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Your Worst Flight Ever

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Started 1 year ago by Schoolboy
Latest reply from Snarf

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Schoolboy
Columbus
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my worst flight ever

a direct flight from seattle back to cleveland

just as we reach cleveland we hit a massive storm

lightening strikes the tower and takes out the radar

our pilot gets on the overhead and announces the situation

he literally asks us all to watch out of the windows and alert the staff if another airplane is in route to hitting us

detroit has us on radar as well, but its possible that they might miss something due to the storm and number of airplanes circling the airport

another fear is that if another plane is struck, it would lose it's instruments and cause a massive accident

the plane is rocking back and forth, lightening everywhere, you can see planes all around you with every flash of light

babies crying, women getting all emotional, men trying to stay strong but starting to break

when we made it back to detroit people were kissing the terminal floor and praising their often ignored gods

Posted 1 year ago #
rus

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Dunno about worst... but have a funniest.

I was in Denver heading towards San Francisco. Flight out of Columbus was delayed by weather, so missed the connecting flight. As my flight was hardly the only one delayed, there were oodles of us stuck. Ended up being about an eight hour delay as I recall.

During this time, other flights were of course arriving. One was greeted by a woman in a wedding dress. Veil, bouquet, the lot.

She's anxiously watching all deplaning passengers from a particular flight. Given the large number of bored people and her attire, a crowd gathered.

People came off the plane in droves, then a drivel. She's anxiously looking for him but it appears she's waiting in vain.

Someone shouted out "He saw her!" and we all laughed. Someone else yelled out "Run, man, RUN!". Must have been about fifty of us, howling like banshees.

Eventually he did come out; guess he was in the cheap seats. Turns out it was their first wedding anniversary.

Posted 1 year ago #
Talcott
Clintonville
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I went to Germany in 8th grade.
It was my first time flying.
The flight from Columbus to Detroit was uneventful, I think I even got a window seat.
For some reason, we wound up waiting for about 45 minutes on the tarmac at the Detroit airport.

Then the power shut off, the engines stopped, and everything was silent for a few seconds.

As soon as everything was back on, one of the flight attendants came on over the intercom.

"We apologize for the power outage, the pilot pressed the wrong button. We will be departing shortly."

Posted 1 year ago #
RandomVisitor

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Shortly after take off from Columbus, there was a loud bang from the back of the plane.

A few minutes later there was another loud bang.

Our plane went into a banking turn as though we were returning to the airport.

Then the plane began a quick descent.

Everyone on board knew there was something wrong but we hadn't heard anything from the pilot.

Smoke began to roll into the cabin from the rear.

People began to cry.

My wife and I said a prayer, professed our love and hoped for the best.

A woman two rows behind began screaming, "Oh sweet Jesus, Oh sweet Jesus, mother f#$%#^, Oh sweet Jesus, Oh sweet Jesus, mother f&*^$%"

The pilot finally came on the intercom to tell us that a warning light indicated that the cargo hold was open. He told us that the smoke was caused by the cabin depressurizing with the quick descent.

We landed after a lot of circling around with fire trucks and ambulances following us down the runway.

When we reclaimed our bags, the woman that had been praying and swearing asked for directions to the bus station.

Posted 1 year ago #
AmyArt21
Short North
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New York to Tel Aviv in 1999 on TowerAir (now defunct).
We were supposed to depart around 11 pm but wound up sitting on the tarmac for 2 hours while the plane "dumped fuel" because we were "too heavy" to take off. I was like, "Umm, don't we need that fuel to get across the Atlantic? Maybe?"
Once we landed, our trip leader was talking to a flight attendant who mentioned that our aircraft was from 1969 and probably shouldn't have been flying anyway.

Columbus to Newark, NJ in 1996
We hit awful turbulence approaching Newark and my mom barfed on my shoes. This sparked my fear of flying and fear of puke.
Thank god for coffee grounds is all I have to say.

Thankfully, I have never had to deal with cabin smoke, mechanical malfunctions of scary-quick descents. If I ever did, I would most likely need some sort of Xanax cocktail to get me back on an airplane.

Posted 1 year ago #
BCNation
Franklin Park
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I haven't really had a bad experience...yet. I must be blessed.

Posted 1 year ago #
sixby9is42

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Spirit Airlines, Detroit to JFK in spring of 2003. I thought the flight and service was fine, but the guy next to me kept complaining about the service and the ride. It may have been a little bumpy on the landing, but I didn't think it was worth getting worked up about. It's like he had to get worked up about something to get through the day.

Posted 1 year ago #
10sun
Columbus, OH
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Lots of trips in the 80s & 90s:
Flying with my sister. She gets sick easy and vomits.
Usually onto me.
Usually after drinking tomato juice.
Usually she starts crying after that.

2008: Flying to San Juan.
Three flights; each flight was uneventful.
However there were delays every time and that made me later and later for each subsequent flight which culminated in me dashing through MIA having to leave one area and then get scanned again entirely to make it to my connecting flight.

To top it all off, this was a rebooked flight from the day before after I got randomly screened on my way through security... ended up missing that flight because the screening made me so late that they bumped me from my flight for passengers on standby.

Posted 1 year ago #
labi
Weinland Park
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Not to derail, but when I first read this thread's title I thought it said "worst FIGHT ever." Now there's a thread!

Posted 1 year ago #
catnfiddle
Giant Corncob District
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February, 2000 flight from Philadelphia to Dallas / Ft. Worth to visit an old friend. My plane is the last one that is able to be successfully deiced sufficiently before PHL is shut down for the morning. This sets the flight back about a half hour, but I could handle this. As we start to head south, the plane suddenly does two very sharp inclines, visibly frightening the staff and spilling my cranberry juice everywhere. The pilot cracks a joke about having to make the sudden climb to avoid a tall building. It doesn't go over well, especially with the attendants.

Minutes later, the pilot is back on the speakers, saying, "If you look to the right side of the plane, you will see a line of tornadoes. We'll be going about an hour out of our way to avoid them." I'm on the left side of the plane so I look quizzically at the people on the right. They look terrified, even more so than at the earlier turbulence. I am truly wishing for liquor to magically appear in my cranberry juice.

Once I make it to my destination, I march directly into my friend's hot tub.

Posted 1 year ago #
yurtgirl
far, far south end
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early 80s i was a travel agent, and a heavy duty partier. I was to leave on Nov 1 for Hawaii for one of our travel agent trips. I also planned a Halloween party the night before. I shared a bottle of Jose Cuervo w/ my roommate and at 1030pm I thought "holy shit, I have to get on a plane in 2 hrs" (it was the redeye flight). So I quickly got out of my costume and put on my business suit (required for such trips) and we sped off to the airport. I managed to get checked in but in the process of waiting I passed out in the waiting area. I guess I was too difficult to wake up but I did and eventually got on the plane where I quickly buckled up and passed out again. Well, someone thought it wasn't very safe that I fly in this condition so I was escorted off the plane in front of the entire group. By then my roommate had already left so I found a cab and got a ride home. The next morning I had to call my boss and explain what happened. He already knew (word goes around fast in the travel agent community) and promised not to fire me if I got on the next flight and didn't drink for the rest of the trip. Hell, yeah! Not a drop, I said.

The worst part was flying with a massive tequila hangover and the pressurized cabins. I had to change planes twice so I had to deal w/ three ascents and decents where i thought my head was going to explode. By the time I got to Hawaii i was ready for rehab. I only lasted two days without drinking. The whole group went out for beers and I had to get a bit of the hair of the dog. And it was good.

Posted 1 year ago #
jarsloth
west side
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When I was 8, my father got assigned to Korea; Northwest was on strike at the time so we had to take an Air Force C141 over. The C141 is primarily used as a cargo plane, so there are no windows and when they pull the seating units in, the seats face toward the rear of the plane. Add C-rations for meals and, while it would have been bearable for an adult, to a small child it was miserable.

Posted 1 year ago #
JimL2

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had to ride inside a fat guy for three hours on a Delta jump to Orlando

Posted 1 year ago #
Snarf
How Do I Delete My Account
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Wasted on Markers Mark on a flight home from Chicago I nearly got into a fist fight with the guy in front of me.

Could have ended very very badly, somehow I held it together and neither fought nor was charged with any federal offenses. Whew.

Posted 1 year ago #
joev
Merion Village
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2002 - Returning to Columbus from Portland, Oregon. My wife and I flew out for her optometry school interview on vouchers from a previously terrible experience on Delta - we were denied boarding when we arrived in Columbus. After we booked, someone had decided that the vouchers couldn't be used for this particular flight. After about an hour, and some crying, a wonderful woman, I still remember her name - Joan Renner - cleared us to board - thank God!

Needless to say, we had a great time in Portland and Forest Grove. On our last night in town, we met up with my college friend who showed us around. The evening ended at an Irish pub, and some of our group playing drums and tambourines with a Celtic band. The flight home left at 8 a.m., we went to bed at 4 a.m. Spent the whole transcontinental flight with my head between my knees (in the middle seat) wishing I were dead.

Posted 1 year ago #
Neil Jaye

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I think I must have been one of the lucky ones. Most all of my flights have been OK, though I do not count bad weather as a factor (really) and do not fly a lot compared to some (maybe 4-5 times a year on average).

But, I would have to say my most troubling flight was on a recent flight from Columbus to LaGuardia (NYC). The flight was fine until just before we were about to land. The announcements were made, landing gear was down, flight attendants seated, and we are no more than 100 or so feet from touchdown (I saw the runway) and the plane does a major engine power-up and goes back up. They retracted the gear and proceeded to circle the area for another 1.5 hours with what sounded like at least two landing gear downs and ups in the process.

On top of being on nerves and the frustration of the late arrival, there was never an apology or explanation on the delay.

Posted 1 year ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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catnfiddle wrote >>
flight from Philadelphia .......

yeah, that's how most of my horror stories start also.

Posted 1 year ago #
chrisgillespie
Short North/Victorian Village
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August, 2004, leaving Dulles for Heathrow. The 747 (?, I'm bad with planes, big one, anyway) taxis out, turns around, taxis back. Some problem they will fix. They don't want to deplane that many people. We sat for over 3 hours before they finally took off. By then, the plane was very stuffy, and reeked of body odor and flatulence like you would not believe (maybe we were just seated unfortunately)...at least once we took off, the plane's atmosphere improved for the long flight!

Runners up, also some years back:

A series of business trips to Onalaska, WI. Nearest airport was La Crosse: so small, you didn't go through security until your plane was boarding (everyone sat in the one lounge waiting for their flight), and yet the most sensitive x-ray machine I've ever encountered in security. What a pain.

Coming home from a quick trip to St. Louis, couldn't land in CMH...detoured to Pittsburg. Deplaned and sat in airport for 9 hours. Kept thinking I might have driven home faster....

ETA -- Not x-ray, metal detector (that's what I get for posting while working). Even bra's sometimes set it off.

Posted 1 year ago #
Twixlen
Westgate, Columbus
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1) Flying with my folks from LAX to BGM (Binghamton, NY) - had to layover in either Pitt or Philly, I can't remember... The first flight was very delayed, and our 3 hour layover became nothing. The gate attendant gave us the wrong gate for our next flight (in the days when there weren't many boards, and you had to rely more on humans), and we ended up running to make connection. Got on plane with major asthma attack, which took about 12 hours to resolve, and ended up with pneumonia. (Also in the days before decent asthma meds.)

2) One of my best pals and I got a killer flight deal while at work (worked at the same place) - $52 round trip, Cinci to Sanford (Orlando), FL. We decide, very spur of the moment, to surprise her two youngest (3 & 6) with a trip to Disney. The surprise was awesome (they were physically at the airport before we told them), but we were so late for that flight that we had to run to catch it - running thru the airport with a three year old, a stroller and a 6 year old at 6:30 am is a treat. Especially that friggin' airport, which is massive. We get on, and they'd already allowed everyone to move around, and there were no two seats together. So, we had to make folks move again, so we could each sit with a kid. There was some serious ill will in the cabin toward us (which I don't blame).

Anywho, had a great week, and while we were on the way back to the airport, my pal checks our flights on her phone.... and the airline's website comes up to a notification that they declared bankruptcy that morning. D'oh! We carry on to the airport, and it turns out they were still honoring our flight, but that the plane that was coming in was somewhere far away, and they weren't sure what time it would arrive. We ended up spending about 12 hours in that airport (which is the size of a WalMart with less attractive dining options), finally getting on the plane sometime around 4am. Imagine that much time in an airport with two little kids - and no alcohol. When we finally got on the plane, we discovered that the fill-in was Hooters Air.

OH - AND, I almost forgot... my head hurt like I was going to die during the whole flight - from the moment the cabin pressurized. Turns out I had an ear infection.

***

If those were my only two experiences, I'd start to get a flying = illness complex.

Posted 1 year ago #
michaelcoyote
!seabus
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I've flown plenty and never had a bad experience per se (although I rarely get worked up over travel problems) and I've had good fortune with mechanical issues (as in they've happened more on the ground than in the air). I do have one fairly memorable event.

I recall flying into St. Louis on a Tuesday or Wednesday night flight on SouthWest about a year into my first traveling consultant job.

The flight had about 15-20 people on it, almost all of them appeared to be seasoned campaigners either heading home after work in Chicago or off to a morning meeting in St. Louis. There had been weather delays into STL, and our flight was already late. Southwest at the time however had what appeared to be an unspoken policy to fly straight through just about everything. So we finally got cleared to fly and we were on our way out of MID.

We got about 3/4th of the way through the flight and it was pretty reasonable, but in the last 30-40 minutes, we started to really get shaken up and blown around. Now I'd been on bad flights before that one, but this one was up there. Even so I was just tired and wanted to be in my hotel bed.

So if you've flown into STL and looked out of the windows on the west side of the plane, you'll see I-70. I like to look out of windows on planes, so as we were landing, I was watching as we were coming down not in a straight line, but at an angle and pretty much getting blown over I-70. Just as I wondered to myself how the pilot was going to correct for this or if I was going to have to deplane on a median, he aborted the landing and gave us full thrust for a full 20 minutes.

I've never ridden in a paint shaker, but I think that that climb out of STL is about as close as I'd like to get.

We landed about 45 minutes or so later in KCI and the captain came back and asked if anyone wanted off and not one person said wanted off. While we waited we hung out in the galley drinking sodas and eating peanuts with the FAs. We finished refueling and flew back with no problems and minimal turbulence. The Hertz guy said we were the first flight he had picked up in 3 hours. I still have no idea how we were cleared out of MID.

That was the probably the roughest flight I've been on, but I don't really recall being scared, or even sick. Mostly I was just bored and tired of traveling.

Now I've had plenty of problems on the ground and funny stories, but nothing that I'd consider horrible.

I did miss the Continental flight from HOU->CMH that slid off the runway in the blizzard of 2008. I was still pissed that I missed it since I got stuck in Memphis and I wanted to be at home playing in the snow, but NWA did pay for my hotel, so I guess it was ok.

Posted 1 year ago #