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?

Barfzilla

June 27, 2009 Portly Stories

A few months ago I was flying back from Heathrow to Minneapolis/Saint Paul. My seat was in the last row of an Airbus A310. My experience in the U.K was great. I suppose all good things come to an end. Barfzilla appeared and took the last seat – the middle seat in the row. My […]

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Passenger Breaks Seat

June 27, 2009 Portly Stories

I was on a recent flight with my fiancé to Aruba when we actually thought we had a row to ourselves. Then I notice a waddler making her way to our row. She must have been 350 pounds, needed a seatbelt extension, and seemed to be hyperventilating just sitting still. Here is where it got […]

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My New Friend From Amsterdam

June 26, 2009 Passenger Stories

So it was about 530am in Amsterdam when I left my hotel to the airport, drowsy, hung over, and seriously exhausted from a 4 day conference spent on my feet trying to sell people who only probably heard 1/3 of what I actually send. Needless to say I was in no mood for any in-flight […]

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Difficult Passenger Disses TSA And Crew

June 26, 2009 Passenger Stories

Several years ago, flying from SYR to DCA. At the gate the TSA was doing their usual random searches, and a guy several people in front of me got randomized, and shortly thereafter I did too. They take the guy behind the security screen and start the process. A TSA agent in a stern tone […]

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Peeing With Playboy

June 26, 2009 Passenger Stories

I usually cut people some slack when they don’t strictly adhere to the “Remain in your seats while the fasten seatbelt light is illuminated.” When you have to go…right? However, a flight from Nashville to Miami completely changed my mind. I was seated in an aisle seat; a mid-30’s gentleman (I’ll refer to him as […]

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Passenger Fusses Over Change Of Seats

June 26, 2009 Passenger Stories

During the summer of 2005 my son was in a serious accident while serving in the Navy. Serious meaning 2 weeks in ICU, another 4 in the Medical Center and then another 2 in rehab. When the doctors authorized me to take him home, I purchased first class tickets – for the extra room. We […]

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Passenger Has A Taste For The News

June 26, 2009 Passenger Stories

After an uneventful and uncrowded morning flight to Orlando from Ft Lauderdale, I was looking forward to the same for my flight back home that evening. Not to be. It was a full flight and I had to choose a middle seat from what was left. Having had some interesting experiences in the past, I […]

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Molested By Wandering Arms And Hands

June 26, 2009 Passenger Stories

I was on a flight home from a family reunion and I was traveling alone which I had never done. When I sat down on the plane I had a bad feeling. I had ended up with a middle seat in the middle aisle and that is never good. Much to my dismay two hefty […]

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Babies And Midnight?

June 25, 2009 Baby & Kid Stories

Can someone please explain to the countless morons out there who choose to have children and fly with them that “red-eye” flights have become flights for those who need to sleep while in the air and go to work the next morning? Are you going to reimbursement me for the time I miss at work […]

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Involuntary Babysitter

June 25, 2009 Baby & Kid Stories

My husband and I were flying for a nice relaxing vacation. For the first time in 8 years, we left our child at home with family. We get into the plane and directly in front of us is a woman with 5 children. She was sitting in a row that had 3 seats. The aisle […]

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Kill The Monster

June 19, 2009 Delay/Cancellation Stories

Have to love this story. Last year, my flight from Washington, DC, to San Francisco kept getting delayed because of thunderstorms. A flight that was supposed to take off at 6:00 PM didn’t take off until midnight. Anyway, after numerous fits and starts, people moving from one gate to another, promises from the airline, etc., […]

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Passenger’s Goal Is To Catch A Hockey Game

June 19, 2009 Delay/Cancellation Stories

Being a hockey fan, I purchased a ticket to a Boston Bruins hockey game as I was preparing to take a trip to Boston for business one January. My flight was booked from Charleston, WV through Pittsburgh and on to Boston on the same day as the game. I knew I had enough time once […]

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