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?

Ugly Americans Taught A Lesson

January 25, 2009 Passenger Stories

Of all the pieces of travel advice that I’ve learnt over the years this is perhaps the most important one. Don’t lip off to security, most of them are just doing their job. This spring I found myself in the departure queue at the San Jose airport in Costa Rica waiting to board a flight […]

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Those Exciting Luggage Carousels

January 19, 2009 Non-Stories

The webpage, Airport Luggage Carousels – A Worldwide Report, is from the appropriately named website, Dull Men’s Club. For most people, the only thrill received from carousels is from the sense of relief that they get when their luggage is spotted. Not so for the site’s owner, Grover Click, who loves finding his bags because […]

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2008 Flying Hell Year In Review

January 19, 2009 Non-Stories

With the closing of yet another year, it’s that time to look back at the flying hell events that took place in 2008. Increased costs for services increased passenger frustrations. Packed overhead bins, due in part to charges for checked luggage, added to the despair. The TSA came under fire, including from a woman upset […]

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I’ll Take An Aisle Seat

January 5, 2009 Seat Stories

Last April (2008) I flew from Calgary, AB, CA to Orlando, FL. I had purposely booked an aisle seat on the right side of the plane (A “C” seat) because of a recent elbow injury to my left elbow that I wanted to protect from passing drink carts. I should also mention that although I […]

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Smothered By A Human Beanbag

December 27, 2008 Portly Stories

A few years ago I had a job interview and the first leg of my flight–Denver to Vegas–was full of rowdy passengers who hadn’t known each other previously but all got acquainted in one of the airport bars before boarding. As they piled onto the plane, laughing and joking, I reread my notes for the […]

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Homeland Security Suspect

December 8, 2008 Flying Hell Commentary

I am one of the old men (age 58 and in poor physical shape) that Homeland Security loves to identify as a suspect. I have made death threats and racist remarks but mostly to blow off steam and not to be taken seriously. Homeland Security loves to find guys like me because it gives them […]

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Attendants Cop An Attitude

December 5, 2008 Attendant & Pilot Stories

My wife, myself, teenage daughter and two infant children flew from Lima, Peru to Atlanta, Georgia via Ft. Lauderdale on Spirit Airlines. From the outset the flight attendants were, at best, surly. I was placing my two year old daughter’s coat into the overhead compartment prior to takeoff and one attendant asked me what I […]

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Unnecessary Behavior

December 5, 2008 Seat Stories

I don’t fly very but it happens. But on a regular basis something amazingly happens to me and/or others. This flight was from Switzerland to USA. I thought I was lucky since I got a row with lots of legroom, but as soon as I tried to sleep like everyone else I noticed the passenger […]

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Maybe We Need A Trains From Hell Site?

November 25, 2008 Passenger Stories

This has to do with a train rather than an aircraft, but the problem encountered is a universal one. My mother and I were traveling on the high-speed Inter City train from Glasgow, Scotland, to London. The train makes only one stop en route. We had the misfortune to share a car with a soccer […]

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Dip Spittin’ Dork

November 25, 2008 Passenger Stories

On my flight from Atlanta to Korea I rediscovered why I minimize my international flights. On my right was a sweet old Korean woman who actually got in an argument on my behalf with the girl in front of me who, without asking, suddenly lowered her seat all the way and literally hit me in […]

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Grey Haired “Gentleman”

November 25, 2008 Passenger Stories

Flying from Geneva to London. I got settled in my seat and in front of me a grey haired gentleman took his seat and also seemed to settle down. I got out my book and started to read. Then it started. I was roused from my reading by an argument between the fellow and the […]

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Incessant Whiner

November 24, 2008 Baby & Kid Stories

I recently flew from San Diego to Milwaukee, with a connecting flight in Denver. On the first leg of my flight (San Diego to Denver), there was a family seated about 4 rows behind me. They had a 2- or 3-year-old boy who proceeded to whine (and I mean “whine”) very loudly for the entire […]

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