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?

Baby Skylar

September 21, 2009 Baby & Kid Stories

What better way to start off any trip than showing up to Philly International at 3:00am after driving all night from NYC, to catch a flight to Houston? My girlfriend and I would be connecting in Texas to fly to Liberia, Costa Rica which is about an hour and a half drive to Playa Samara […]

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Rude and Clumsy Attendants

September 19, 2009 Attendant & Pilot Stories

So everyone knows the pitfalls of Southwest – little room to move, crappy flights, and crying babies. However, I was flying back from Las Vegas with my brother, sister-in-law and husband (we’ll call him “Bob”) when I had one of the worst flights I have ever had. First of all, we got there before a […]

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First Flight Fizzles

September 18, 2009 Portly Stories

I’m not what you call a frequent flier… I took the plane twice in my life. First time was in 1998, before security was a pain and at a time where flying was still supposed to be enjoyable. I was pretty stressed about my first flight but I decided to book a window seat. I […]

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Missed Flight And Other Maladies

September 17, 2009 Delay/Cancellation Stories

Flight 83 is a “direct” 12-hour flight from my airport to Hawaii. That’s quote-direct-quote. It carries the same flight number for the full trip but it has a “plane change” in LA. I’m up at 5 am Eastern and at the airport a little before 8 am for the 9 am flight. The departures board […]

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Ben Gay Brouhaha

September 16, 2009 Odor Stories

I was recently on a flight from Denver, Co to Phoenix, AZ. Right after we were seated, a woman next to me started rubbing Ben-Gay on her husband’s neck and back, not just a little, but tons of the stuff. My eyes started watering and my throat started burning from smelling it! I asked a […]

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Luggage Left Behind

September 16, 2009 Luggage Stories

My father and I arrived at Chicago O’Hare airport 5 hours before our scheduled flight to LA. This being Chicago during the winter, our flight was delayed because all the planes had to be de-iced. We began to panic, as we would most likely miss our flight to Sydney, Australia. Once we arrived in LA, […]

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Tinkle Ticks Off Traveler

September 15, 2009 Odds & Ends Stories

I boarded a flight on Continental in which when I arrived to my seat the cushion was pulled out and had a giant wet spot. I walked against the stream to get to the flight attendant to let her know. She told me that maintenance was changing out the seat. I waited quite a while […]

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Beverly Hillbilly Summer

September 15, 2009 Passenger Stories

I am a flight attendant for a major airline. Back in the early 90’s during the Gulf War when no one was flying, the airlines lowered the fares to the point where everyone could fly, even people who usually take the bus. Needless to say, there were a lot of people on board that were […]

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The Pre- And Post- Flight From Hell

September 14, 2009 Odds & Ends Stories

This is not so much about a hellish flight, because the flight was fine, it was the getting to and from the flight that was hell.  Do you know how, when there is an accident, the investigators rarely find a single proximate cause?  Instead, they find a chain of improbable events that conspired to eventually […]

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Mr. Gold Chains

September 13, 2009 Passenger Stories

On my way home from visiting my sister, I was assigned to the dreaded middle seat on a full flight. In the window seat was a man who looked like he was transported from the lizard lounge a la 1970s–open shirt, gold chains, middle-aged. An older woman was already sitting in the aisle seat, so […]

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MP3 Leads To No ZZZ

September 13, 2009 Passenger Stories

During spring break, I had a direct flight from Philadelphia to Austin that was about 3 hours long. The flight was full so the middle seat next to me had to be filled. My luck – I get the guy that thinks it’s okay to put his mp3 player on full blast so that it’s […]

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Lads & Legos

September 12, 2009 Baby & Kid Stories

On a flight from Portland OR to Nashville TN I sat behind a woman and her 2 sons that looked to be about 11-13 years old. The woman had no less than 8 drinks with beer chasers during the 4 hour flight. The kids were loud and obnoxious. At first they were playing with Legos […]

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