

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Airline Staff Lack Customer Service Skills

February 1, 2014 Flying Hell Commentary

Since this is mostly a North American blog, here is an outside view on U.S. transfer regulations and American Airlines customer service. AA asked me for an evaluation – so they got it:

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Talkative Traveler in Seat 1A

January 20, 2014 Senior Stories

I was flying United from ORD to LAX and upon boarding was pleasantly surprised to find that I was upgraded to First Class. My inner elitist crept up as I walked along the ramp, embracing for whatever reason the façade and aura that this is how I usually fly.

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