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?

Seatmates Snuggle Since Spouses Aren’t Around

April 18, 2010 Couples Stories

I am wondering how often flight attendants see incidents like the one I experienced last week ? I sat next to an attractive woman for an 8 hour flight. We are both married. We shared some drinks and wound up falling asleep cuddling in each others arms and holding hands, for the rest of the […]

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Nervous Flier

April 18, 2010 Airplane Stories

First off let me start by admitting that I am a nervous flier. My wife flies three or four times a month for business. My wife, stepson and I flew to St. Louis for a week of fun, Cardinals game, Riverboat ride, zoo visit, Six Flags, etc. The flight over was pretty smooth and uneventful. […]

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Weird Dial Turned Up

April 16, 2010 Weird People Stories

Years ago when I was a travel agent, I would fly space available. I was trying to get to Boston for a New Year’s party on what was then America West. I thought I was out of luck, as the flight I was hoping to catch filled up with the exact number of passengers as […]

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Passenger Refuses To Give Up Knife

April 15, 2010 Passenger Stories

I was flying from Anchorage to Seattle in 2003. The plane had maybe 30 people on it, so there was at least one row per person. I was in row 9, against the right window. Just before we pushed back from the gate, I overheard a bit of a commotion in row 6, the bulkhead […]

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Do You Have Religion?

April 15, 2010 Senior Stories

I live in Japan teaching English, but had gone to Amsterdam and Berlin for my winter holidays. On my flight from AMS to ICN, Amsterdam to Seoul, I met a kind old Korean woman sitting in the aisle seat in my row. I don’t speak Korean, and she didn’t speak English or Japanese. (Un)Fortunately, we […]

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Stranger’s Skin Stresses Passenger

April 14, 2010 Portly Stories

I was traveling alone from Atlanta to San Francisco. I don’t typically travel alone so I don’t often have to deal with sitting next to strangers on the plane, but here I am in the waiting area to board the plane and I see an obese man come over and sit down as well. I […]

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Mr. Germ Spreader

April 13, 2010 Illness/Medical Stories

I recently flew on an international American Airlines flight. I generally try to avoid American Airlines because they’ve got the worst fleet of aircraft around, but their prices were so much better that I caved. Mistake number one (mistake number two was not paying for an upgraded seat on the plane). I board the cattle […]

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Perplexity Over Screening Of Leg With Pins

April 13, 2010 Airport Stories

We were traveling from Las Vegas to Pittsburgh in 2002. While waiting to go through security, I was behind a young man who had been in a car accident and was on crutches. And his right leg had external pinning, that is, his leg had an outside metal pin system holding his broken bones in place. […]

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Big Surprise In Little Lavatory

April 12, 2010 Airplane Stories

A colleague and I had to visit a company that was holding an open day in Stuttgart. They had laid on a plane for all potential customers. We got to the charter base and saw three Learjets parked outside – “sweet” we all thought. After about an hour we heard a sound like a ride-on […]

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Spread Legs For Seats

April 11, 2010 Seat Stories

I, my father and his wife were flying overseas to New York. My father is a tall person, and as you know, there isn’t a lot of room for the legs, so… In the seat in front of my father there was a man who, as soon as the plane had reached cruising altitude, wanted […]

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The Gall Of Garuda

April 11, 2010 Airport Stories

Six years ago I was standing with friends in one of the check-in lines just before making the return trip from Bali to Australia. I first went to Bali in 1969 and immediately fell in love with the island and its people. I have been back many times since. On moving slowly up the line […]

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Security Screening Misses Potential Weapons

April 10, 2010 Airport Stories

I consider myself a rather experienced traveler. I have MVP status and travel for business and pleasure. I also have a routine prior to traveling – when I pack I take my drill and tool kit out of my laptop bag and put it in my checked baggage. It was a hectic Monday morning when […]

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