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?

“Sorry, but No” to Seat Switch Request

June 21, 2016 Seat Stories

So I was flying Southwest Airlines to Boston from Phoenix.  I couldn’t sleep the night before, so I looked forward to a pillow and being curled up against a window. I got my “A” boarding pass (lucky) and sat in my window seat.

13 comments Continue reading →

Sizable Woman & Seat Kicking Gremlins

June 19, 2016 Odds & Ends Stories

This story is going to actually be split into two parts. Yeah, both flights were Hell. The story goes like this: I was with my family. We were going to watch a friend or whoever get married in Colorado. I have had numerous experiences with flights before, and to me, this was just another day. Boy, was […]

7 comments Continue reading →

Slow Service Leads to Missed Flight and Fee

June 17, 2016 Airport Stories

Dear friends, I would like to share my experience in Helsinki less than a month ago, May 22, 2016. I had a 40 minute connection between the flights from Moscow to NYC. Because the hand luggage screeners were so slow, I missed that connection.

3 comments Continue reading →

Passengers Abandoned by Airline

June 13, 2016 Odds & Ends Stories

Zero-service Norwegian Air Shuttle abandoned two planeloads of Europe-JFK passengers in Boston late on Sunday night (June 5) – due to weather – and told them to make their own way to New York, 200 miles away.

12 comments Continue reading →

The $75 Downgrade

June 11, 2016 Seat Stories

On my return flight home from DFW to SEA on American Airlines, I ended up upgrading my middle seat to an exit row for $75. I’m a tall guy at 6’2, 200lbs, and could really use the extra leg room on the four hour flight. After settling in before takeoff and falling asleep, someone bumped […]

2 comments Continue reading →

Obnoxious Passenger’s One Man Show

June 9, 2016 Passenger Stories

It’s been a few years since I’ve truly had a flight from hell, so I guess I was due for one? Recently, my girlfriend and I got just that!

9 comments Continue reading →

Pilot’s Precarious Flight

June 6, 2016 Airplane Stories

I am a retired airline captain and a number of years ago I had a cargo flight out of Bogotá, Columbia. The airport is over 8,200 feet above sea level, so I knew my old four engine DC-8 would be struggling to get airborne even with the two mile long runway. The weather was in […]

6 comments Continue reading →

Selfish Passenger Reclines Seat

June 4, 2016 Seat Stories

I had a flight to Shanghai a few years ago. I usually go back once every year to visit relatives.

6 comments Continue reading →

Fed Up with Customer Disservice

June 2, 2016 Delay/Cancellation Stories

I purchased a round trip ticket one month in advance to Seattle from New Orleans. The original purchase had the plane scheduled to arrive in Seattle on a late Thursday night. This was because I wanted to spend one day in Seattle prior to catching a separate flight from Seattle to Japan that was due […]

2 comments Continue reading →

Advice to Pilots About Announcements

May 30, 2016 Flying Hell Commentary

Not a bad story, but I just want to share this thought. I love pilots; so much appreciate that I get to see my family in California, Colorado and England every year because of them. However, I just want to offer this little bit of advice if you don’t mind.

7 comments Continue reading →

Weather & Maintenance Misery

May 28, 2016 Delay/Cancellation Stories

May 21, 2016. American Airlines flight 2568 from DFW to Charlotte was overbooked by one seat. They offered a $300 voucher to take a flight departing one hour later. I (and many others) would later deeply regret not taking that offer.

5 comments Continue reading →

Vexed by Visa Problems

May 26, 2016 Airport Stories

My husband and I recently took a trip to Australia from the USA to visit his ailing elderly father. I am an American citizen, and my husband is an Australian national and is also an alien resident in the USA. This is partially his fault.

3 comments Continue reading →



← Previous Entries

Next Entries →