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?

Lap Used To Rest Fetid Feet

September 11, 2009 Passenger Stories

I had boarded a long flight from Israel to the United States. This was one of the large planes with three columns of seats: 2 – 5 – 2. I felt fortunate to have an aisle seat and the young lady next to me seemed nice enough. Shortly thereafter a young man walked up the […]

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Barefoot & Passportless

September 10, 2009 Airport Stories

I was flying from Portland OR to Puerto Vallarta last November and I had a layover in Phoenix. Our connecting flight was on the opposite end of the airport from where we had landed, and we were scheduled to board in 30 minutes. We walk about 20 minutes to the other end of the airport […]

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Actress Breaks Wind By Star-Struck Passenger

September 10, 2009 Odor Stories

Once I was on an all night business flight, seated in First Class, beside a very famous and beautiful award-winning actress. She was very sweet and we chatted a bit before she fell asleep. Some time later I heard a distinctive sound usually associated with flatulence, followed by a strong odor also usually associated with […]

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Stinky Eggs Spoil The Flight

September 9, 2009 Food & Drink Stories

Back in early 2005 I was flying JetBlue direct from Long Beach, CA to Boston, MA which is about a 5 or 6 hour flight. I was seated in the window seat which was fine because I planned to snooze for as much of the flight as I could. Everything was fine until about 20 […]

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Hair Flipper Freaks Over Gooey Mess

September 8, 2009 Passenger Stories

On a flight about 5 years ago (when the airlines still served food), I was seated behind a young woman with very long straight blond hair.  I knew it was very long and straight because after she reclined her seat, she flipped her hair over the back of the seat, where it reached down far […]

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Lucky Break Turns Into A Bust

September 8, 2009 Delay/Cancellation Stories

One holiday I was going through Atlanta on military leave. When I got to the gate I found out there was a flight leaving about 3 hrs. before my booked flight. I was able to get on it. Great, I thought. Once on the airplane, after leaving the gate, the announcement came… sorry… experiencing difficulties… […]

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Sayonara Narita Airport

September 7, 2009 Delay/Cancellation Stories

Several years ago, I was on a business trip to Asia, which concluded with a 13-hour flight from Narita Airport outside Tokyo, to San Francisco. The plane was scheduled to leave at noon, and the United flight was only about one-third full, mostly with fellow Americans. After we had all gotten settled in our seats, […]

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Caught A Flight – And The Flu

September 7, 2009 Illness/Medical Stories

After departing on a red eye flight from Cancun to LAX in January 2008, my husband, myself and sister surely thought it would be a quiet flight where we would get the opportunity to sleep through the entire thing. However, quickly we discovered that we got stuck sitting in front of a father and son […]

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Luggage Flung And Complaints Ignored

September 6, 2009 Luggage Stories

Salutation: Mr. X State: NY Zip code: 13126 Country: United States Category: Complaint/Concern Travel time frame: Past Travel Nature of feedback: Airport Experience Origin city: PHL Destination city: PHX Flight number: 252 Travel date: 01/24/09 Ticket Number: E-Ticket Confirmation code: ER2CCC/US Airport information: PHOENIX AIRPORT FLIGHT 252 ARRIVAL ~1:00 pm GATE Comments: Dear Sir or […]

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Grilled By Security

September 5, 2009 Airport Stories

Last year, I booked a round trip flight from Philadelphia to San Diego. I arrived at the Philadelphia airport counter with an hour to spare before take off. The woman at the counter said, “I really doubt you can make this flight since you decided to cut it so close. You better run.” I ran […]

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Passenger Takes On Child Care Duty

September 4, 2009 Baby & Kid Stories

In 1997 I went on a skiing vacation to Vail. My trip to Vail turned out miserably and I spent it with some really awful and dysfunctional cousins and their equally awful teenage kids… AWFUL!!!!!!! I was in Vail for 8 days and I was desperate to get back to Houston where I lived at the time… […]

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Car Left Running In Front Of Airport

September 3, 2009 Airport Stories

I’ve got to tattle on myself. I used to travel by plane every week for a living in the days way before 9/11 (circa Reagan Presidency). Back then my darling husband used to drive me to the curbside check-in before going on to his job and we avoided all the expensive airport parking. One Monday […]

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