The art of travel is a hard one to master. While you can take all the necessary precautions to ensure a smooth experience from Point A to Point B, inevitably, things can and will go wrong. Taking into consideration what could happen while traveling far distances, plus having a Plan B or Plan C in your back pocket (just in case) is all fine and dandy, but sometimes, it’s just totally out of your hands. Even showing up three hours early so you don’t miss your flight; checking in online the night before; packing extra sandwiches and another pair of pants – these are all well-meaning, forward-thinking, smart and savvy traveler hacks, but you can’t be prepared for everything.
Mother nature for one, may throw a curveball with a totally unexpected weather system that knocks scheduling out of whack (like the guy stuck on a flight that had to fly in the heart of a hurricane with non-stop lightning on either side of the plane in #11). Or, a passenger who does what he wants without much concern for anyone around him (like the man who spent $300 on alcohol on board before, well, um… you’ll see if you read #9). And what about when you decide to travel on a day that unknowingly becomes the worst day to travel in the history of mankind (like the guy who is hopelessly stuck at a huge international airport in the middle of chaos on said day in #1?)
You just never know what can happen when you’re in transit in the air, especially when the only way out is through. Read on for some crazy and just downright harrowing events that happened to these courageous travelers. You might have been through a few of these yourself, and others, you’ll be darn happy you didn’t!
40. It Doesn’t Get Much Worse Than Flying With A Hangover
“Was on a recruiting trip in late September. The night before, we went to a huge party and got extremely wasted. Was drinking from 10 pm to around 3am-and my flight was at 6 am.
I made it to the airport fine, still probably wasted, but I made it. Made the first 2-hour leg of the flight fine. During the one hour layover is when the hangover hit me. My fellow teammates were not doing so well either. We board the next flight and my teammate is lucky enough to get to the bathroom in the cabin to puke, but not me. We take off and it feels like the entire plane is spinning in circles. I had the vents on to the fullest which was probably what kept me from puking during the flight, but when we landed, they must have turned the A/C off because the vents were no longer blowing cool air.
I knew at that point I wasn’t going to make it, pulled out the bag and blew chunks as we were taxiing. Easily the worst experience of my life so far.” programmed_death
39. A Woman Died Mid-Flight
“An elderly woman died three seats over from me after 1 hour into a 7-hour flight.” Cracker68
38. Airline Just About Forgets To Load The Kitties
“When I was a little kid, we were moving across the country, and of course we took our cats with us. On the stopover flight in Denver, we board the plane, and I get a window seat right on the leading edge of the wing. The plane starts getting towed backward away from the terminal, as they do, when I see a little-motorized cart chasing us. On that cart, I can see our cat’s carriers and it takes almost a minute for the plane to stop. I was so terrified that they were going to be left behind.” literallymagic
37. He Got Naked To Go Through The X-Ray Machine
“Some guy who seemed a little drugged up caused a scene when he was asked to go through the X-ray machine. Long story short he said something along the lines of ‘Since you TSA jerks just wanna see me naked, let me help you..’ and stripped down to his birthday suit. It caused a long delay.” TNinLosAngeles
36. The Airline Lost Two Little Girls
“[T]he airline lost our two daughters for hours, even though we had paid extra for stewardess escorts. We were freaking out and they didn’t even bother to apologize. Someone had taken them to a lounge somewhere in the Atlanta airport. We were never told which one and whoever did it obviously didn’t tell the other airline agents (I believe they were flying on Delta), so they kept having us wait…somewhere around 2 1/2 hrs. The waiting part wasn’t the big deal, except to our daughters who were bored. For us, it was the complete lack of knowledge as to where they were or even if they had gotten onto the plane! They also behaved as though we were the nuisance.” AtlantaBunch
35. Stranger Just Wanted To Get Cozy
“I had a 24-hour flight. The cabin was barely filled so flight crew told us we can move to anywhere we want. Most people had entire rows to themselves. I went to the back and found a row. 15 minutes later a dude comes and sits down right next to me. W*f.” DarkOmen597
33. They Said My Helmet Looked Like A Bomb
“A friend and I were traveling from California to Utah with one-way tickets. We decided on a whim to fly there for a show and weren’t sure when we wanted to head home.
We had a single large duffel bag between us as well as a large prop relating to the show we were seeing. It was a motorcycle helmet with the front windshield part removed and a microphone mounted on the side, with the mic part coming around in front of the mouth part. There were red and blue wires connecting the mic to the inside of the helmet. Neither one of us thought it was that weird so my friend took it as her carry-on item. So. We have two girls with one-way tickets, a large black duffel bag, and a helmet with a mysterious object mounted to the side.
This spelled out terrorism apparently because we were detained and questioned before we even made it to the gate. They had to put us on the next flight four hours later. All because neither one of us thought about the fact that maybe our microphone-helmet hybrid looked like a bomb.”undeadgorgeous
32. Worst Customer Service On An Extra-Long Flight
“I flew to Scotland from Australia with Etihad. They left our luggage behind on the stopover because they were running late. We had no communication from the airline when we arrived, we were not reimbursed at all, they then delivered our luggage to another passenger, and then we finally got it delivered six days into a 15-day trip. We flew home and discovered they did the exact same thing. It took three days to get it back the second time.
That debacle, plus delays, waiting on the tarmac for hours at a time, and the complete lack of customer service has led me to vow to never fly with them again.” scarletmanuka
31. We Arrived In His Home City But They Wouldn’t Let Him Deplane
“When I was coming back from Cozumel there was a storm in Minnesota so we couldn’t land there. We circled for a while before having to land in Bemidji.
We were on the ground in Bemidji for about four hours. That certainly made the flight stink more than it normally would. With extra time circling, I think we were six and a half hours late in total.
The guy in the seat behind mine lived in Bemidji. He could see his house and his friend’s house just before we touched down there. Now you’d think this would be a good turn of events for him – except they had no customs in Bemidji. He couldn’t deplane. He called his friend from the plane to tell him just how late he’d be. It’s a four-hour drive down to the cities. We saw his friend drive down to pick him up as we sat there on the runway.” techniforus
30. Pilot Breaks The Rules – Lands With A Guy On The Toilet
“Pilot here. We normally need a ‘cabin secure’ message from the cabin crew before we land. This is to ensure everybody is seated and there’s no loose carts or anything when we touch down. We’re getting super close to where we need to be, and the cabin is not secure yet. The lead flight attendant calls us and lets us know a passenger is in the lavatory and refuses to come out.
At this point we’re minutes away from landing, so, the cabin crew unlocks the lavatory door from the outside (which is very easy to do, if you know how). They find this dude still sitting on the toilet, with diarrhea everywhere. It’s on his pants, his shoes, the floor. We can’t land with a passenger in the toilet, but, we can’t send the poor guy back to his seat either. Rules be d****d, we ask the guy if he’s OK with us landing while he’s in the toilet. He is.
Minutes later, we’re on the ground. Smooth landing. We let everyone off before him, then got him some towels from the cleaners for the poor guy to clean himself up a bit.” BabyNuke
29. Sweating Buckets On A Plane To Nowhere
“I was flying back from Vegas with a friend from a Bachelorette party. We board and its the middle of June so it’s 115 degrees outside, but on the tarmac easily 120 degrees or more. They scoot back from the gate and just as we get to the runway, the engine dies. So we pull back up to the gate and wait with absolutely no AIR CONDITIONING. We do not have water, ice, or anything to help with the heat. We wait in the plane for over an hour. We are sweating and some people are freaking out demanding to be let off which they refused to do.
A lady passes out, some people start getting nosebleeds. It was on the verge of becoming a riot. Some college students started playing ‘I Believe I Can Fly,’ by R. Kelly. We all started to sing along, our spirits lifted and after 2 hours of being stuck in there, they let us off the plane. Now they offer water and snacks. So we wait for another hour or two in the airport waiting for another plane to fly us home.
We board, and they start moving us back from the gate, and BAM, IT DIES!!!!!!! This time we wait another 1.5 hours until they let us off the plane. We wait, we make phone calls, we yell. A 3rd plane comes rolling up and it’s air-conditioned and glorious. We pull back from the gate with less than half the previous occupants. We get in the air and land. The airline offered $100 vouchers, that expired in a year. NEVER AGAIN!!!” Savage_1806
28. A Woman Smuggled A Dog Into The Plane
“On a flight from London to Tokyo, someone produced a little dog from a carrier bag. The dog started whining to go outside. It then pooped on the cabin floor. The smell was overwhelmingly awful. Cabin crew rushed around with air freshener. Two hours later the dog started whining again followed by another pile of poop on the floor. I had no idea you could take a dog on a plane like this, but I’m surprised the owner made it off alive.” MuffSaid
27. Sentenced To A Lifetime Spent In Suburban H**l
“I had spent a week on the outskirts of Toronto at this rundown hotel/convention center doing a trade show for my company. I hated it, and I was miserable all week. My company did not allow me to rent a car because the hotel was located at the convention center, and there was a restaurant across the street. So, I was stuck, for 6 days, at this hotel with one place to eat.
It is finally the day to leave, and I am up at the crack of dawn to catch the first shuttle to the airport. I’d rather sit in the terminal for 4 hours than stay in that hotel a minute longer.
After being at the airport for a while, they finally load us on the plane, and I am relieved. I’ve had a few drinks so I can sleep on the flight. We take off, and I put on my headphones and try to sleep. The plane starts to climb, then descends. A few minutes later the plane starts to climb again, then descends. This goes on for 45 minutes before the captain comes on the speaker and tells us that the cabin will not pressurize, and they have to turn around, 45 minutes into the flight, and return to Toronto. We get back to the airport, I am steaming.
We sit for another 2 hours while they say they are readying another plane for us. After 3 hours they finally tell us that there will not be another flight available until the following day, and they will assist us with hotels for the night. I am miserable at this point. Well, guess where they booked us to stay that night? Yep, that same hotel/conference center I had just escaped from.” Alumni_Blues
26. Stranger Eats His Meal, So He’s Upgraded To First Class And Sat Beside “Crazy”
“I was on a China Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Los Angeles with a layover in Taiwan. I went to sleep and was greeted with a dropped-down tray with half my food missing. Okay, so the flight attendant laid out my food while I was sleeping.
As it turns out, the man next to me had helped himself to generous servings of my meal of chicken curry and rice. He even took the dinner roll with him. Keep in mind, the food was likely only served a few minutes earlier because the cart was only a few rows down from my seat!
The flight attendant gave me a complimentary upgrade to Business class, profusely apologizing and gave me more food that wasn’t served in tin foil containers. I got seated next to a sleeping old man. Alrighty then, back to sleep I went. OOOHHHFFFF! I woke up with a sharp pain in my stomach.
The old man next to me had apparently woken up and took the liberty to jab me in the stomach with his walking stick. He started to angrily scold me as if I did something wrong and lecture me in a rapid torrent of Mandarin. I could understand some of what he was saying so I mustered up what little mastery I had of the language to say ‘I’m not your son! I’m not your son!’ He thought I was his son (vision-impaired with a side of nut case, anyone?) and was scolding me on why I didn’t wake him up or something like that.” FreakyFruit
25. Land Only To Get Arrested
“I was busted for a very minor drug charge – the cops weren’t even looking for me but this other girl that was in my apartment. Six months go by, no word from the cops, no official charges or phone calls. I thought they just forgot or something.
When I returned home after vacation, the plane lands and the pilot says, ‘There is a medical emergency on the plane, everyone please remain calm while medics enter the plane.’ Two cops come walking on the plane towards me and put me in handcuffs. Charges ended up being dropped, and even the cops who got me thought it was weird they were demanded to come to grab me off a plane for a minor possession charge.” Anonymous
24. She’s Not Paralyzed And He Knows What CDC Stands For
“I was on a flight from New York City to Los Angeles with my father. Everyone starts to take their seats and interestingly I am left with an empty one next to me. Not for long. I see a woman, who I assumed was paralyzed, being wheeled in my direction. I politely stood up because I knew she was going to take the seat next to mine.
After the airline staff had transferred her from the wheelchair to the seat next to me, they went back to tending other passengers.
About 10 minutes later was liftoff and we were in for an eight-hour flight. Fast forward a few hours when the lady next to me starts having a coughing fit. Now, this isn’t your normal ‘cough a few times a minute’ thing, this is the hard cough of someone who is dying. As I sit there uncomfortable, she begins to moan about how much pain she is in. It’s then when I notice all of the color has drained from her face and her eyes are barely open.
THEN SHE GETS UP AND WALKS TO THE BATHROOM.
So is she paralyzed? I thought to myself. I got up and let her in after she returned. That’s when the loud pain-filled groans began. She started screaming ‘I need to lay down! I need to lay down right now!’ So the flight attendants took this woman to the back of the plane (only a few rows behind our seats) and bend her over the counter. This was the best they could provide her, yet I could still hear her groans from my seat.
When we finally reached LAX, the plane was taken to the side and stopped for a good 20 minutes. That’s when the men in gas masks and suits that had the logo for the Department of Health walked toward her. I was very off-put at this point but it gets worse. Two men with briefcases walk behind them (also in masks) and I began vigorously shaking my dad’s arm. ‘Did you see what it said on the briefcase?! Did you see?!’ He said no. It said ‘CDC Emergency Response Team.’ Five minutes later they carried her out and the captain said that we were free to go.
My dad asked the captain when we got to the front of the plane what happened. The captain said that she had just flown in from Africa and the CDC had to make sure she didn’t have a fever. That was it. I knew then I was going to die. Miraculously nothing happened, but it was so scary. I never knew what became of that woman.” buymeapickle
23. A 50-Minute Journey Turned Into A 5-Hour One
“I was flying from Glasgow to London on EasyJet. A 50-minute flight. So we leave the gate half an hour late, ok, no biggie.
The plane taxis to the waiting point just off the runway, by which point we still haven’t had the safety instructions and the cabin crew look concerned. We sit there for 10 minutes while they are doing something up front when finally an announcement comes on: ‘There has been a problem with the cabin control system, please bear with us while we contact head office for help.’
Another 10 minutes pass, and there’s another announcement. ‘We have resolved the issue, however, we no longer have enough fuel and will have to taxi back to the gate.’
It takes about 15 minutes to finally get back to the gate, before another announcement. ‘We have been informed that there will be a half hour delay getting fuel due to higher than expected demand.’
An hour and a half later the plane finally takes off – we fly to Gatwick without incident, but upon landing the plane simply pulls over and parks on the apron, with another announcement: ‘Our assigned gate has been taken, we have to wait for another to open up.’
An hour later, we finally make it to the gate, only to be put on buses, which then sit by the plane for about 15 minutes longer than they needed to. ” barc0de
22. What It Feels Like When A Bird Hits The Engine
“I was flying an early morning flight from Schiphol airport in Holland to Greece. We take off and about 15-20 seconds in we get a bird strike on the left engine. I’m sat on the left side around the wing area and suddenly we’ve got what feels like turbulence and orange flashes flying from the engine. Instead of carnage on-board, everyone is deathly silent as I was.
After what feels like ages, this all stops and we are flying normally. As far as I remember it took the pilot and crew a lifetime to tell anyone what was going on, but we head out over the sea, dump fuel from the engine and head back to Schiphol.” mikeybhoy1986
21. She Dropped A Bottle Of Alcohol On His Head
“Flying from Curaçao to Amsterdam, pretty much a quiet flight until like 30 mins before we land in Amsterdam, the girl right next to me decides she needs her coat from the overhead compartment, opens the overhead compartment and bottle of alcohol drops on top of my head. At first, I thought ok no worries until I touch the where the bottle hit and see b***d.” pedronoliveira
20. He Bought Two Tickets For A Reason
“I’m a bigger guy, so airline travel is hard. I usually buy two tickets so I don’t put anybody out. On the last plane trip I’ve ever been on, this woman asked me to move seats so she could sit with her sister. I politely told her I didn’t want to. I bought two seats together so they wouldn’t put anybody else there. I even used that machine when I came into the airport and worked with the teller to ensure I had two seats together. I’m much bigger than average and I don’t expect businesses to accommodate my choice of lifestyle.
She threw a fit and sat down in her aisle seat and proceeded to have a loud conversation with her sister on the other end of the plane about how rude people were and how ridiculous it was that I was being stingy with my seats. I even showed her my tickets to prove these were my seats. Luckily, the most beautiful hostess I’ve ever seen named Cheyenne came up and asked her to please refrain from disturbing passengers. [She] moved her to another seat in the back and moved her sister back there too so they could be hateful together.
Cheyenne then sat next to me when she was able to and we talked the whole trip to New Jersey. She even brought me a Coke (flat but the thought was nice). This was a trip from Oklahoma to New Jersey so I’m not sure if most people from New Jersey are nuts, but I’ll never go back there again.” Sumuran
19. He Nearly Asked The Flight Attendant For A Crowbar
“I boarded the aircraft, and there was a small American child bouncing up and down excitedly in the middle seat, and his morbidly obese mother in my window seat, overflowing the armrests. I was jetlagged and also slightly ill, having caught a dose of mild food poisoning in Mendoza before I left, so I was not very receptive.
Anyway, I said to her, politely;
‘Excuse me, you’re in my seat.’
‘Oh, it’s my little boy, he so loves to look at the airplanes.’
‘Yes, but you are in my seat, not him.’
‘That’s so, I can hold him up. Will you trade seats?’
‘I have been traveling for nearly 24 hours. I am not feeling well. I like to look out of the window at aircrafts as well. If you don’t get out of my seat now, I’ll ask one of the cabin crew to crowbar you out.’
‘Well, there’s no need to be rude!’
‘You started it.’
Thank God it was only a 45-minute flight. She humphed and squirmed and harrumphed the whole way to London.” MisterShine
18. Nice Gal Finishes Last
“I was flying from Minneapolis to Denver. There was a winter storm so I would be late. Fine. I called the shuttle ahead of time and they could pick me up and bring me to my hotel in Breck even though it was going to be really late at night. Great! Well, since I really wasn’t in a hurry, I let everyone go in line before me at the airline desk so they could correct their connecting flights.
I mean, I was at my destination. It stinks pretty bad when you miss your connection, so I was being totally empathetic to their urgency. It was more important than mine because I already had my travel connection in place. Right? Well, by the time I got to the front of the line, the airline baggage handlers shift ended.
My skis were locked in holding and there was NO ONE, NO WAY, NO HOW, I could get my skis. By the time I complained and did everything I could to get my skis, I still couldn’t get my skis and I missed the shuttle anyway plus HWY 70 was closed.
So, I had to spend the night at the airport. What I learned: It doesn’t pay to be nice. Airports specifically put armrests on chairs to prevent people from sleeping or laying across the chairs, and Denver airport does a heck of a lot of floor cleaning overnight.” Stabfacenotback
17. He Told The Air Attendant To SHUT UP!
“After a week-long vacation in the Caribbean, I was flying back to the states on an early morning flight and I wasn’t feeling well. I couldn’t even drink water without throwing it up. ALL I wanted to do on my flight home was sleep. The flight attendants got on the intercom literally every 20 minutes or so and woke me up trying to sign us up for credit cards and sell duty-free adult beverages and perfumes during the flight.
I called a flight attendant over and said ‘Look, I’m really sick here and just trying to sleep. You’ve already announced the credit card and the duty-free stuff several times. Can you please not do that again?’ Well, they kept doing it, and after another two or three times, I yelled: ‘JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!’ Apparently, I wasn’t the only one not feeling well because several more people on the plane chimed in saying ‘YEAH, SHUT UP’ and ‘WE’RE TRYING TO SLEEP’ and ‘NOBODY WANTS THE CREDIT CARD!'” dudecephus
16. 16-Hours Of Shaking, Sweating And Hallucinating
“I was coming home from Thailand to Seattle… It’s a 16-hour flight, and I had the worst case of food poisoning in history. I spent the majority of that flight stuck in the airline bathroom. When I wasn’t in the bathroom I was in my seat curled up in a ball shaking and sweating. I was so sick I was at the point of hallucinating.”Raaaaaaaaaandy
15. Guy Has A Seizure Just Before Landing
“I was coming into land at Dulles (Washington DC), and the guy in the opposite aisle starts groaning really loudly. Immediately, I turn to look, and he’s not just groaning – he’s wailing, his body is convulsing, and he’s smashing his head into the chair directly in front of him. The passenger next to him is freaked out and terrified.
Now, I’m a medical journalist, pharmacy grad, and I’ve done a load of first aid courses, so I know what’s going on here. Someone starts yelling for someone to stick something in his mouth – and that’s the worst thing you can do if someone is having a seizure. Instead, as perverse as it sounds, the best thing to do is let the seizure go. So, I yell ‘NO!’ at that, to make it clear, then calmly get someone to signal for the flight attendant, and ask if there’s something soft to use to cushion him.
Now, this is a bit of a strange situation because the guy having the seizure is already restrained by the seatbelt – it’s scary. So the best thing to do was use this oversized teddy bear someone had (it was Valentine’s Day) to cushion the guy’s head and get that in place. The stewardess is trying to help, dropping off a medkit, and puts a call out for a nurse or doctor. So there’s me, the stewardess, and a nurse, unbuckled, coming in on a priority emergency landing at Dulles, the plane is at a crazy landing angle, and I’m straddling the aisle trying to stop this guy from drilling his head through the wall with a giant teddy bear.
As soon as the nurse arrived I stopped because her expertise trumped my very basic skills. The guy was OK – bewildered and covered in b***d, but the EMTs got him off. Anyway, all of that meant I was late for my flight to the UK. So I ended up having to sprint the entire length of Dulles’ terminal (and it’s a LOOOOONG terminal) to make the flight. I did it with five minutes to go, covered in sweat and exhausted.
I couldn’t sleep on the flight home after that. It was about midnight EST when it was all done, and I was sweaty from the run, and a little shocked by what the heck I’d just been involved in.” mrcchapman
14. Passenger’s Extra Legroom Costs Her A Brand New Computer
“I was 15 or 16 years old and I was flying across the country for the first time, by myself. My mom had wanted to treat me so she splurged and bought me a ticket with extra legroom. Because of that, I got one of the front seats, with no storage room so the ‘nice’ flight attendant put my backpack on the overhead compartment and said she would get it for me when we reached altitude.
We hit the needed height and I asked for my backpack. I had brought my computer, some books, and some snacks with me. Well, she opens the overhead compartment then another passenger tries to ask her a question while she is fumbling around to find my bag. She ends up dropping my bag, it bounced off the shoulder of another passenger and then slammed onto the floor. Then she picked it up and tossed it in my general direction.
I didn’t know it until I got home some six hours later but that fall had smashed the internal components of my computer. The disk drive didn’t work anymore and neither did the fan. I ended up having to buy a new computer.” PandaObsession
13. He Gave An Elderly Woman A Piece Of His Mind
“I had a lady sitting behind and across the aisle from me and my girlfriend on a ten-hour flight. We’d spent the whole weekend together already and were flying to the States for leave. Both of us were enjoying our time being alone, but together. I’m reading a book on my phone, she’s listening to music. This lady leans forward and taps my shoulder and asks me to open her soda for her.
I oblige. A minute later. Tap tap. I politely turn around, she starts with, ‘I think something is lost.” Then just goes into this long-winded spiel about how in her day she’d have been so excited to be with her boyfriend. Cuddling, kissing, talking. I point out that we’ve been together every second of the last 48 hours, we’re just fine. She disagrees wholeheartedly.
I disengage, turn back, get a page or two into my book. Tap tap. I turn around again, she starts bending my ear again about, ‘Today’s youth…’ and how we’re just too busy to talk to each other.
Segues into the life stories of her children. Every time I turn away, I get that tap tap again. This goes on for almost an hour. I can’t get a word in at all. We move from the topic of her family to the problems with our country. Finally, it’s escalating. You know when someone starts trying to ease you into something, build you up with a few statements that everyone would agree with, then tie it into some crazy thing to try to get you to agree? Yeah, that’s where we were going. And it finally ended on, ‘It’s the fault of the Mexicans.”
I finally told her I’d had enough, I wasn’t going to support that kind of talk, and I’d appreciate if she kept that to herself. I was finally able to enjoy my flight in peace.” Velkyn01
12. One Minute She’s Up, Next She’s Sprawled Across The Aisle
“I fainted mid-flight once. Stood up to go to the bathroom, next thing I know I’m waking up in the back of the plane with about four flight attendants standing over me. Still don’t know what happened.” ScubaStef
11. The Most Terror-Filled Turbulent Flight EVER
Rough Maps“I flew from Ohio to Charlotte, North Carolina. During the flight, a hurricane unexpectedly turned hard inland and made landfall. All air traffic was not permitted to land, was backed up to the maximum, and flights were forced to circle the airport until they could get them on the ground. Unfortunately, we arrived late and the air traffic at 30,000 feet was completely clogged.
Instead, we were forced to circle the airport, below those flights, which was in the heart of the hurricane. We flew in circles for an hour and ten minutes, with lightning on both sides of the plane nonstop, with heavy turbulence.
Everything was thrown all over the plane, people crying, and basic terror. When we finally landed, no one would exit the plane. The applause lasted until the captain came out and spontaneously began weeping. He told us that he is so, so sorry that we all had to experience that but that he was happy that he had the privilege of getting us safely back on solid ground and then hugged an older black lady that kissed him until we forgot about the hurricane and started to feel uncomfortable for him.
I have white-knuckled every flight since then because, trauma.” Thrownaway_4_2_day
10. One Extra Checked Bag Causes 2-Hour Delay
“I was sitting in a hot and fully boarded plane somewhere in sunny Spain and the stewardesses are pacing up and down the aisle counting and talking to each other. After a few minutes they announce they are one passenger short and as a result, there is one extra checked bag. The solution is to take all the checked baggage out of the plane, lay it on the runway and have everyone find their bag. The engines are off, so there is no air conditioning in a jam-packed plane in sunny Spain.
The guys unloading the plane are so slow it is hard to fathom and people are getting edgy. Two hours later, the plane is still not empty but almost. One of the stewardesses walks through the cabin double checking some numbers. With a slightly worried face, she talks to a colleague. They counted wrong. They load the plane again. We spend two more hours in the hot no-air-conditioned and jam-packed plane. The company went out of business shortly after.” SkippingMango7
9. He Gets Puked On And She Has To Suffer Through His Nasty Habit
“On a flight from D.C. to San Diego. Bored out of my mind, I try to sleep but cannot. The man next to me is a very Russian guy who has gift cards from the airline. Something like $300 and he spent it all on alcohol. His entire tray was filled with those little bottles. He drinks it all and gets very loud in a thick Russian accent about how bad America is. Now I’m mad because I’m bored and he is being belligerent. I finally fall asleep for maybe 20 minutes before I get woken up by him puking all over the tray in front of him, his lap, and my lap.
I’m the type of person if I hear/see puke I gag and want to puke. So here I am with some stranger’s puke on me with 4 hours left in the flight. The flight attendant helped him get cleaned up and sees the puke on me and me almost straight up gagging. She feels so sorry and she moves me somewhere else on the plane. As I sit down there is an older lady who is mad that I had been puked on because you know it’s my fault and I’m a disgusting human being.
I smelled like puke even after trying to get cleaned up. This lady (maybe 50) was of the upper-class type it seemed. I’m just a small town guy. I take out my can of chewing tobacco and she gets mad and tells me I’m disgusting and that tobacco isn’t allowed on planes. She tells the flight attendant that I need to be kicked off the plane for contraband or something, maybe thinking they would just throw me out the door while flying, I don’t know. The flight attendant politely tells her that I am doing nothing wrong.
Especially because when I fly, I try to hide my spit cup/bottle so people don’t have to see it. She just won’t drop it though and finally, I had enough. The rest of the flight I get my spit cup in my hand closest to her and when I would spit I made sure to look directly at her and be as loud as possible without disrupting others around us. Just her. She was very upset with me but you know what? Screw her. My flight was way worse.” bigfluffy3564
8. They’re Going Down And He Doesn’t Want To Be Woken Up
“In the late 90s, I was an IT consultant and traveled every week, 5-days a week. I was living in NYC and got assigned to a contract in Honolulu, Hawaii. Hawaii is a great place to be on vacation, but not a great place to work a contract. It’s a 13-hour flight from NYC, and I was only allowed to go home every other weekend. So one weekend, a few months into this contract, I was flying home and the travel agent had screwed me.
Honolulu-Seattle-Memphis-NYC-LaGuardia… a Northwest Airline screw-fare. So, I get on the plane in Hawaii in the evening, and as an air-warrior, I was upgraded to first class the whole way. Touch down in Sea-TAC around 4-5 AM, and I stumble off one plane, slept most of the way from HI, and onto the next.
Another plane, first class, and I’m in the first row, on the window. I’m passed out before we taxi because I have a gift. Sometime later, over the Rockies, my neighbor, a very nice, older woman shakes my arm to wake me. ‘We’ve lost an engine, we’re going down!!!’ she exclaims. ‘And you woke me up why???’ was literally my answer.
Turns out we lost one of the engines of our Airbus, landed perfectly fine, and then got to spend 14-hours in Montana at a tiny airport with one little bar that I got to know intimately. Missoula, Montana, I will always love you.” belinck
7. He’s The Guy Everyone Hates
“I don’t remember the date, but it was maybe June 2006, the day a chain of thunderstorms hit all of the Ohio Valley, East Coast and parts of the Mid West. It was also the ‘first day’ of the new passenger scheduling program implemented by about 3/4 of the airlines, and IT DID NOT WORK! I was first in line at the ticket counter to make sure I got my ticket changed to a later flight, as my scheduled flight was grounded due to bad weather (it could not leave ATL to fly to Dulles).
I picked a flight sufficiently later for the storm to have passed, and they gave me some lip service, using the STORM, as an excuse, that they couldn’t rebook my ticket, which I knew wasn’t true. I also figured out, it was a problem with their software (been in the computer industry and read about the switch date), so I asked for a supervisor, to get a bigger lie told to me, the same story. SO, I became that guy everybody hates and told them I refused to move aside for the next customer, cause if the software came back online, and the storm passed, I wanted the first available seat, which, I knew I would lose the second I moved from that spot.
This brought groans from the people in the line behind me, so I asked the supervisor to guarantee me a seat, even a jets ‘pilot jump sheet,’ or I would tell everyone in line what the real problems were. He fretted around for a few minutes, and finally gave me a boarding pass of some sort, and I went down to the leaving gate for about 2 hours. Only people with pre-printed boarding passes and e-tickets were able to make that flight, which was the first one out of Dulles. With fewer people on board and that jump seat pass, I moved to first class…I have always thought the supervisor might have given me a bogus boarding pass, but it was legit.” StatOne
6. A 3-Year-old, A Car Seat, A Diaper Bag And The Airline Doesn’t Give A Flying Anything
“Taking a direct flight out of Orlando to SFO with a 3-year-old. **ll flight, I have paid for a seat for my 3-year-old, carry on his car seat and strap him in no problem. Everything goes down from here. Apparently, the plane had come in the night before and had some mechanical problem that no one fixed.
They off boarded us and re-board us 3 times. The last time we are told the flight won’t be taking off and we will all receive hotel vouchers for the night and will be put back on this plane the next morning. Well, would anyone help me struggle back off the plane with the 3-year-old, a car seat and diaper bag, no way! So I am last in line at the counter where the vouchers are being handed out and it is finally my turn, I laid my head on the counter and cried. Luckily for me, I could fly into any of the 3 bay area airports; so of all 300 plus people on that flight, I got a flight home on Delta.
Well, the Delta terminal is what seems like miles from the United terminal and I ask for assistance. Why would United give me any help, their answer was I had 3 hours to make it over to Delta [and] that would be plenty of time. ** United. It took 23 hours to get to my destination. Lucky for me my son was a real trooper and was well-behaved, no tears, no annoying anyone else.” Mamafred
5. Worst Take-Off To Christmas
“My family and I are English, living in the States. We were going to fly back one Christmas to visit England. Our flights were, Cincinnati to Atlanta (9-hour layover), Atlanta to Amsterdam (2-hour layover), and Amsterdam to Manchester.
Well, the first leg of the journey was fine. The layover in Atlanta, however, is when things went wrong. We were waiting at our gate, which was at the very end of the mile-long terminal. About seven hours into our layover, an announcement comes over the intercom telling us that our flight has been moved to the other end of the terminal.
No big deal. We get up and move all of our stuff to the other gate which took us about 15 minutes of walking to get to the other end. We settle in for our next two hours. Well, another announcement comes over the intercom, telling us that our plane is delayed by another hour.
This stinks. Oh well. Anyway, the plane arrives, we all board, strap in and are ready to go. We wait to depart. And wait, and wait… Until a flight attendant makes an announcement that there is an ‘electrical leak’ in our plane, so we all need to get off. So we deplane, and get some meal vouchers for the inconvenience, and are then told that our substitute plane will be arriving in an hour. At our original gate. So it’s another trek across the terminal for us. We stop at the food court for the third time during our stay, get some terrible food and sit down to eat.
Five minutes later, another announcement comes over and tells us that our plane is now boarding! So we book it to the other end of the terminal and make it onto our plane just in time.
Thirteen hours later we arrive in Manchester and collect our luggage. It’s soaking wet. There had been a storm in Atlanta during our layover, and the crew had just left everyone’s bags on the tarmac. This stunk, not only because our clothes got wet, but so did all of our presents for our family.” Rash_Of_Bacon
4. The Plane Blew One Of It’s Engines
“One of my parents is from South America. The family their had government and military ties. When I was about 10 years old, we were trying to fly to the remote state where our family is from. Commercial flights were all booked but my aunt was able to pull some strings and we got on a military flight.
We got to the airport and boarded a small two-engine plane. Our family of five was there with 4 or 5 other military personnel and a small crew. The 90-minute flight was uneventful. That is, until about 15 minutes from our destination, the engine on the right wing burst into flames. The cabin filled with smoke and the mood deteriorated from cautious optimism through quiet unease to verbalized panic.
The plane dipped a bit but the pilot kept things in order. It turns out, these planes can easily fly with a single engine. The smoke was a bit of a concern but the staff eventually explained that we were never truly in peril. Still, little kid me was terrified that day and certain I would die on a plane far away from all my friends.” notnotbuddy
3. He Will Never Forget THAT SMELL
“I was flying from Bangkok to New Zeland. My dad was a little pale before we boarded the flight but we figured he was just tired. I was 14 at the time and I fell asleep half an hour in and woke up a few hours later to absolute panic. I just remember looking over to my dad and there was b***d everywhere. I had no idea what was going on but the smell that I woke up to was the worst I’ve ever smelt. Even ten years later, it is still the worst smell I have ever encountered.
B***d on the seats, on the walls, on the floor, everywhere. That’s what the smell was. B***d. Lots of b***d. We got moved to first class (not as exciting under these conditions) and some rich dude wearing snakeskin was more than happy to leave to give up the room. I thought that was pretty nice of him. I sat on one side and my father and mother were kind of towards the back away from me on the other side. A doctor came in too (luckily) and was assisting.
Flight attendants were consoling me and telling me everything was going to be OK, but I looked over their shoulders out of curiosity and saw my dad sitting on the window seat, his hand kind of knocking on the window while his eyes were rolling back and he was projectile vomiting b***d.
We left the plane as soon as we touched down and since we didn’t go through any security we had our bags quickly checked in some sort of holding room. I fainted because there were so many people in the room. Also THAT SMELL!! Then we all went to the hospital. My brother was getting married the next day so we all went and visited my dad after – even the bride. He turned out to have an ulcer in his stomach which ruptured due to taking Nurofen. My dad recovered.” Hiveraz
2.The Plane Suddenly Plummeted
“I was flying home. We were at cruising altitude, somewhere above 32,000 feet, with zero turbulence when suddenly the plane just plummeted. The weirdest thing was, the wings and nose stayed level, so you just felt the sudden loss of gravity and marveled as all the unsecured objects (including the flight attendant) hit the cabin ceiling.
I had my seatbelt on, somewhat loosely, and I was hovering about two inches above my seat. People were screaming, and praying. The man in front of me was telling his wife how much he loved her; the woman behind me was telling her little girl, ‘Close your eyes baby.’ Life does imitate art, and this was a disaster movie. I don’t know why, but I remained completely unmoved; no panic, no tears. I thought, ‘This is how it ends. I didn’t think it would end like this.’ Then I remembered that my parents would be waiting at the gate (it was 1994), and I imagined their anguish as the waves of bad news rolled in.
Delay. Incident. Accident. Crash. Rescue. Recovery. No survivors. So, a silent prayer for Mom and Dad; then I waited to die.
Suddenly, it was over. I don’t know how long our ‘uncontrolled descent’ lasted. Like all intensely stressful situations (car accidents, combat, small children’s birthday parties) time dilates. I do know we recovered at roughly 5,000 feet. The remainder of the flight passed in complete silence, barring the announcements from the flight deck and the cabin crew checking for injuries. Instead, we all just looked at each other, and I mean really looked. It was an odd and powerful sensation, one hundred strangers having conversations without anyone saying a word.
We also landed in silence, no cheers or applause. Coming out of the gate, with all the friends and family waiting, I expected someone to break down crying or rush into their loved one’s arms. Weren’t we in a disaster movie? Instead, nothing. A hundred silent passengers made their way to baggage claim, still looking at each other, friends and families trailing behind. And then we went on our way.” coldfarm
1. Travel Chaos On 9/11
“I’m flying from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Cleveland, Ohio. Just as we are about to board the plane someone in line says something like, ‘A Cessna just crashed into the World Trade Center.’
Though a bit troubling, most people were just focused on getting on the plane and didn’t pay it much mind. We taxi to the runway and take off like normal. I have my head buried in a book so I’m not really paying much attention to what is going on, though I did notice we didn’t get to altitude which I thought was weird. I think we stayed at maybe 10,000 feet rather than going up to 30,000. My flight was direct into Cleveland. We cruised along at 10,000 feet for 20-30 minutes. The pilot came over the intercom and said: ‘The FAA has closed all U.S. airspace, we’re landing at Chicago O’Hare.’
Well now everyone on the plane is getting nervous. I really had no idea what the heck was going on. Maybe there was a big accident or maybe a plane was in the air and got hijacked? We land at O’Hare, and while looking out the window, all I could see was chaos. Planes were everywhere. Stacked up at the gates, on the access runways leading to the takeoff runway. I’d never seen so many planes on the ground before. People started getting on their phones and slowly information started spreading through the plane that we were under some sort of attack.
We thought this meant that someone had launched a military attack of some sort, like jet fighters, missiles etc. I’m totally confused as to what is going on. Of course, my cell phone was dead, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered if it was charged because people were having a difficult time getting through on their phones.
After about an hour waiting we were able to get off the plane at the gate. The scene inside was just total panic. I remember seeing national guard soldiers there with their rifles, dogs etc. Over the intercom, they were repeating ‘Please leave Chicago O’Hare airport as soon as possible.’
I overheard people saying that the attack was coming to Chicago. I have two small kids at home and a wife. I’m stuck at O’Hare with what I thought at the time was an imminent attack. I left my luggage behind and got out to the front of the airport. I managed to stop a guy driving a rental car shuttle bus and asked if he knew if there were any cars available. He said, “Buddy nothing is available, but hop on I’ll take you with me so you’re not stuck here.” On the ride to the rental car facility, I’m racking my brain to try to figure out how to get out of Chicago.
There are no rental cars available, flights are shut down, I was sure trains wouldn’t be an option either. Then it hit me… I knew what to do. I asked the rental car driver for some directions on where I needed to go and started walking. I walked for about 20-30 minutes or so and found what I was looking for. U-Haul. I rented a U-Haul truck and drove all the way back to Ohio. And that’s my worst airline travel story.” Tryns
They say that happiness is in the journey, not the destination. After reading these stories, do you still agree? Nine times out of ten, traveling is a breeze and in this day and age, it’s never been safer, more reliable or smoother. But, there are always unique, unforeseen experiences to be had. Just remember to buckle up, bring earplugs and hope for the best next time you have to travel!
