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?

Passenger Frets over Fake Poop Prank

September 23, 2011 Passenger Stories

This happened a few years ago on a return flight from Las Vegas, but it is still as vivid in my mind as if it happened yesterday. I had boarded and was getting comfortable in my window seat, located pretty far in the rear. The two seats next to me were still open, but it […]

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Travelers Terrorized by Turbulence

September 20, 2011 Weather Stories

It was January 2004 and I had just boarded an Emirates flight from Dubai to Düsseldorf to visit my family in Germany. I am not a happy flyer and hate watching take-offs, so I always ask for an aisle seat. On this flight I was seated in the aisle seat on the left side of […]

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Nervous Flier Freaks Over FA’s Demonstration

September 14, 2011 Passenger Stories

My husband and I had just finished a wonderful week-long vacation in Cuba. The very first time we flew there we experienced some pretty scary turbulence (at least in my opinion!), so I was a little nervous about taking the flight home. Sometimes I enjoy flying, and sometimes any little sound or bump can scare […]

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Compensated with a Cookie for Delays

September 8, 2011 Delay/Cancellation Stories

Not so long ago I was flying with my family nonstop from Dulles to Beijing on United. Not as if that was very bad, I mean, it’s just a flight, not your junior year in college. Any other option would have cost more anyway. This was the first time I flew United, and my second […]

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Flight Attendant’s Top 5 Annoyances

September 3, 2011 Flying Hell Commentary

My Top 5 Annoyances as a Flight Attendant… Firstly, I want to say that I love being a FA (flight attendant for short) and that if you happen to be a passenger on one of my flights, more often than not you are going to have a nice flight. That being said, I would like […]

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Interminable Wait for Luggage

August 28, 2011 Luggage Stories

Flying recently into DEN to ATL on Frontier (which surprises me to be writing this story; Frontier is my go-to airline out of DEN). All is well and good leaving DEN, everyone is friendly and helpful. Great trip so far. Our group of 5 people decided to catch an early flight to ATL so we could […]

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Projectile Vomiting Problem

August 24, 2011 Odor Stories

A group of friends and I were flying from Tampa to Las Vegas. As is our tradition whenever we make such pilgrimages to Sin City, we immediately started drinking on the plane even though it was morning time. To save on costs we supplement drinks we purchase on board with beverages that we bring along […]

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Befouled by Puke from a Barf Bag Hand Puppet

August 20, 2011 Non-Stories

Travel Tips for Tots from the blog, Mother-eff’d, is a filmed story from writer and comedian Johanna Stein. In the video, Stein describes an icky incident that occurred on an airplane while she tried to distract her screaming child with a hand puppet fashioned out of an air sickness bag. A written narrative about the ordeal […]

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The Never Ending Flight

August 4, 2011 Odds & Ends Stories

1. How It All Started We are living in the new age. This is the age of technology, the age of the internet. Everything happens at the speed of light, quite literally. People buy and sell things online, chat online, even live online in virtual worlds. Who could have thought of these things a few […]

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Tiring Trip from Warsaw to Toronto

August 2, 2011 Odds & Ends Stories

This tiring trip took place at the end of the summer of 2007. We had been at Warsaw Okecie International Airport. Our original trip was to fly with Wizz Air to London Luton airport, then from Gatwick to Toronto Pearson. We started by going to Terminal One in Warsaw looking for our flight. After waiting […]

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Crying Baby Keeps Others Awake on a Red-Eye

July 20, 2011 Baby & Kid Stories

Flight 8, Monday July 11,2011… HNL to DFW. Red-eye, 8 hour flight, supposed to leave at 4:55 p.m. and arrive in Dallas at 5:20 a.m. Left and arrived two hours late. At least 10 children on the plane that are less than 5 years old. One baby in my section cried the entire time. Literally, the entire […]

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Traveling is Tough Even Under Normal Conditions

July 18, 2011 Airport Stories

My wife and I went on vacation in Europe. I expected flights from hell somewhere, but was pleasantly surprised that, except for a 2 hour delay on our way from PHI to Zürich, all travel arrangements went as planned. Still, if not a flight from hell, at least a modest test of endurance getting home […]

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