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?

A Bumpy Ride With Ms. Big Mouth

April 2, 2010 Odds & Ends Stories

Okay, just want to say that this was a little while ago, so the details are still fuzzy. I was on a flight out of Atlanta, flying on (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Bingo) airlines, which I will never fly again. My mom and I got on the plane, like normal people. Little did I know that […]

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Silent Seat War

March 31, 2010 Seat Stories

It was a thirteen and a half hour flight from LAX to Brisbane. The 747 was pretty full, and I was seated in the middle. The flight was fairly uneventful until I decided to get some rest after the meal service. I reclined my seat, as any passenger would be entitled to do, and was […]

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Squashed By A Ginormous Seatmate

March 31, 2010 Portly Stories

In the summer of ’96 on a trip from BOS to CHI, our flight had been canceled a few hours before scheduled take-off due to supposed mechanical problems. I later learned that AA often canceled this particular flight to condense passengers into other planes when their seats weren’t very full, and “mechanical issues” bought them […]

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Typical College Boys

March 30, 2010 Passenger Stories

I was on an overnight flight from Newark, USA to Copenhagen, Denmark. The flight left around 5 PM US time, and was expected to land around 7 AM Danish time. We flew SAS, and were served dinner and complimentary cocktails. Well, the 2 young gentlemen somewhere behind me took quite an advantage of the cocktails, […]

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Eating Like A Praying Mantis

March 30, 2010 Portly Stories

Dude… literally… have you seen the way Jaba the Hut sort of lays down sideways in the Star Wars movie? My last flight from Seattle to Frankfurt had me sitting right next to him. Not only was he huge, he also had the urge to use his wife as a pillow and sort of stretch […]

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Mother Refuses To Fasten Seat Belt On Child

March 29, 2010 Baby & Kid Stories

When I first boarded I considered myself lucky. I knew it was going to be a very long flight and I was privileged to be seated in the first row of the economy section. The seats had considerably more leg-room that the rows behind me. What I didn’t know was that the airline typically reserved […]

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Air Force One Delays Flights

March 28, 2010 Delay/Cancellation Stories

Having cancelled a flight on Continental due to a military obligation in 2004, I was relieved to find that with a little pressing, Continental would grant me a full refund for use towards a future flight in 2007. That was the high point of the experience. Flying from Providence to Charleston, SC on Continental requires […]

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Sweaty & Sticky

March 28, 2010 Portly Stories

I was flying from Salt Lake City to Atlanta. The flight was almost full when I booked my flight so my options were limited. The plane was a 767 and I had to pick an aisle seat of three seats in the center column of seats. I was watching people walk down the aisles and […]

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Little Miss Sunshine

March 27, 2010 Baby & Kid Stories

I like kids, but… Last week, a younger couple with two small kids flew across the aisle from us on a MSP to CDG overnight flight. The 3 year old decided to play peekaboo while climbing all over the seats, and when the mother tried to get the kid to calm down, she started to […]

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Reclining Seat Rules

March 26, 2010 Flying Hell Commentary

While I don’t like it when they person in front of me reclines their seat, there is not much I can do about it. Some will argue that since the seat reclines, they have a right to use that function. Some will argue that they paid to have enough room to survive a flight, and […]

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Flight To Africa Adventure

March 25, 2010 Odds & Ends Stories

I was traveling to Africa with my husband and friends to volunteer in a refugee camp one summer. We figured our adventures would start as we arrived in Africa, but we were sure wrong. We arrived in LAX for our flight to JFK. We had a 6 hour layover there which we already weren’t looking […]

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Thunder Thighs

March 25, 2010 Portly Stories

On a flight from RDU to MCI, the seat next to me on the CJR was empty. I thought nice, no travel companion. However, before the door closed, “THUNDER THIGHS” entered the aircraft, moving sideways down the aisle, and took her seat next to me. She said yes, that is my seat; I got up […]

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