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?

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.

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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.

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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.

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Grabby Baby Pesters Passenger

May 20, 2016 Baby & Kid Stories

One time on a flight with my sister, we didn’t prebook seats but were able to pick our seats upon check in. We opted to each get a window seat in rows beside each other so we could both relax a bit. We get on the plane, get seated, and all is well.

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Cash Stolen by Security Personnel

March 26, 2016 Airport Stories

About ten years ago, I was running extremely late with my family for an American Airlines flight. When I was going through security, I got stopped by two old Cuban ladies who were behind a desk at the security check point. I was told by them that my carry-on baggage needed to be checked by […]

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Flight Delays Hinder Family Gathering

March 22, 2016 Delay/Cancellation Stories

A few summers ago my family decided to go on a road trip through America starting in Denver. I was living in London at the time and the rest of my family were in Dubai. We therefore made arrangements to meet in Denver.

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Rankled by Seat Reservation Difficulties

March 18, 2016 Seat Stories

My flight isn’t for several months but I’ve already experienced a little hell.

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Drug Check Inconveniences Traveler

February 20, 2016 Airport Stories

I was travelling from Oslo, Norway to Frankfurt (I had taken a domestic flight from Tromso to Oslo just a few hours before). While going through Immigration (where they had to X-ray our hand carry bags), I was stopped by the officers for a drug check. I presume it was because I had a hoodie […]

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Plane Overloaded with Passengers

February 10, 2016 Odds & Ends Stories

I was travelling back from Nairobi to London, via Paris, with Sudan Air in 1995, having spent six weeks travelling through Africa on the back of an old Bedford Army truck. After that I had no high expectations at all, especially as I had flown with them on the way over previously. However, on arriving […]

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Customer Care Lacking in Lost Luggage Incident

February 2, 2016 Luggage Stories

Turkish Airlines best European airline 5 years in a row? Maybe so, but given my experience with them on long haul flights, it is hard to believe that they merit this award. I am interested in other people’s experience to know whether I have just experienced an unfortunate incident, or whether their service is not […]

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Four Days of Travel Hell for a Half Hour Meeting

January 10, 2016 Odds & Ends Stories

So I leave Perth on a 0530 flight to Kununurra (fine)… threeish hours there, only to drive five hours inland and swag in the bush for the night, 200 km from the nearest roadhouse (that means fuel, food, water, and people – all 20 of them). I am travelling at this point on my own […]

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Caught Up in Flight & Lost Luggage Limbo

January 6, 2016 Odds & Ends Stories

I had an Air Canada ticket for December 29, 2014 from Zürich, Switzerland to Vancouver via London, and a connecting flight the same evening to Prince George. My baggage was checked in to Prince George before departure in Zürich, where I received my boarding pass for London but not for Vancouver – obviously the flight […]

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