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?

The Refill

November 16, 2010 Food & Drink Stories

I was young at the time; I won’t give a date (as I finally hit the age where I choose to ignore those details). I boarded a Delta flight (757) to Dallas in my first EVER First-class upgrade. It was then that I realized my co-worker Manny was on the flight–a few rows behind me.  […]

18 comments Continue reading →

The Great Explosion

November 12, 2010 Passenger Stories

Those of us who traveled in the early to mid-1990s remember the ranch being given away on the frequent flyer programs.  One could actually MAKE points by flying first class on Delta – the upgrade cost was paid back greater with bonus points for BEING THERE.  Costs of a free flight were also less, relatively […]

14 comments Continue reading →

The Creature in the Cage

November 10, 2010 Animal Stories

It all happened in January 2010 at the irritating DFW Airport – irritating as this place was designed back in the day of many carriers.  We all hate walking from one end to other just because [INSERT YOUR SMALL TOWN HERE] has few passengers so they stick you on the end. We queued up to […]

22 comments Continue reading →

Sensitive Stomach Stressed by Stinky Passenger

November 8, 2010 Portly Stories

Working in Dallas and having family in Austin, I am used to a 3 hour transit period. So when I attended a scholastic logistics competition in Jacksonville and learned that the flight time was three hours from DFW, I thought that the flight would be cake, nothing compared to the overseas flights I had taken […]

12 comments Continue reading →

Cigar Smoking Passenger Pollutes Plane

November 6, 2010 Passenger Stories

Believe it or not, back in the sixties smoking cigarettes was allowed on airplanes in the United States. Passengers and flight staff would breath in polluted air and reek of smoke when they disembarked from the plane. Yet no one thought anything of it because so many people smoked back then. I think that cigar […]

10 comments Continue reading →

Knitter Drives Passenger Nuts

November 3, 2010 Passenger Stories

OK.  We all have had told or heard of classic airplane/airport stories.  I know when I traveled as an auditor in the early 90s I had experienced many; specifically, when a guy next to me tried to stuff his bag under my feet because he “wanted to stretch his legs during the long two hour flight.”  […]

40 comments Continue reading →

No Flight From Hell on North Korean Airline

October 31, 2010 Odds & Ends Stories

By the end of September I went on a school trip to North Korea by flying the national airline Air Koryo. I would like to share my unique experience of flying with them. If you are expecting this to be a true flight from hell, it’s not. I’d go as far as saying Air Koryo is better […]

25 comments Continue reading →

Baby’s Big Blue Eyes Make a Traveler Blue

October 28, 2010 Baby & Kid Stories

Here’s a different kind of kid story… On August 2, 2008 I had to fly from Houston to Milwaukee for work. While boarding the plane, there was a family with two small children and a newborn baby. Like most travelers, I hoped the children were going to be well-behaved on the five hour flight. The […]

28 comments Continue reading →

Volcano and Other Troubles Torment Travelers

October 26, 2010 Odds & Ends Stories

Earlier this year I made two business trips to Europe to taste wine. The first trip, to Tuscany in Italy, was idyllic as it always is. Yes, the ash from the volcano in Iceland hit the skies while I was there and I had to spend another week in Florence before I could get back, […]

3 comments Continue reading →

Fetid Flight

October 25, 2010 Odor Stories

Once upon a time on a flight from Germany to New York, around 50 people from India decided to visit their relatives. It would have been a nice flight, but I’m sorry to say that the spices they use in their food is not good for the atmosphere. Besides that, a couple had their little […]

7 comments Continue reading →

Flier is Frustrated by Bags in Bins

October 24, 2010 Flying Hell Commentary

This isn’t so much one specific flight from hell, but more of EVERY flight that I’m on ever since airlines found a way to gouge even more money out of fliers by charging for checked baggage. I’m a frequent flier and also have one of those airline-partnered credit cards, so I don’t pay for checked bags […]

19 comments Continue reading →

Seniors Have Issues with Seats

October 20, 2010 Senior Stories

Not necessarily a Flight From Hell, but it was a little frustrating, and one you just have to shake your head at. I was on American Airlines Flight 5 from DFW to HNL on Septmber 2nd, 2010. In the boarding area there were several children playing and laughing, and immediately my first thought was please let these children be […]

20 comments Continue reading →



← Previous Entries

Next Entries →