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?

Brain Farts & Overweight Bags

May 17, 2009 Luggage Stories

My wife and I packed a suitcase together. At check-in the bag as weighed. I was told it weighed 68 lbs and asked if I would like to remove anything. I could reduce the load by a few pounds but not 18 lbs. I paid the $50 fee for an overweight bag. This took some […]

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Purgatory Is A USAir Flight

May 17, 2009 Delay/Cancellation Stories

On Friday, March 27 our party of four was scheduled to depart Orlando (MCO) traveling to Philadelphia (PHL) on USAIR # 706. We arrived in plenty of time to make the flight. The check-in process was smooth and we had no problems getting to the gate. It looked like it would be a good day […]

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Not The Greatest Time In Paradise

May 17, 2009 Delay/Cancellation Stories

Two months ago, my family and I were taking a trip from San Diego to Maui, Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines. We arrived at the airport for a 8:00 clock flight at around 6:30. We get to the gate and waited to get on. We waited and waited past the time the plane was supposed to […]

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Southworst Airlines

May 17, 2009 Delay/Cancellation Stories

Last June I decided to fly home– the weekend before one of my clients was to go to trial– to surprise my sister at her high school graduation. The plan was simple: get home after she went to be, shock her by waking her up the next morning. SouthWorst, however, had other plans. Problem Number […]

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The Nightmare After Christmas

May 17, 2009 Delay/Cancellation Stories

I am in the military and sometimes we will get a few days off for federal holidays. Well, for Christmas of 2008 I decided to go to TN to visit some family. I was flying from New Bern, NC to Knoxville, TN with a connecting flight in Charlotte, NC. The flight there wasn’t bad at […]

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Should I Call My Husband Now?

May 13, 2009 Weather Stories

I was travelling between Louisville and Chicago – left Louisville on an early morning flight. There was a huge thunderstorm between the two cities. As we got close to Chicago, the turbulence was horrible. I really thought this was it – that we were all goners. The pilot had the flight attendants and passengers remain […]

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Linda Flies The Turbulent Skies

May 13, 2009 Weather Stories

I fly frequently coast to coast with my job, as a Computer Network Coordinator, so flying is no problem with me. I know to allow a lot of time for delays or whatever during the flight. My husband, although he was in the Air Force, does not like to fly…go figure. Anyhow, we were going […]

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Loss Of Fluid Nearly Leads To Loss Of Life

May 13, 2009 Airplane Stories

In the summer of 1977 I went to Norway with my parents to visit my father’s family. At the tender age of almost 7 I had already made this same trip 3 other times in my life, and I thought flying was fun. The trip to Norway was nothing to brag about, with TWA successfully […]

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Soaked From A Leaking Restroom

May 13, 2009 Airplane Stories

In June 2000, I was flying back from Helsinki, Finland, to New York LaGuardia. It was quite a large plane that had two “sections” of coach class, separated by a pair of restrooms. I was seated in the first row behind those restrooms. Since it was a long 7-8 hour flight, I decided to make […]

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Plane’s Wing Kisses The Concrete

May 13, 2009 Airplane Stories

I was flying from Memphis, through Pittsburgh, on my way to ABE to attend my uncle’s funeral. I was not in a particularly cheerful mood, especially since he was my only uncle and I loved him a lot. USAir had upgraded me to 1A and the flight was uneventful, although delayed out of Memphis because […]

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Nitpicky Security

May 9, 2009 Flying Hell Commentary

Security has gotten nit-picky. Small tubes of tooth paste, deodorant, etc. are necessary every day items and should not be bothered. An obvious labeled jar of jam bought on vacation for a gift was taken. Come on! Security has gone way over board and are not consistent either. There is NO common sense to the […]

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Squeezed By Portly Passengers

May 9, 2009 Flying Hell Commentary

All I can say is if you do not fit in your seat and the arm rests can not go down then either refund portions of the fare price to victim or charge the larger passenger for 2 seats. I paid for my seat in whole, not to share and be pushed up against the […]

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