OT: Your worst airline experience
As I await my standby* Houston to Detroit flight for 7:05 am, I would like to share my experience in the last 24 hours and hear about other airline "horror stories". Yesterday, the 22nd for those of you keeping score, our flight from Colorado Springs to Houston was delayed. Thankfully, the flight from Houston to Detroit was also delayed. No big deal, right? When we boarded the plane, 2 hours later, there was a "computer" problem. Another delay. With some rough calculation, I estimated we would be in Houston at 8 pm, with our flight to the D at 8:30. I was fairly close and our flight landed and we were off the plane at 8:15. Earlier, the flight attendant told us that our gate was move to E**. Nope. We went to the gate and were told that we had to go all the way to C**. Ok. We go to this next gate. Nothing. Gates closed, sign changed, 5 minutes before the flight was scheduled to leave. Usually this isn't a big deal, but when you have an exam to make the next morning in Dennison, it just sucks. On the bright side, if you need a place to stay in Houston, try the Towne Place Suite. Really nice. Continental Airlines, however, not so much.
Now that that's over with, what's your worst airline experience?
*Still waiting as of 7:29 EST
Ha yes, I see more MSU ads than DeVry U or U of Pheonix. Though U of P does have that really nice new stadium, any news in when they're moving d-1? I'm guessing they'd start in MWC or CUSA nut that is a huge stadium.
<br>-Chet
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any news in when they're moving d-1?Never, unless they're able to offer organized football as an online course.
I've been noticing these too, I wonder if people think I'm weird when I suddenly burst out laughing every time I see one
in 2000, while flying from Bangkok to Singapore, I was detained by US agents in the no-mans-land after ticketing and before boarding. This was international territory and did not belong to Thailand. I was accused of "smuggling people." I was flying a damn plane; I had no idea what that even meant. After many hours and questioning, I came to learn that my passport photo was wrinkled (had been backpacking for many many months) and they believed I had doctored it, was flying somewhere to pass my passport to another person who would use it to go somewhere (US I assume). Thus "smuggling".
Whatever.
I had zero schedule and was in the middle of a year backpacking, so being detained was sort of more interesting than anything else.
The thing that got me pissed however was when I was asked my job, and I replied "professor in Korea", the US agent belittled me about "how could a professor look like you, travelling like you with no money and only a backpack..." I'm sure her goal was to rile me, and it worked.
So after all was done and I was released - and after the agent told me she did not believe me but couldn't hold me any longer (yeah, fuck you very much), I had obviously missed my flight. Singapore Airways wouldn't let me board the next flight saying that it wasn't their fault that I had missed the flight. I disagreed noting that it was their ticketing agent who saw my passport and alerted agents who then detained me but let me go, meaning obviously that I was innocent and wrongly detained.
Nope. They would have nothing to do with it. US agents' fault, not theirs. I would have to buy a new ticket.
Remember when I said I had completely no schedule?
So I sat there for more than a day in this international no-mans-land. I complained that I didn't even have enough money with me to buy a ticket (not true, I had my credit card, but still...). I saw that Tom Hanks movie "The Terminal" some years later - it was sort of like that, but for one day instead of years.
I kept protesting, curious what would happen. I eventually met with the manager of Singapore Airways Bangkok, who put me on the phone twice with the person who oversaw all of Asia. After the second call, he believed that I would just stay there indefinately.
I got first class to Singapore and got completley loaded on the flight. I here formally apologize to all the flight attendents for my behavior.
No offense to anyone but this may be the worst story posted so far.
This was my junior year and I was heading over to India to catch up with my family (who had gone a few days earlier) and spend christmas break over there. Anyway since its the middle of December, I had an early morning flight out of Detriot to Newark (I picked the early morning flight because nearly every single flight i've taken from Detroit to Newark has been delayed between 30 minutes and 3 hours or just straight up canceled). Naturally to my luck, this is the first time ever that I've gotten out of Detroit ON TIME. So I end up in Newark at like 1 in the afternoon and my flight to India is at 730. I leave the airport and hang out with some friends before getting back to the airport at like 5.
The flight to India ended up getting delayed one hour at the gate and then another hour on the tarmac due to technical difficulties and the plan doesn't actually get off the ground until close to 11pm. Anyway the flight seems fine and dinner is served. Since the flight was getting into India late at night and well i was going to party in Mumbai, i ended up taking some nyquil to force myself to sleep.
A few hours later, I wake up to this PA annoucement basically stating that the plane has technical difficulties and we cannot finish the remaining 9 hour trip to Mumbai. They checked into landing at various airports in Europe but that isn't a possibility. They decided to fly 5!! hours back to Newark where we could get a new plane and try again. Anyway I make it back to Newark at 8am and they say the next flight for us would be at 11am. That plane didn't leave until 4pm and then i proceded to spend another 15 hours on a plane.
Due to this rediculus set back, I missed my connection in India. I guess the only upside was I was able to celebrate a countdown to Christmas on a rooftop bar in Mumbai.
I was going to post an Air France debacle I once experienced, but it can't compare with this goat rodeo.
I hate that I cant use real silverware at airport resturants.
This was 100% my fault, but the airlines did a good job of correcting it for me. I completely missed all of my boarding calls for a flight from Salt Lake to Denver I was sitting across the terminal from. I was really wrapped up in a book (I don't even think I was wearing headphones at the time...). I went to the desk after I realized 5 mins too late and they quickly gave me a new itinerary through O'Hare. The flight from O'Hare to MCO was delayed due to weather, but despite my glaring error, the new itinerary got me back home only 3 hours later even with the delay. I believe it was Delta I was flying. They are a pretty good airline. Plus, RIDICULOUSLY cheap direct round trips from Orlando to DTW available at nearly every 2 hour interval.
Related note: I was in DTW yesterday catching a flight back to Orlando (happens a lot actually), and I saw a large, dreaded athletic-type decked out in Michigan Football gear. I was in too much of a hurry to see if I recognized him. I regretted not saying "Go Blue" to him, but he was in his own world with his headphones on.
/end COOL STORY BRO.
Love all the crazy airline stories - flying can be so frustrating! Here's mine:
To use up an expiring travel voucher on Southwest, I schedule a flight with a layover in Las Vegas to get from Minneapolis to Detroit - so its kind of a ridiculous day to start with. I got to Las Vegas fine, have a couple hour layover, and then board the plane on time - after a couple announcements of delays for mechanical difficulties, they finally have us get off the plane, saying they need a new one. An hour or two later, we have boarded a second plane, which coincidently also has mechanicla issue, and we eventually are asked to get off that plane too, and they bring around a third plane! By the time we get on the third plane, its about 4-5 hours after when we originally suppoesd to leave, but this is where the story gets good...
I'm sitting in an exit row, where the stewardess has to go through her explanation of our duties in case of emergency, and the rules require her to do this on each plane - so even though its the same passengers and the same crew - we go through the same routine 3 times, once on each plane, and we have to look at her and say "yes," acknowledging that we understand - no big deal.
However, on the third plane, the guy sitting next me decides this is a HUGE inconvenience to him, and instead of saying, "yes," pretends he can't hear her. When she pleaded with him to acknowledge her, he told her to F-off and that he already did this twice. She asked him if he'd like to switch seats to a non-exit row, and he told her to F-off and this was his F-ing seat. She went and found a male flight attendent, who went through the same routine with this chumbalone. It was clearly explained to him that the plane could not leave until he said, "yes," but he was unbending. The flight attendant went and talked to the pilot, and when he came back, explained to the man that the pilot wanted him off the flight, and the plane now could not leave until he got off the plane, and if he wouldn't leave, security would be called. To no one's surprise, he dropped a few more f-bombs and stayed in his seat. It took security about half an hour to get there, during which time I tried to reason with the guy, and then found a new seat when I got the same attitude the others had. He was also obstinant with the security staff, who eventually literally dragged him off the plane kicking and screaming.
I made it to Detroit about 8 hours late, total of about 17 hour trip - usually takes about 1.5 hours with a direct flight. Could have driven it about twice as fast.
I do not have a plane story that competes however I do have a train story to share. I went to school in Carbondale (SIU) IL about 8 hours south of Chicago by car. The GF at the time and I decided we would try taking the train for the first time home for Christmas. The train left mid afternoon scheduled to arrive in Chicago about 10PM. 80% of the travelers were students and immediately hit the beverage car and it started off a rather fun party.
About 3 hours into the ride the train slows down in the middle of nowhere and we sit. No worries all the more to drink and be merry. Suddenly and with no communication Amtrak just closes the beverage car. Now the train has not moved for an hour and a number of people (no dinner time to most) have not eaten and a number of very rowdy students have been cut off from their booze.
Meanwhile anyone in "authority" is nowhere to be found. You could travel between cars up to the beverage car but that was closed off as well as the back of the train. This was like Amtraks version of Escape From New York as suddenly I find enraged, drunk, hungry college kids developing a mob/Lord of The Flies mentality as they start eyeballing my GF.
After the second hour of no movement and no explanation college kids are pretty much moving in packs kicking seats-punching windows-cursing etc-very surreal and scary. Another couple and I are just hunkered down in the corner and the few middle-age or older passengers are just stoic.
Suddenly and without explanation the train starts moving again. They never opened the beverage car-we never ate-they never offered an explanation and we rolled into Chicago at about 2:30AM. Union Station in Chicago at 2:30AM is no treat either. I have never traveled by train since.
read all the replies but my worst expirience was getting kicked out of a plane for fake documents... I
Toronto to Manchester via Keflavik (Iceland) on Icelandair.
Flight's leaving on a Friday night around 9:00 pm. Boards fine, takes off normally. About an hour in, pilot comes on the intercom and says we're diverting back to Toronto because of a vibration in the plane. Get back around 11:30 pm, sit in the airport for two hours until they cancel the flight. Spent 2 hours in line because we were told they would give us our new flight information, etc. but all the ended up doing was offering us a 50$ hotel voucher. Couldn`t contact the airline because their phone line was only open 8:00 am-12:00 pm on Saturdays.
Anyway, we wake up Saturday, find an e-mail from the airline saying our flight is leaving same time Saturday evening and they've rerouted us to Manchester via Heathrow on British Airways. So we get to London fine and it's around noon local time on Sunday at this point. Chill out in the airport, have a couple beers. We go to pass through security, and our boarding passes aren't valid. Icelandair reserved seats for us but hadn't yet paid for the tickets, and of course their support line isn't open at this point. So BA's customer service ends up spending an hour and a half trying to get through to anyone at Icelandair so they can do whatever they need to do to buy our tickets. They finally do and lucky for us, Icelandair was forced to pay business class so we could use British Airways lounge. Finally got in to Manchester 31 hours after we were supposed to.
I was on a business trip with my boss a few years ago. I was supposed to pick him up at 3am, fly to Memphis for a site tour with a vendor, then do another site tour at midnight, then fly home the next morning. A brutal 24+ hour marathon of non-sleep
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<br>We left Portland Oregkn on time and made it to O'Hare. Got on the plane and they announced that weather was so bad they were shutting down the runways. But, they kept us on the plane "just in case" the weather cleared up
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<br>Long story short, over 10 hours in the plane on the runway. No a/c in the middle of summer, only a couple of crackers to eat. Someone tried to flush a baby diaper in the toilet and clogged it, so we all had to share one
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<br>Finally at 9pm they pulled us back to the gate and cancelled the flight. Since we had already missed our meetings, my boss and I got the last flight back to Portland at 11pm
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<br>I got
<br>Back home around 4am, nearly 24 hours from the time I left, and I had not seen anything but the inside of a plane.
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<br>I have not flown United or through O'Hare since.
The more you fly the more good stories you get. When I was a kid we had an engine fire warning about an hour out of New York on the way to London. We had to land on two engines; it was an old 3 engine L-1011, while fire trucks followed us down the runway. That was a fun experience for a 10 year old but I do remember my mom was freaked out and required several drinks as we waited for repairs.
My favorite story was a few years ago traveling from Denver to Raleigh through Dulles. I landed in Dulles around 5:30 with a 6:30 connection to Dulles. I get to the gate for my connection and see it is horribly delayed until 11:00pm. I then check the board and see there is a 9:30pm to Raleigh. I go to that gate and get switched to that flight.
When the inbound flight arrives I notice there is some commotion among the United staff. As the passengers deplane they proceed to tell us we are not going anywhere. Apparently the plan hit the gate gourmet truck with its wing. Despite everyone in the gate area knowing what happened the BS from United commences.
First they announce a minor mechanical problem and say the mechanics will take a look and we will be on our way shortly. Having traveled a lot I know to not trust airlines as far as I can spit. So I move within spitting distance of the gate agent. About ten minutes later the mechanic comes up to talk to the gate agent. He tells the gate agent that the plane is not going anywhere and they will have to cancel the flight. I am close enough that they know I can hear their conversation. The gate agent then asks if he should announce the cancelation. The mechanic responds that no, operations will make the call.
What followed next was my favorite airline lie. The gate agent looks directly at me, knowing I just heard the conversation, and picks up the microphone and makes the following announcement. “Hi Folks, the mechanics are still working on the plane so we can get you on your way tonight. I don’t have any update on how long it will take. Please remain in the gate area and I we will keep you updated” A few people approach and ask if the flight is going to be canceled. The gate agent tells them he does not know. It is now around 10:30pm.
Having heard enough I move on to plan B, which was originally plan A, and go back to my original flight. It is now delayed until 12:30am. I get switched back to that flight. As I wait for that flight I can still hear them make announcements for the other flight indicating they are working on the plane and do not have any more information beyond that. Just as I am boarding the flight I hear them cancel the other flight. As its passengers wonder off to find a hotel for the night I finally board my flight for Raleigh at 12:30am.
The 7am meeting I had the next day was fun but at least I was not stuck in Dulles. The lesson, never trust the BS the airline is feeding you when delays happen.
Everyone here is going to hate me for these two stories but seriously...this is the worst I've ever encountered....
I've only not flown Southwest three trips in my life (probably 6 total flights).
story 1: I'm flying back from Manchester, New Hampshire after spending a week in Vermont to help out one of our stores there. This is during the Stanley Cup Finals in 2009. I order a beer on the flight.I was razzed by the flight attendant for looking "too young to drink" and because I was a Red Wings fan and apparently the flight crew was from Pitt. They threw some jabs my way but nothing that even came close to the line or got me fired up. I've gotten worse razzing from total strangers, coworkers and friends than anything they tossed my way. The flight attendant comes to me with my drink she says "whatever you're having the rest of the flight is on me for the hard time we were giving you, sorry." Free beer, score.
story 2: I'm flying in from MCO to DTW after a vacation this past January. We're connecting in BNA. My flight was delayed coming out of MCO by about 45 min. No big deal to me. We get to BNA with (what I had thought) was about 45 minutes to take off. As soon as I walk off the plane I hear them calling my name over the intercom to get to my gate immediately. I get there, get on the flight and all goes well getting into DTW...except for 1 problem: my bag did not make it. Again, no big deal it was a quick exchange the only thing I'm missing is non-work clothes, travel sized hygiene products and a razor. I talk to the people at the desk in bagagge services or whatever and they tell me my bag won't be there until the next day. I can have them ship it to my home or work if I want or since I work at the airport they'll give me a $50 SW voucher to pick it up the next day. I figure I'll just pick it up on my lunch break. I come by the next day when my bag is there and I'm talking to the guy working the desk and being very calm and laid back because really it didn't inconvenience me at all. He says "you know what, I'm going to go ahead and double your voucher for you since it was such an inconvenience for you." Cha-ching. I went to Baltimore to watch the tigers in april for $100 round trip after my voucher.
yea, I'm pretty fortunate with airline travel.
I love Delta Airlines SO MUCH because they're a goldmine for this type of story. If I didn't have frequent flier miles with them and they didn't usually offer the cheapest flights out of Detroit I'd be elsewhere with a quickness.
My personal favorite: Flying out of Hartford back to Detroit, I had, let's see, I think a 10:30 flight, which means getting to the airport at 9:30ish. I get there, eat breakfast, wait for the plane, oops mechanical failure it's delayed til 12:30. 12:30 rolls around, oops mechanical failure it's delayed til 2:00. Everyone with CONNECTING FLIGHTS ONLY to Detroit come on up and we'll reaccommodate. Sorry we can't do anything for you if Detroit is your final destination. 2:00 rolls around, oops mechanical failure please wait til 4:00 kthxbai. 4:00 rolls around, oops this plane is proper fucked, come on up and we'll just reissue you a boarding pass for the 6:30 flight. By this time a flight of about 150 people has been whittled down to about 20 or so unlucky souls who haven't been reaccommodated. I've been in this airport for seven hours now, have bought and completely finished an entire Grisham book from the bookstore (I'm a fast reader) and finally my chance has come to speak to a gate agent who is actually required to do something for me. And I'm second in line. After the guy prints out my new boarding pass I ask him, "OK, I've been here like seven hours because you guys can't fix a plane, aren't you guys offering a voucher or some kind of compensation for our troubles?" Lady behind me goes, "Yeah!" So I got a $50 voucher and probably cost Delta $1000 for asking that because of course everyone behind me wanted one too. When I finally got home I pickled off an angry letter to Delta customer service telling them fuck you very much for not even offering a damn meal voucher since they kept us in the airport through lunch and dinner and their customer policies were even worse than Northwest since the merger and THAT'S hard to do. I got another $100 voucher.
My other favorite was in Providence when a tire on the airplane blew and they had to truck in a spare tire from Logan. Which took so long they told everyone "look just get in line over there and we'll give you a boarding pass for tomorrow morning." At like 6 AM. I took it because if I didn't, a gigundous snowstorm was barreling down on New England and was probably gonna cancel all flights out from noon til a week later. (It did.) That was also a fun experience too because we were standing in line with a ton of other people who were checking in for a different flight and so they were going through and pulling people out of the line who were on our flight to reissue the passes. The guy who'd been doing it went on break or something right as he dealt with the person ahead of me and his replacement started with the person behind me. I had to tell them "scuuuuuuuuuse me!"
Last time I was getting a royal rogering by Delta, a fellow passenger who has Delta Elite status gave me a phone number that is their "Airport Help Line." They don't publicize it much, but it's a good number to call when you're in the midst of travel and something has gone wrong. For example, they can get you rebooked while everyone else around you is on endless hold or in an interminable airport line.
800-707-5177. Put it in your phone now. Deploy as needed. I hope never, but it's better to be prepared.
The staff on that line were also able to give me a flight voucher when I complained (nicely) about the particular rogering I was getting that day.
Thanks for that. I did, one time in another episode not listed there, manage to get through to someone at the booking number that they do give out, and even had my flight rescheduled by a nice lady on the other end. But ever since my flyer miles flopped over from Northwest to Delta I've actually had more flights delayed by "mechanical failure" than ones that left on time. So a number like that should come in kinda handy.
My wife and I were going to New Orleans for a long weekend and to see her brother who was on the Air Force base not far from there. We got to the gate and tons of people were standing around and I noticed it was flight 777. I pointed that out and said "Hey, it's our lucky flight" and that's when it began.
We were the last flight of the day to leave and I noticed a lot of the employees having hushed conversations. Finally at 8:00, 15 min before we are to board one employee yells out an announcement "SkyBus didn't want us to tell you but we just can't do that to you. SkyBus will be shutting down at 9pm tonight. You've got 15 min to decide if you want to board the plane because for everyone that bought a round trip ticket, this is the last SkyBus flight. There are no return flights"
So begin the mad scramble to call someone near a computer that can find a return flight for not outrageously expensive and get it booked before the other 150 people sitting next to you buy them.
Just to add a little we end up flying directly through a massive thunderstorm. Everyone is looking outside and seeing lightning bolts coming down on both sides of the plane.
Worst flight experience? Everytime im at the controls
When (because of a last minute decision) I have to fly Spirit Airlines to Vegas. Speak of me well guys, speak of me well.
The Short: My flight was supposed to be Boston->FLL->Managua; It became Boston->Atlantic City->Orlando->Fort Lauderdale->Managua.
The Long:
I was headed to Managua, Nicaragua for an extended weekend (left Thurs night.. flew back Sunday night.) for a baptism (I was el padrino...) Anyway ... my flight was scheduled for 7pm from Boston Logan to Fort Lauderdale, then FLL to Managua.
I get a call at around 3 asking if i could make the 4:30 to FLL because the other plane was going to be delayed, and I'd miss my connection in FLL. I dart over from Westborough Mass from Logan, then finally get there in time for the 4:30. Great right?
Two problems...
- It was delayed
- It was heading to Atlantic City
Ok, no big deal... we get to AC, but then my AC to FLL is delayed... if I miss the connecting flight in FLL, the next flight to Managua is Sunday... I kept my composure, asked if I could get on any other plane, and let the gate agent know why I was traveling. She told me she would try to get me on a flight, but there were 4 people trying to get one seat. After while, I learn that I got the seat, but as I got on the plane, I realized this flight was going to Orlando. And that I didn't have a flight from Orlando to FLL. After all was said and done... I did make it on time, but holy hell, I was tired of traveling.
This isn't really a horror story, but it should at least resonate with some of ya. :)
Earlier this year my brother and I concocted a plan to surprise my dad for his 70th birthday by flying home for the weekend, and we both decided that we'd bring our girlfriends home as well (not many people have the opportunity to visit South Dakota for a weekend of fun and leisure, right? They were totally geeked.) At the time, I was staffed on a client in Palo Alto so I'd be flying in from San Francisco, while my girlfriend would be coming in from Detroit. Turns out we'd both just end up commuting through MSP to get home, so I booked the redeye from SFO.
So about 45 minutes into my flight, the FA gets on the horn and asks for a doctor. This happens every so often, right? Someone faints or feels light-headed, just give 'em some oxygen and we're set. Well, some poor guy is having a HEART ATTACK, so this doesn't just warrant a few tylenol and rest. We need to divert, and Reno's our destination. We land, the guy deplanes, and we all wait patiently for the refueling to finish.
About 30 minutes after the guy has left, the captain mentions that, since it's 2:15 in the morning and we're in frickin' RENO, there's nobody around to actually refuel the plane. So we wait an extra 2 hours before the fillin' begins. Now, this isn't a major issue as there's several flights out of MSP back home during the day, so I surely will be able to catch one, right?
Well, yeah. But then I become slightly unnerved at realizing that my girlfriend will now be arriving into my hometown by herself. She's never been there before, nor has she met any member of my family. Imagine your significant other meeting your parents for the first time...and you're not even there. Creepy, probably. So, I let her and my brother know the situation, and he agrees to pick her up from the airport.
Eventually, we get filled up, I land in MSP, make my connection, and arrive home to discover that my girlfriend and brother have become best friends, and he already had run through at least half of the embarrassing stories he had to tell about me. She was a trooper through the whole thing. God, I love her.
We always have repeat-post topics but I wonder if this is the first repeat post within a thread.
Flying to India for over a month-long trip and the airline lost my bag on my flight there. Not misplaced...the bag was gone. Literally lost my entire wardrobe. I was a law student at the time so I couldn't exactly buy a whole bunch of new clothes while I was there. Luckily the airline ended up sending me a big fat check a few months later.
Well, I used to travel a lot so there are a lot of stories, but I have to say last December was a bad month. I had two flights with mechanical problems leading to (in one case) a huge delay (and being stuck in the Sacramento airport for many hours but unable to go through security where shops and restaurants are) and a complete diversion to a boring airport we never intended to go to (Madison, WI).
Let's not forget my terrible airline experience on July 19th, 1989. My mom was flying from NE to VA to see me, but when I met the plane she wasn't among the customers getting off. I was very surprised, normally she would have made an effort to call me (although granted, this was before the cell phone era). When I asked at the gate, they gave me a special 1-800 number for United. I called and explained the issue, that my mom wasn't on a plane I expected her to be on, and the woman said, I SHIT YOU NOT, "Are you calling about the plane that crashed?" I was like, WHAT, but then she got evasive and her further assurances fell on deaf ears.
So I found a TV and learned that a United flight crashed in Iowa, which is yes, between NE and VA. There was no internet to get more details so I just had to wait for the news reports to keep rolling in, to find out that the flight originated from Denver. Finally my mom called, it was just some stupid delay that made her miss her Chicago connection. God that was just awful for awhile there. I don't know what possessed that woman to mention the crash before she knew my mom's flight arrangements, that has got to be some breach of airline protocol. Of course my day was nothing compared the people who were truly involved in that crash, and their families (a family friend died on that flight, we later learned). But it was a really awful feeling, thinking that United had just unofficially officially told me my mom's plane went down.
I have had lots of delays, in that I fly often, where the delays include unexpected overnighters at O'Hare, etc. but in terms of scary, I have one I never want to relive.
My son and I were coming back from an F1 race at Indy on a Southwest flight. Trying to land at BWI, a thunder cell exploded over the airport as we were in the final phase of our descent.. The hail sounded like it was going to rip the skin off the plane and the lightning was almost continuous, but that was nothing. We got caught in severe wind shear and you could hear the engines ramping up, but we continued to lose altitude. You could tell this by pressure of the seat against your butt. The pilot kept asking people to make sure communication devices were off.
Finally, we got lift and they diverted the plane from Baltimore to Norfolk where they landed for refueling. We had about 20 minutes and were allowed to get up and walk around. The cockpit was open and I asked the pilot about the attempted landing at BWI. No big deal, she said. I said you have to be kidding me, that I had my instrument rating and that was not ordinary. She then said it was the worst landing she ever had. I inquired about how far off the ground we were and she looked at the no. 2 guy and he said, 900 feet, maybe. He then went on to say that their avionics were not functioning correctly during the storm. Kind of strange in that we then flew back to BWI in the same plane.
It was also kind of weird in that none of the passengers around us said a word when all hell broke loose.
I was flying Delta from Salt Lake City back to Detroit in 2007. We were delayed due to a maintainance issue; the pilot came on and explained that they were having issues with the pressurization system. So we were stuck on the plane (but at the gate) for about an hour and a half, then the pilot comes on and says everything's fixed and off we go. About 10 minutes after we took off, the pilot comes back on and says they can't pressurize the aircraft, so we're going to have to turn around and get a new plane. So we land back in SLC and at the gate they told everyone "Ok, go get a bite to eat and come back in two hours." So me and my buddy went and got some food, and after an hour we came back to the gate. It was empty. So we asked someone where the flight was, and they told us it had been moved to a different terminal. So we went to that gate and they said "Oh, it just left 10 minutes ago." So the flight had left with all of our luggage and the next flight to Detroit wasn't until the following morning. The gate agent wouldn't help us at all, just basically told us "Tough shit, it's your fault you missed the flight and no, I won't help you re-book."
Luckily we had been staying with my aunt and she came and picked us up, and since she is an uber-platinum frequent flyer she went and complained. The manager she talked to was very sympathetic and shocked at the treatment we had gotten and booked us on the first flight out the next day and refunded the price of the tickets from the first flight and refused to take payment in money or miles for the second one.
I was flying home for Thanksgiving my freshman year at UM and after getting through the metal detector (and "randomly selected" for the patdown), I was pulled aside by a man in a suit and asked to step into a small room right past the x-ray machines. After sitting in there alone for about 15 minutes, that man, along with another man in a suit and two uniformed police officers come in. They start questioning me to the tune of "do you have any illegal narcotics on you?/ any firearms?/ any warrants out for your arrest?" etc., to which I was truthfully able to answer NO. Eventually, they took my backpack and went through all my books and binders, page by page, then returned it to me and let me go on, not even offering me an explanation for why I was detained like that.
THEN, I finally get to the gate around 1 pm, they let everyone on the plane, then after waiting without moving for a while, they tell everyone to get off the plane and we are delayed at the gate until about 6. The plane finally takes off and I think the saga is over, when they announce due to too much fog, they wouldn't be able to land at the Westchester County airport we were supposed to be going to, so they took us to an Air Force base about an hour's drive north, which my parents were oh so happy to have to drive to after they'd been waiting at Westchester for hours. I end up getting home about 1 AM on Thanksgiving morning and to this day wonder if their suspicions of me were what held the original flight up.
My story (luckily) doesn't involve any time delays, but was miserable none the less. On a direct flight from Bozeman, MT to Detroit I had the pleasure of sitting behind a very stubborn woman. I am about 6'4" and have long legs, so I always try to get exit row seating. I'm a grad student, so I can't upgrade to better seats with more leg room. Usually I just suck it up and deal with it, but in this case I could not.
As soon as the seatbelt sign turned off, the woman in front of me fully reclined her seat. Being that my knees touch the back of a fully upright seat, this put them about 2" into her seat and the middle of her back. She turns around and says to me, "Excuse me, did you know that your knees are in my back?". I responded, "Yes, I do. As you can see, the distance between my hip and knee is greater than the legroom I have here." She replied "Well, I just want you to know that it's very uncomfortable for me." I replied, "Well, I'm sorry but there's really nothing I can do, but it's really awful for me too."
She then called over a flight attendant to see if they could make me move my legs, which was ridiculous. The flight was full, so there were no other seats available. I sucked it up for the next 4 hours, and when she had to put her seat up I already had visible bruises on my kneecaps. Ultimately I got the last laugh though. When we started to get off the plane, the woman stood up and was too short to reach her luggage in the overhead bin.
She turned and asked me, "I can't reach my luggage becausemy legs arent long enough". I responded "Yup, I sure could" and promptly walked off the plane.
Love it. I guarantee you the flight attendant talks about that woman when they trade Crappy Passenger war stories. "Make the tall guy MOVE HIS LEGS." Nice.
I once heard a passenger argue with the flight attendant that his ticket entitled him to the inches of space BEHIND his seat, too, for reclining. Someone had a rear-facing car seat for their young infant in the seat behind him, and it limited his recline, and by God he would not have it.
I am relative tall, 6' 3". and, depending upon the airline, there just isn't room. I have gotten into it more than once with people in front of me...you can't cut off your legs to make them shorter. I always look behind me to see if it is a tall guy sitting there, and if so, just don't recline the seat.
That's awesome. Karma may not always strike, but when she does, she's cruel and heartless. And the sad (or funny) part is that the woman probably considered you rude for that.
A few jobs ago I was traveling back and forth between Detroit and Milwaukee on a weekly basis. One Monday, like any other of the previous Mondays, I sleepwalk through the airport routine and get on my flight. I eventually doze off, again per routine. As I drift back into consciousness, I look out the window and see a shoreline. OK, we're in Wisconsin, that's progress. I then see a sign on one of the rooftops. "Welcome to Cleveland!" in bright, bold letters. After the near involuntary waste evacuation, I realize the sign is just a bit of Badger humor. But damn!
As for bad experiences, it begins and ends with either Houston airport.
This happened just over a month ago, actually. Flying from OKC to Baltimore airport (connection in Dallas) for a wedding in the area. Flight from OKC to Dallas was delayed by an hour at first by a storm in Dallas, which OK fine (our plane was coming in from Dallas). It shouldn't destroy our connection. But it kept getting delayed and delayed...and the next time they said they had a "cargo" issue. Final delay time was nearly 3 hours, which in that time we could have DRIVEN to Dallas and made our connection in time.
But anyway...
We explored options to get new connection flights, nothing was available, until we learned our connecting flight was also delayed, long enough that we should be able to make it IF our flight to Dallas wasn't delayed further by an hour, which TWO separate AA people told us. Ok, great, we'll do that then. Well, upon landing in Dallas, we come to find our our connection already took off, 30 minutes prior to the time we were told by two different people. Got a new flight to Reagen-Intl the next morning leaving at 7:30am. As for being stranded in Dallas we kept tellling AA two things, which fell on deaf ears because THEY ARE ROBOTS. (1) We would have never left OKC if we knew our delayed connection time was not guaranteed and that they could take off whenever they damn well please. (2) Yes, we saw the storm, but it was more than the storm. And I saw that storm on radar, and it couldn't have delayed the flight by more than an hour. People at AA said cargo issues, that's NOT "weather". IN response to both these items all we evergot was "I'm sorry sir, the system says delays due to weather, which means it's not AA's fault. The only thing we can do is offer a voucher for a 'distressed passenger rate" for a hotel".
It gets better.
So, we leave the airport for a hotel. Except shuttles to hotels had JUST stopped 15 minutes prior. Of course. So we go back up to ticketing or whoever was still around, and an AA person found us a shuttle for Econo Lodge that was still operating. Woot. We get on the shuttle, travel FORTY EFFING MINUTES FROM THE AIRPORT to the Econo Lodge in Arlington that was essentially across the street from Jerry World. Were told that shuttles in the morning wuldn't start until 6am, and we needed one at 5am. Of course, that's another money pit right there, calling for a custom shuttle back. The line at Econo Lodge was so long that by the time we got our hotel, we would have stayed in it for just 4 hours that night, rendering the "distressed passenger rate" fairly useless. Ended up splitting a hotel with fellow AA passenger strangers who had a similar situation to us, so got the room for half off. That was a strange night. The shuttle back to the airport cost as much as the hotel did, but we split that too with random strangers.
Got our flight there the next morning just fine. Needed to rent a car, and the rates were astronomically high, and we were in a crunch to get to the wedding rehearsal on time. Nearly had to have some random family member pick us up on the way to get us there (the wedding was in Virginia...yes, we explored options to fly into Virginia but we couldn't get there until before 8PM). Ended up getting a car through Enterprise. Traffic in Virginia was horrendous, as expected. Missed the rehearsal by an hour, of course, so all that effort to get there was for naught. But at least we got there for dinner.
Bottom line: never fly American. Ever. Legacy airlines have a black hole for customer service in general, but in my experience AA's has the biggest black hole.
Good call, and you're right. AA is the devil.
About 50% of my flights end up with some sort of problem.
I've experienced:
Too many pointless delays/inept/rude airline employees to recall.
Tire blow out after landing.
Missed many connections (I now insist on 2 hr minimum layovers)
Sat through delays during security "incidents".
Been searched (no strip/cavity yet).
Landed in the wrong airport.
Landed in the wrong city.
Mysterious cabin "fog" (not smoke?)
Been drooled on, sneezed on, thrown-up upon.
Barking dogs, crying babies.
Had other seat mates in tears or with panic attacks.
Had concussion/whiplash-inducing turbulence.
Hit a log (?) upon take-off in a sea plane.
Had a plane exit door freeze shut in Minneapolis for over 2 hours (missing a flight to Vegas)
This spring had a 7am flight from florida to Detroit delayed, then canceled, then every flight (9) for the rest of the day were canceled due to weather, and 4 planes breaking down and not even making it to Panama City Beach to enable a return flight. Every other flight to connecting cities booked also. Wife almost got fired from work.
The scariest part is that I only fly about 2 times a year, I try to drive EVERYWHERE now.
Do not ever, ever, ever travel with Jabberwock.
Ever.
especially through cleveland when i'm trying to get back to grand rapids. every time i've flown them, it's been delayed and one time they cancelled my flight twice in 24 hours without notifying me
It's not actually my worst flight experience, but my most ridiculously frustrating. I was flying with my wife from Detroit to Philadelphia through Chicago in order to go to my brother-in-law's wedding.
The flight from Detroit to Chicago was delayed 2 hours because of, wait for it . . . a broken overhead bin. With all of us on board, it took 2 hours to determine whether we could fly despite the broken overhead bin (we could not) and then get someone there to fix it (which about took 30 seconds of duct taping) and then to fill out the paperwork to clear us. We, of course, missed our connection to Philly and ended up arriving 7 hours late, missing the rehearsal dinner.
After meeting with family, etc, we get to our hotel at around midnight. The only person at the front desk is fairly clearly high, but gets us all set and gives us keys to our room. We go up to the room, open it and walk in, only to discover that there's crap everywhere, including empty cases of beer. We go back down to the front desk, explain that the room was apparently never cleaned, and ask for a different room. The guy is very confused, checks the logs and says that it was cleaned, but gives us a different room anyways. We go up to that room, unlock the door and start walking in when my wife notices pants on the ground in front of the bed, and looks to see a couple asleep in the bed. We quickly leave again, starting to run for the elevator after we can hear that the guy has woken up. The third try was the charm, we got a room that was actually empty, locked every lock possible, and went to sleep.
You flew through Chicago headed anywhere, and in your case, the "anywhere" was Philadelphia. That would be enough suck for anyone.
At 16 I sat next to a mini-skirt wearing chick from Allen Park who had a killer body and a chipped from tooth. By mid flight, I was rounding 3rd base and looking to make it home. Alas, I was thrown out at the plate. Does that count as a horror story?
Flying back from Australia to LA, my plane broke apart over some uncharted island and after spending a long time there, I realized that some UM scientists had been running a weird experiment and then all these weird people from elsewhere on the island attacked us and then some of us got off the island and we realized we had to go back to rescue the others and then we went back in time and then we got off the island again and we realized we were all dead.
You lost me.
My wife and I were headed over to Korea to begin our English teaching adventure. Well I got the bright idea that it would be smart to catch the red eye from Chicago to Seoul. After an exhausting day our flight finally took off at 12:30am and we had the very back seats of the plane with the engine blasting in our heads for the next 12 hours. Also, anyone who has ever been on an Asian flight knows there is no medium temperature its either freezing or boiling and that night it was smoking hot. Throw in our seats that didn't recline and you have a hearty case of insomina with a mild case of heat stroke and a teaspoon of culture shock.
I have a pretty good (bad) one...
I did a study abroad program in the Netherlands one summer during law school. On the way there, the scheduled flights had me going from Detroit to Philly, and meeting my girlfriend there (she was flying Nashville to Philly). The we would fly together from Philly to London. These flights were all US Air. Then we had a separately booked flight on a small plane from London to Amsterdam. Almost none of that happened.
I'm sitting at the gate in Detroit with no indication anywhere of what is happening to flight. The line is impossibly long to talk to someone at the gate, about an hour after my flight was supposed to take off, I find out it has been cancelled. At the same time, my girlfriends flight from nashville to Philly has also been cancelled, and she's already booked on the next flight the following morning. I manage to get a flight to Philly only about 3-4 hours later, which gets me there just in time to miss the connection to London. Meanwhile, my girlfriend's second flight has also been cancelled, so she has to fly to Baltimore, and rent a car to drive from Baltimore to Philly to get the next flight to London. I, however, can't get on that next flight to London, because by the time I land in Philly and miss the first one, the later one was booked.
Instead, I'm put on a plane from Philly to Purtugal, then from Portugal to Brussels, then from Brussels to Amsterdam. I finally arrive in Amsterdam about 24 hours later than I was supposed to, while my girlfriend didn't get there until 48 hours later. And of course, I have no bags for this 2 month stay. It took 5 days before my bags showed up.