We've grown accustomed to air travel and have high expectations for it. According to one study, 96% of passengers are concerned with the cleanliness of the cabin and lavatory, 94% want a friendly, attentive, and accessible staff, 93% worry about seat spacing, and desire 92% quality food and beverage options.
However, taking hundreds of people, lifting them up 30,000 feet, and transporting them to another corner of the world in a matter of hours is no small feat. From time to time, various inconveniences and challenges do arise.
To learn about these situations, Reddit user prettyKaitlynn made a post on the platform, asking everyone, "What's the most horrifying thing you've experienced on a flight?" Below are some of the answers they have received.
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This happened to me recently. Im disabled and usually fly alone (which is not super fun lol). So I’ll splurge and get myself a first class seat so at least I don’t lose an entire week of time with my pain getting worse. We were delayed FIVE HOURS because of a bad thunderstorm. During this time (about two hours in) I needed to grab my pain meds, I stand up, grab my bag, pull my medsafe out. Aaaaannnddd the locking mechanism has BROKEN. I AM LOCKED OUT OF MY MEDICATION BOX….EVERY VITAL PIECE OF MEDICINE IS IN THERE.
I couldn’t believe it, I was already stressed and had a full blown panic attack. But I’m so embarrassed I’m trying to keep it together. There’s two woman about my age (30) waiting for the bathroom (I’m in seat 1a), and they can see me losing my mind. Asked me if I was ok, and I blurted out what happened. One of them asked if I wanted to have her husband try to break into it. Im like sure, idc if you have to break it. So he did!!! Thank god…I was shaking so badly I couldn’t even open the bottles. She grabbed a water bottle for me and went through all my meds and found what I needed.
She was an ANGEL and I can never repay or thank her enough for helping me in one of my lowest, most isolating situations. The flight attendants were also sooooo nice once they figured out what happened. Horrible experience but man those people made it so much better, so grateful for them!!!!!
Being trapped in a f*****g tin can together makes most people nice to each other (and sometimes makes some the opposite)
On a red eye flight, everyone was asleep but I can't sleep on planes. A few rows behind me a girl started screaming "mama!? MAMA!?" The flight attendants walked over, then ran back. Then ran over holding a defibrillator. Then walked the hysterical girl, looked to be about a teenager, to the front of the plane. Then walked back with blankets.
When the plane landed no one was allowed to move. A stretcher came on board and wheeled the blanket covered body out. The sobbing girl followed behind.
I can't imagine losing a parent on a flight, with nowhere to go and no way to contact anyone else for help, surrounded by nosy strangers in tight quarters.
When I was 17 I was in a plane crash, my dad was the pilot, we were flying home from a baseball tournament I was in, he owned a Beechcraft Bonanza, a single engine propeller plane. While we were at 13k feet the propeller stopped dead. It was 8pm, dark enough where you couldnt really tell where open fields were or forests. He radioed into the nearest airport and declared emergency landing, but we didn't make it, we went down about 5 miles in front of the airport.
We knew we wouldnt make it to the airport once we were about at 6k feet, he radioed in and ATC said it was a big open field in front of the runway, aim for it and they will have fire and rescue ready, but we didn't make it that far, when we were about 200 feet off the ground we see the tree tops shooting back up at us and he says "f**k" I still don't really remember what happened after that, but clearly we were extremely lucky, the wings got torn off on both sides from trees we hit, but after sliding through the forest floor for about 60 yards we hit a tree head on, but at that point we were going maybe 30mph.
We both walked away, he broke his nose and I had a cut on my face from the glass, but other than that we were totally fine. Fire and rescue was at the crash maybe 5 minutes later, they told us they thought this was going to be a body retreval, so they were very suprised to see us standing there laughing and crying.
On a flight to Hawaii several years ago. Man beside me started experiencing a heart attack. Luckiest SOB I ever meet though. The plane was full of doctors on their way to a medical convention.
I got my very first period on a plane in white cargo pants flying from Ohio to California
I don't think there's a women out there who hasn't experienced an embarrassing period accident.
My baby did a projectile s**t all over the toilet wall while I was changing her nappy. The was s**t everywhere. S**tcano. There was somehow more s**t than baby. I told an attendant I needed cleaning supplies and a trash bag, and she turned up with a black plastic giant garbage bag that had masking tape on it saying "BABY S**T". Maybe it's a common occurrance with the pressure changes? I dunno. Either way I threw all the clothes and the blanket, everything in that bag except the baby! I cleaned the toilet room as best I could. I was absolutely mortified, and thankfully never seen anything like it since!
I was 16 and flying alone from Istanbul, Turkey to Seattle, USA to visit my sister who had left Turkey early to go to school in US (we were born in WA state so not as dramatic as it sounds).
During the second leg of the flight, from London to Seattle, I developed a urinary tract infection. It kept getting worse and worse. I spent the whole 10 hour flight having to pee urgently, going to the bathroom every 10 minutes (disrupting the poor passenger next to me), getting one drop out, and crying on the toilet. I started passing clots of blood out of my urethra which was excruciating. I was so shy back then and scared, but I really wish I’d told a stewardess so at least I could have some emotional comfort and know what was going on.
When I landed as soon as I saw my sister I burst into tears and said take me to the ER. They said it was the worst UTI they’d seen in a while. The meds started working so fast.
Truly a horrible, horrible experience.
Somebody died on the toilet and we did CPR for maybe half an hour or more before deciding to stop. Relative had to watch. In fact everybody had to watch because there is f*****g no where to go.
Mine is nothing compared to these stories. I thought an old woman s**t herself only to find out my dad was letting out silent farts the entire f****n flight. I almost punched him
As soon as the engines revved up for take off, a woman started screaming like she was dying. The flight attendants couldn’t get up to go to her until the pilot rang the bell, about 5-10 minutes. She was screaming the entire time. Turns out her daughter put her on the flight even though she was terrified of flying. An attendant held her hand the entire flight, walked her all the way to meet the other daughter and tell her to never put mom on an airplane ever again.
An old lady held my hand through an entire (incredibly turbulent) flight to Egypt. I'd never experienced turbulence before, I was quite scared. But I never made a sound. I can't imagine how scared someone might be who screamed at takeoff. 💔
I was sexually harrassed by the passenger next to me- the police had to escort him off the plane when we landed
I hope you didn't have to sit next to him until the end of the flight.
Captain here. 2 hours in on an early flight the in charge FA advises us we have run out of coffee.
On a flight from Denver to Houston a woman hit the call button, talked to a stewardess, then was escorted to the back of the plane. As she walked by I saw that her skin was grey in color and she looked really scared. A request for a medical professional came over the PA and the woman in front of me got up to assist. She came back after ten minutes and I overheard her tell her husband the woman didn’t make it. I then saw a stewardess get a guy that looked like a biker out of his seat and take him to the back of the plane. The biker looking guy was only there for a minute then went to the airplane’s galley for awhile. I’m thinking he must have been an air marshal.
My other experience was flying from San Francisco to Denver. The plane was loaded and it was time to takeoff but we just sat at the gate. The pilot announced we would be leaving soon and that we were late taking off because they had to balance out the luggage. Finally after around 30 minutes after we were supposed to takeoff the plane backed out and went to the runway. Once again we just sat on the tarmac, this time for another 30 minutes. The pilot got on the PA again and said we had to return to the gate because the plane was low on fuel from all the idling. Back at the gate three armed law enforcement officers entered the plane and escorted a man off. After that the pilot announced that we were finally ready to take off and that the previous wait was actually due to a security issue.
Planes must run just like cruise ships. People die during the flight, or get in trouble, but the staff are trained to handle it in a way to not upset everyone else and cause panic. I'm also surprised the flight attendants responded to the buttons. They never did on any of the flights I went on. But since the term "stewardess" is used perhaps this happened decades ago.
On Halloween night in 1994 I was on a United flight from Vancouver to Chicago. Back then "Channel 9" on the inflight entertainment system let you listen to air traffic control. That night as we approached Chicago I was listening to Channel 9 when suddenly ATC told all the other planes to quiet down. Then they started calling over and over for another flight - American 4184 - And asking the other planes if anyone else could see an ATR. This went one for a few minutes and then CLICK channel 9 was switched off. I felt a chill go down my spine. When I got to my hotel I switched on CNN. Flight 4184 had gone down in a field in Indiana and everyone was dead.
I'm quite sure this was the same flight that family members discovered remains near the crash site after the cleanup.
Being asked by the guy on the other side of the plane if there was oil spraying out of the engine on my side too.
😳 holy bejesus this is literally the most horrifying thing that someone could ask you
Spent a 5 hour flight from Sydney to Perth witnessing a man rapidly descend into a drug induced psychosis due to the pellets of drugs inside him absorbing into his system from within.
The flight started out as normal, and as the man became more and more agitated his speech became aggressive and incomprehensible to the woman beside him, with sweat starting to pour out of his body.
He then got up and started pacing up and down the isle, whilst going to the bathroom every few minutes to I assume, attempt to reorganise what was inside of him.
This all came to a head when he was slamming the bathroom door open and closed, throwing his shoes out at passengers and screaming at the flight attendants “it’s just because I need food”.
Somehow the poor flight attendants were able to distract him until we landed, at which point he pulled out a small silver spoon from his back pocket, kissed it, looking up in the air in a “we’ve done it!” way, only to be met with approximately 10 police officers and security waiting outside the plane who handcuffed and escorted him away.
Two nights before I was supposed to go on a business trip, I had a lucid dream where I was in a plane crash. I survived the initial crash, but was covered in burning jet fuel. I could feel myself burning, still strapped into my seat. The pain was so intense and eventually started fading as my nerve endings died in the fire. I remembered thinking "all I have to do is inhale and it's over"... so I did, and the dream ended.
Cut to two days later, I get my seat assignment and am boarding the plane. I sit in the exact same seat in the exact same spot as my dream. I began to panic and was absolutely sure I was about to die horribly. I suffered in silence and braced for the end as we took off. In my dream, we crashed right after takeoff. The real takeoff was smooth as can be, no issues, we climbed, we survived, but my heart was racing for the first 30 minutes or so of that flight. Scary as F.
I think the first one opens with this exact scene.
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Asking because i've never been on plane before: say if i was OP, after i saw my seat is the same exact place as in my dream, can i just turn back around? Am i allowed to do that?
In this context, it's just like every other public transportation vehicle: before the doors are closing, you can any time get the hell off fom the vehicle. But speaking about planes, not buses, trams or trains, may the airport security or even police have some questions. But you have every right to get off from a plane, it's not a crime, it's like getting off from a train before departure. My aunt did this a few years ago. She had some dreams of her flight crashing, very detailed ones and although she was boarding, she changed her mind, before the doors were closed. Airport security asked her some questions, if she is okay, need some assistance, they thought, she got somemedical issues, therefore got she off. That plane didn't crash. 4 days later did.
Load More Replies... Scary dream! I boarded a plane (along with my boyfriend at the time), and had a terrible gut feeling. I told my boyfriend I felt we needed to get off before the plane took off. My gut feeling was increasing to panic when two airline mechanics came walking down the aisle. Shortly thereafter, an announcement was made that we all had to deplane and go to another one, as the one we were on was having "mechanical issues". I hate flying. Have had 3 friends who were in plane crashes (survived), a former father in law who died in a crash, and another dear friend whose mother died in a commercial airline crash, and then decades later, he and his son were in a small craft crash, and although they both survived, the pilot did not.
Landing in a small prop plane on a local small airfield. Taxied right up to the fence enclosing the field, to turn around. Three months later, same trip. Now in a jet! Wondered about the small landing field ! Looked out the window, TERRIFIED as that fence came rushing towards us ! Almost ran into the cockpit. Taxied right past that fence, which they had extended recently to accommodate jets. Almost lost my lunch at both ends !
This reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode, "22," where the exotic dancer kept having a recurring nightmare about a certain room in the hospital.
Sounds like too much of a Final Destination coincidence going on. I'd probably have taken a different flight.
♫ Deja vu! I've just been in this place before... ♪ (Sorry that this was the first thing that came to my mind)
During landing.
Very close to land when the plane went high up in the air again. We figured there was a plane needing to depart or something. After noticing the plane was going in circles at a high altitude we realized something was going on.
FA informed us, as per pilot instruction, they would try to land again however we might feel some turbulence as one of the wings was not working properly. That thing that opens and helps reduce the planes speed when landing was broken.
It was nerve-racking and we didn’t know if we were going to finish landing, the plane was shaking like crazy at an intense speed. Thankfully the pilot managed to maneuver the plane. Everybody was clapping.
Took off after a 7 hour delay. Plane climbed for a little bit and went into a pretty tight bank turn. Captain comes on and says there's smoke in the cabin, and we were going in for an emergency landing. As we are coming in, there are the fire trucks and emergency vehicles waiting for us. Long story short...it was a wiring harness for the coffee maker. Swapped it out without even having to deplane. Got free drinks for the rest of the flight.
Flying back to the UK from Finland. During bad weather over the North Sea, the plane just fell straight down for 3 seconds. No time for people to scream, but plenty of time afterwards for even the cabin crew to exchange glances that said "that was scary."
In my teens (2006) I was with a large student group on an "ambassador trip" and on the way home two of us got separated from the rest of the group and had to sit next to a stranger. My friend really wanted the window seat because he didn't get one before and wanted to watch take off. My friend and I fell asleep kind of huddled together but I woke up when the strange guy was slipping his hand up my shorts. I froze. I quietly and repeat poker my friend. Matt woke up and saw what was happening and over dramatically stretched and yawned so the guy stopped. The guy got up to go to the bathroom and Matt called over a chaperone while I burst into tears. The chaperone said she'd take care of it and we saw her talking to the flight attendant and the guy just, never came back... Idk what happened to him but I'm not mad he didn't come back.
Flying in a small 8-seater from the mainland to an island, when a kitten got loose, over pilot's shoulder and generally being frantic. Type of scene that disaster movies start with!
On a red-eye flight, a passenger sitting across from me had a night terror. They woke up screaming, thrashing, and didn't recognize where they were. It was unsettling for everyone on board.
For those who don't know, a night terror is different from a nightmare. The person thinks they're awake, look awake with eyes open, but their brain is in dream mode. So, what they see is the images playing out in their head but they look real and they're body isn't in the state where they are paralyzed, so they can move. My daughter had them as a toddler. It was difficult to console her. When I would hold her in my arms it still took her a long time to calm back down. It's can be a traumatizing experience.
Just after takeoff from Ixtapa Mexico, we were climbing out over the ocean at about 1000 feet when I looked out my window. Headed directly at me about 500 feet away was a twin engine Beechcraft (I think). I would guess it was 3-4 seconds from impact. Fortunately, the pilot of the aircraft saw us and pulled up sharply just in time, missing us by maybe 25 feet. My wife, who's deathly afraid of flying, asked me, "What was that?" I said "nothing" and pretended nothing had happened until we were on the ground in the US, then I told her. Without question, if that pilot had pulled up even a second or two later, everyone on board both planes would have been dead.
Was in turbulence so bad the stewardesses looked scared. At least 10 people threw up. Lightning outside the plane, side to side turbulence in addition to up and down, and it lasted for a long time. Round of applause when the captain announced we were through it.
Apparently we had to fly several hundred miles out of our way to avoid a hurricane. The turbulence was what it was like *outside* of the danger zone.
This happened when landing at LaGuardia (NYC), just this same kind of turbulence all the way in, circling forever, trying to land and getting one wheel on the tarmac, taking off again. We were rerouted to Philadelphia, still shaking the whole time. I was so incredibly sick. We had to take a coach bus back up to NYC.
Flying into Denver, our plane dropped about 1,000 ft in severe turbulence and this mother f****r was "just trying to get something out of his bag" after the announcement from the pilot about upcoming turbulence and the flight attendants yelling at him. He flew into the ceiling and slammed into the ground like something out of a movie and then got absolutely chewed out by the FAs. It was scary, I guess due to the Rockies and the Denver plain it causes some bad turbulence.
Someone brought their cat on-board in a carrier and put it under their seat. As if listening to a screaming cat for 6 hours wasn't enough ...it s**t in its carrier so the entire plane smelled like fresh cat s**t. The woman took it to the bathroom to clean it and got cat s**t all over the bathroom ...... fun times
This reminds me of a time that a sibling had flown her 2 cats from Alaska to Texas. My parents picked the cats up @ the airport. Both were covered in poo. Mom & Dad drove for 4 hours with 2 poo- covered, howling cats...cat windows down, in order to survive it all. Mom said that the worst of it wasn't the drive...but releasing the latch on each cage...and having to quickly grab hold of & then BATHE those cats. Good times, I'm sure. 😳
A woman died in the seat next to me on a flight from Australia to the US. She appeared to just be asleep, but couldn’t be roused by her traveling companions. Eventually the flight attendants laid her on the floor and a doctor examined her. After a few minutes they carried her to the back of the plane. I later asked a flight attendant when we landed and she told me the woman had died.
One of those idiots in the Ultralights flying around at a few thousand feet over a small city right in the approach pattern for major airlines. I’m disgusted by these people as they are a MAJOR hazard as they often times don’t talk, squawk or give any indication that they are there until its too late.
Flying out of Chengdu China in the early 80s on an old Russian turboprop. It was a wicked snowstorm and I am thinking there is no way we are taking off in this mess. Visibility was only a few hundred feet. I am looking around in panic and I realize the guy sitting across the aisle from me is the spitting image of Buddy Holly. I recall thinking that if this guy pulls a guitar out of the overhead bin and starts singing Peggy Sue, we are all f****d
This is a long one so buckle up, fold up those tray tables and put your seats in the upright position.. I was a flight attendant twenty years ago. The flight that made me quit was from South Bend, Indiana to Minneapolis. It started out with a funny story of having a p**n star on our little regional flight. (50 seat CRJ, I was the only flight attendant) I got a chuckle out of how amped the gate agent was about it. He was obviously a fan. Anyways, everything else was normal other than it not being a very full flight. We take off and I am in the jump seat, chilling and waiting for the fist ding to tell me we are out of sterile cockpit (over 10k ft) when the ventilation system suddenly kicks on. It was then that my oh s**t reflexes kick in because all I can smell is burning though there isn't any smokey haze. For a hot minute I thought I was imagining it but when I looked up, one of the passengers in front of me makes eye contact and gives me a look that confirms I am not the only one smelling it. No one else notices, again it was odd but the first three rows were vacant since the flight was only half full. So for the first time ever, I reached up and grabbed the phone to the cockpit and hit the emergency button which alerts the cockpit but not any passengers unless they know what the flashing light means above my head. The captain answers and it sounds like he is Darth Vader since the two of them have their oxygen masks on. I said quietly into the phone, "what the f**k is happening?" They tell me they don't know and they need me to get up and check behind the galley cart, the lavatory, and then to pull up the hatch to the avionics bay since they can't figure out where it is coming from and there aren't any alarms going off. Apparently air traffic control couldn't see from the ground if we were on fire either. So I try to as calmly as I can, move through the cabin without making any sort of scene even though I am pretty much thinking we're all going to die at this point and my throat is burning from breathing in the fumes. Again, no one noticed and I am grateful seeing as the three of us crew members were on the same "we're going to die" wavelength. Literally nobody even batted an eyelash at me crawling on the floor and pulling up the hatch to the avionics bay. (I still have no idea how no one thought that was out of the ordinary.) So there was nothing that I could see on my side, no visible fire or smoke. I call back to the cockpit and they say that thankfully they're going to let us land and that while we wait for clearance, they are going to "vent" the cabin to clear some of the fumes. At this point, I buckle myself back into the jump seat and try not to look freaked out as I face the twenty five souls in the seats in front of me as the captain announces to the aircraft that there are fumes and we need to vent them as we need to go back to the airport due to mechanical issues. Yeah, blank stares are aimed in my direction and I just smile and nod as if this is standard procedure. None of this is standard. So the venting is supposed to feel like a little puff of air next to your ears but it felt like one of those air cannons punching you in the side of your face which was just delightful but soon after we were on the ground safely and I get to work getting everyone off this missile to hell so I can have my freak out moment in private. The two pilots and myself wind up chain smoking out front of the airport and not speaking to each other for about a half an hour. What caused all of this was that the engine had been washed that morning at the maintenance bay but it was not rinsed or ran properly to let the chemicals burn off or rinse out. That was what was causing the fumes. An hour later we were back on the same aircraft and flew back to Minneapolis without issue. I quit the week after. A close second was hearing the warning messages to the captain during takeoff once. Imagine being in the jump seat and hearing behind you, "WINDSHEAR! WINDSHEAR! PULL UP! PULL UP!" while trying to act like everything is cool. I hated that airline so damn much.
I was on a plane that crashed into a field, and walked away completely uninjured. This was just outside my home city.
The plane was restored, and still flies today.
My husband used to be on the team that flew to broken planes, all over the world actually. His main job was building the planes but on a special team went to fix them. He's fixed downed planes from Tx to Saudi Arabia to Brazil and all over in between. He repaired "the skin" and wiring, the wings, crashed out bellies of the planes until HE felt safe to fly on it. My guy is awesome!!
Coming in for a landing, about 75' off the ground and we start heading back up. There was a plane under us waiting to depart.
On an airplane, but not technically a flight. Sitting at the end of the runway, pilot doing his pre-flight or something. There was a fireball in one of the engines. Passengers panicked, flight attendants popped the emergency doors and the emergency slides deployed. It was mayhem; people knocking others down, crawling over the seats, lots of screaming. Several people were injured. Of those I saw - one man fell off the wing, found out later he broke his arm and collarbone. Another fell off the middle of the slide. She went away holding her wrist, not sure of what happened. Guy in front of me on the slide tumbled face first at the bottom of the slide, got up with a bloodied face. Emergency slides are not fun. It's not like in the movies. The ironic thing was, there was no danger to the aircraft or passengers.
This was in 2015 (luckily not during Covid as I probably would have been kicked off the flight). But suddenly I felt a tickle in my throat, so I started coughing. But I COULD NOT STOP COUGHING. No matter what I did I could not get that tickle out. The people around me were understanding, but I decided to go to the back of the plane just to be courteous. The flight attendants gave me ice and that was the only thing that would give me any sort of relief. We finally landed. That night I went to bed and woke up at 5am with a swollen shut eye, huge f*****g lips, hives ALL over my body, and a tightness in my chest. Turns out I was having a severe allergic reaction to something I ate(?) at airport or something on the plane. My throat was literally CLOSING on the plane. That’s why the ice was helping because it was bringing down the swelling. But here’s the weird f*****g thing. I’ve never been allergic to anything in my life before OR since that incident. So it’s a huge freaking mystery. The hives also showed up in different places on my body each morning for two weeks after. In July I got bed bug bites on an airplane. They didn’t travel with me to my house (thank god) but I’m still scarred from them on my skin since I had a bad reaction to them. Honolulu airport also had recently shut town a terminal for bed bugs.
You could think you're not allergic to anything until you've come across your allergy. Some allergies develop or get worse over time.
As we're all getting finally settled into our seats and they're about to lock up the overhead bins, this kid about 4 years old, wearing an NHL jersey, standing on his seat looking backwards at us, starts vigorously licking the top of the seat, like, vigorously, like it was a popsicle, the whole top of the seat, all of it, the piping and the seams, all while staring dead in our eyes. His parents did not stop this and it went on for ages. Haunting.
Flying from Hartford to Dulles during severe snow storm aboard a United commuter jet, one row of single seats, one row of double. Well into the flight the pilot comes on intercom to say we may have to turn back because we don’t have enough fuel to circle Dulles if necessary. Plane is rocked by turbulence. I look out my window and see that the clouds are coming toward me, yes, the plane appeared to be going sideways. We eventually landed with more than one person quietly crying. The poor flight attendant was sitting on the floor in the front of the plane as we exited. The pilot did not make an appearance. I could only imagine he was unable to pry his fingers off the controls.
When there's a stronger crosswind (wind blowing at an angle to the runway), the plane will position itself facing the wind and while the path will be straight to the runway, the nose of the plane will point off the side. Either just before the touchdown or upon the touch down, the plane will straighten up. Standard operations, no reasons to worry
Barely had our butts in the seat and a woman turned to us and said “are you two teachers?”. We responded with “no” and then she proceeded to talk THE ENTIRE 9 hour flight about herself. Husband pretended to fall asleep within the hour and I find it painfully hard to stop conversations with friendly people. Ugh, AND we were seated right beside the toilets which smelt of old pee
Shoulda told her to shut up and then proceed to snore loudly in her face :)
I had a woman next to me on a 15-hour flight, with two kids under 5. She sat next to me with the kids on the aisle, and the first thing she did was apologize for what was to come. It was terrible, stuff constantly knocked onto the floor, a drink spilled on my leg ... but that was just the woman herself. She soon swapped seats, and the kids just did normal kid stuff. They were not so bad at all, aside from the occasional accidental bump when they squirmed, while she continued to drop stuff on the floor: food, drink, phone, basically anything on her tray table was going to be on the floor sooner or later.
I've observed in crowded places that there are some people who take up a lot more space than they physically need. It's like they can't figure out how to use or fit into the area they occupy.
Easy Jet flight from Nice to London about 10 years ago. French guy sat behind me had a phobia of flying so we had the whole crew including the pilot visit him in his seat before the flight took off to reassure him it will be fine and nothing to worry about.
20 mins after take off a message from the crew informs the passengers that there has been a technical issue with the aircraft and we will be returning to Nice. Immediately, the guy behind me freaks out, tears streaming down his face, slapping himself in the face and loudly shouting.The the cabin crew run over in numbers to help this poor guy out. He eventually calms down.
We land 20 mins later at Nice, as soon as we land, our plane gets surrounded by fire engines, ambulances and police, we are sat just off the main runway, far away from the terminal where passengers could disembark. The guy behind me jumps out of his seat and tries to run towards the front of the plane and is restrained by other passengers and the crew.
An hour later or so, we still hadn't moved and the crew had announced to the passengers that they could get water from the areas at the front and back of the aircraft. The queue at the bottom of the aircraft started a few rows behind from where I was sat. A young guy in the queue started stumbling backwards and smashes his head into the floor and starts fitting. Literally shaking on the floor next to my seat at this point, young guy too, no more than 21 years old.
Paramedics were onboard within 5 mins or so.
That is a very different kind of horror. Three major incidents on one flight.
I had food poisoning on a Transatlantic flight from JFK to Heathrow. To top that off, we hit a large area of turbulence for an hour and a half which led to the fasten seat belt signs to be on.
After the 2nd rush to the toilet during this turbulence, the flight attendants seemed to decide all subsequent efforts to stop me would not be in anyone's best interest. Everyone behind us (myself and a friend) knew what was going on and it would have been humiliating if I wasn't wishing the plane would dive into the Atlantic to end the nightmare.
What are the odds, it happened two days ago.
I was on a flight. As soon as I sat down, the person next me asked me if I knew Jesus. I said I didn't.
Anyway, we were heading to our destination, it was really bumpy, there was a lot of wind and turbulence. At some point, the person next to me whispered "we're all born sinners."
Anyway, we went to land and it was horrible. The plan was tipping to the sides heaps and bumping up and down. We got to about 20 meters above the runway when the plane tilted up and essentially took off again, shot back up. Apparently it was too hazardous to try and land. At this point the person two seats behind me started having a panic attack.
We went for a second attempt. The person behind me was sobbing and talking about how we're all gonna die and the person next to me had her eyes shut and was praying fervently. Again, we got just above the ground and took off again. We then enjoyed an extremely turbulent ride back to where we started, where we landed in nearly just as strong wind.
It was a very cliche bad plane experience
I would totally be okay with flight attendants having tranquilizer darts for some passengers.
In First Class, leaving London, before takeoff an American guy starts screaming in pain. Lands on floor, writhing. “My…appendix!” They hauled him off. FA asks his buddy if he wants to go with his sick friend. “Nah, I’m good,” he says.
On a military charter from Philly to Germany, well over the ocean, we're told we're going back to Bangor, Maine for a medical emergency. Luckily we had a medical officer aboard who diagnosed a hot appendix. The airport blocked off the gate, brought in vendors carts, and we were allowed off in groups during refueling. Very nice of them, I thought.
Was in a small 4 seat Beechcraft with friends - one of whom was the pilot - flying through clouds when pilot/friend said to other guy “horizon indicator wasn’t working.” I thought but didn’t say out loud “isn’t that like REALLY FREAKING IMPORTANT TO HAVE?” Well, we got home safely so apparently not.
Right wing started to leak fuel to the point that we needed an immediate emergency landing. Whole team of firefighters waiting for the landing plane to catch fire on the runway
A guy have a domestic dispute with his girlfriend on a Norwegian Air flight from Prague to New York, he was cursing and screaming and eventually hit her and the flight attendants moved her seat. The rest of the flight he was pacing the aisles and staring at his gf furiously. The flight attendants didn’t do Jack s**t and he never got arrested or anything . I wrote to Norwegian air and never heard anything back
The absolute rank BO of some hipster looking guy sitting behind my daughter and I on a 4 hour flight.
Hong Kong to San Francisco: nearly empty flight cuz of Chinese New Year, it was glorious. Then the man in front of me got up and went to the toilet for quite some time....came back to his seat with a stank-trail that didn't go away for HOURS. Smelled like he had eaten rotten, fish-poo diapers.
Just (but didn’t feel like “just” at the time) really bad turbulence; people’s purses hit the ceiling of the cabin and I think some people who weren’t belted in injured themselves too. People were screaming / praying / crying (I was in that last category).
I wasn’t crazy about flying before but that experience put me into phobia territory and I didn’t fly afterwards for probably about ten years, and still weigh it as a cost/benefit thing whenever I travel. It’s helped a bit to learn that turbulence isn’t really a thing that causes plane crashes, as far as I now understand, but it can feel very different in that moment to the illogical mind.
The most dangerous part of the flight is the take off and landing. Chances are if those go well the rest of the flight and getting to the airport will go smooth.
Someone died on my flight from NY to Rome. They didn’t tell us until the end when paramedics came onto the plane.
Makes sense, having passengers in panic in a flying tin can is probably not the best idea
Landing at night time, and just as we're about to land it gets really bumpy and seems to drop. Engines really, really sounding like they're straining. I've flown quite a fair bit and never had anything as terrifying.
And one that's not really terrifying at the time, but kinda makes you think. Was in a small plane coming in for a landing, and just as it's about to set down suddenly climbs up again. Turns out the pilot isn't sure if the landing gear is actually down or not.
My wife & I had just boarded a flight from Melbourne to Singapore, my wife in the window seat, me in the middle & a young woman with a baby in arms in the aisle seat. Guy in the row in front had been up & down several times fiddling with his hard shell case & it slid out of his hands. I was reading the entertainment guide when the case fell past me & hit the baby. Cabin staff member was called & the woman & baby were offloaded so the baby cold be taken to the airport medical clinic. Cabin staff took a statement from the guy in front then asked us if we'd seen anything, I mentioned that the guy had been up & down to the case several times but we didn't see anything until it was too late to help. We felt upset for most of the flight, stayed overnight in Singapore, resumed our trip the next day & one of the same cabin staff was on board. She recognised us & advised that the baby had not been injured & the couple resumed their travel to Singapore on a later flight the same day
I'm terrified of flying so l don't know why l thought this was a good idea. Gonna look for a pups post or something.
I was on NY to London flight when I suddenly developed an ear infection. It was so painful I screamed into a pillow for the rest of the flight. That was long ago, before I (or the flight attendants) knew what to do about it. I was alone and had the entire upper level of a 747 to myself, so it wasn't quite as bad as it might have been. Saw the doctor at the airport, who told me I wouldn't be catching my connecting flight.
Oh God, same. I had a very minor sniffle and got on the plane and it was barely off the ground when my ear, tooth and the nerve in the side of my face just went wild. Was in pain for 3 weeks from it and now always fly with decongestant drops and employ them at the first sign of trouble.
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this was really traumatizing for me and my mother. we went to georgia to see my grandparents and it was a fun trip! i felt really anxious after we headed for the airport, because i feared i left something at my grandparents house. i usually always get anxious when flying, but this made it so much worse. i was breathing heavily, i was numb af, and i apparently blacked out. as soon as we got to the airport, i puked. i don’t even remember feeling nauseous or even starting to throw up, which proves i blacked out. i got cleaned up, and i was feeling a little better. i wanted to constantly hover over a trash can bc that made me feel better. when we were heading towards security, i threw up again, and it didn’t even shock me. i felt perfectly fine. however, once i got on the plane, the anxiety spiked due to my difficulty being on planes. i puked again. i don’t remember actually puking in the moment, i just remember my airpod flying out. i fell asleep shortly after that. that was…
…single-handedly the most traumatizing day of my life.
Load More Replies... 11 years old, on a 4 hour flight at night. I was with my mom and sisters, but a different row because there were 4 of us and 3 seats per row. I had the aisle. I also had a miserable cold (took some ibuprofen before the flight but still awful). The man next to me was middle-aged and large, but not so large that he wouldn’t fit in the seat. The whole flight I fee him pressed against me. I kept scooting to the aisle, eventually had my feet in the aisle, half my butt of the seat, trying so hard to not touch him (to make stuff worse, I’m autistic and I don’t like much touch from most people). Couldn’t sleep, felt awful, and no matter how far I scooted away he kept pressing into my side. When we landed and the lights came up I discovered he had put up the armrest to give himself better access to me. I should have called the flight attendant but I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t want to fatshame him. Also, the flight was delayed and we had to run for our connection. 1/2
My mom couldn’t see what was going on and I didn’t tell her. I hope he caught my cold. Different time it could have been bad but wasn’t. Night flight home, one connection, from a vacation in the Caribbean (total time about 7hrs). I had been in the hospital with food poisoning the night before, and while I hadn’t puked since then, I had had diarrhea and been almost completely unable to eat for two days. I was really weak, the first airport was hot, my pants were falling down I was so skinny, and getting across the airport was a challenge. My condition was fine on the first flight, was able to eat some pretzels on the second (got hungry), but our flight was again delayed and we had an hour to get through customs and security in the middle of the night in Charlotte. Carrying my heavy carryon wasn’t easy. Also, I was on my period. Really wasn’t bad though, managed to sleep some and didn’t get sick on the plane (bacterial food poisoning, didn’t infect anyone afaik).
Load More Replies... My family and I were returning from a trip to Japan, and the gentleman next to me had not only never been on a plane, but he was pretty terrified. He didn't speak English, and I speak nothing but, so it was a challenge to put his mind at ease when the inevitable turbulence happened prior to landing, but I was somehow able to convince him that it was normal and we were not in danger. I wish there was a sign or something in multiple languages that stated this. Maybe there is, but I've never seen it.
It was about my 3rd solo flight, just after getting my pilot's license. I'm tooling along in a rented Cessna 172 when a guy comes falling past me, then another one. Long story short- some guy was above me dropping parachutists (in the wrong place I found out later). He hadn't seen me and I wasn't even looking for him.
"Well folks, there is extreme wind sheer in Albany, and there's no way in Hell we're going to land this puppy under those conditions. So get comfy, we'll be up here several hours. Don't worry, if we start getting low on fuel, we can get clearance to land in Boston." A few moments later: "We'll be landing in Albany in a few minutes. Please resturn to your seats and put your trays in an upright position..." A few more moments later: "Don't worry, folks; I used to do this in Nam all the time." No joke. Uh, a 727 isn't very similar to anything flown in Nam during the war.
Bout of positional vertigo came on just before boarding a transatlantic flight. I hoped it would pass and didn’t do an Epley. You know that feeling when everything is spinning and you are so dizzy you can’t focus on anything? Now try that taking off and climbing in a thunderstorm. The nausea was devastating. In the end the flight attendant just gave me one of those industrial waste bags after I kept falling over in the rush to make it to the toilet.
Ugh I had that happen one morning before I work. I'm not sure how I managed to get dressed and go downstairs before I decided that I couldn't get to work.
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Coming into land at London Gatwick and the whole cabin is filled with the stink of poo. Turns out a guy in the middle completely soiled himself as absolutely petrified of flying. Walked from the plane to the toilets in the terminal like it and got changed. Why do people that petrified fly?
I was flying standby from San Francisco to Albuquerque, and the only available seat was the last one at the end of the cabin. There weren't any seats on the other side of the aisle. About 45 minutes into the flight, the woman (who was sitting in the aisle) had a massive seizure. When she started seizing, her upper body was flung over me, completely pinning me to the seat. I couldn't reach the call button, and apparently no one heard my calls for help. I tried kicking the seat in front of me, and that person didn't react at all. So I managed to get my arm around her shoulder and held her as best as I could. When the seizure finally stopped, both of us were literally dripping with her saliva. She came out of her post-seizure blackout without any memory of what had just happened.
1965 or so. Flying from Siem Reap to Phnom Penn in cCambodia, after visiting Angkor Watt. With my missionary parents. Plane is a DC3 I think with a French pilot. As we get to the runway, pilot does a go around. Then the FA comes around and has all the passengers move from the front of the plane to the rear seats. Missionaries, we were already in the cheap seats. As the plane attempts to land this time, he keeps nose wheel off of the ground until the very last minute. When it hits the ground, we rapidly veer of the runway onto the grass verge. By the time the plane stopped, the FAs had the door open and the rubber slide deployed. Thank goodness no fire or other emergencies. Didn't get to use the slides..dammit.
When I was eleven I was on a red eye transatlantic flight back to the states and a middle-aged perv tried to chat me up, telling me he wanted to show me Chicago and just generally being creepy. I had to move back to my assigned seat with my Dad to get rid of him. Another time, on my way home from a funeral, my family (10 of us) stopped in an airport bar for drinks before our flight. The glasses were unique and anytime someone finished their drink, my aunt stuffed their glass into her pocketbook. I was mortified.
Flight from Malta to somewhere in the UK, I forget where. Girl behind us was sick the entire time. I didn't know anyone could still find something to throw up after the first couple of hours. It was that really violent "bubbling" puking, the noise was awful, so hard not to join in with the vomiting. Does seem odd we didn't look for an alternative landing for her after the first hour, tbh, it was clear she wasn't going to start feeling better.
I boarded a cross Atlantic flight and it seemed to take ages before the plain started moving. The pilot said we couldn't take off due to a technical problem. A technician came on board and the stewardess walked with him through the isle. He was carrying nothing more but a role of Ducttape. All the passengers started laughing. Was he going to ducttape the wing back to the plain? Or one of the engines? Turned out one of the food carts wouldn’t close anymore and was a possible hazzard during takeoff. They had to ducttape it close. We took off 20 minutes late. But had lots of fun guessing what the ducttape was for.
Personally love flying but find landings scary, I can feel that the wheels are not hitting at the same time. Huge respect for pilots. Also, one time coming to land at JNB/ORTIA, we hit a typical joburg thunderstorm. I had a wing seat and the wings looked like they were plowing through an ocean wave. Pilot pulled up and circled till the storm went away. https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/631991/terrifying-storm-lightning-south-africa-joannesburg-pictures
my sister was in a catholic highschool and they were supposed to go to new york for something. guess what day they were supposed to go? september 11, 2001. luckily, the pilot got a message before they landed and they ended up stopping at another airport. my sister ended up going to paris instead.
The first time I ever flew was the scariest experience I’ve had on a plane. I was 16 and travelling from Melbourne to Brisbane, a short 2 hour flight. And I was terrified. I was shaking and sweating, and when we board the plane I find out we were in the exit row and I was in charge of opening the door in an emergency. Me, a 16 year old kid already stressed out of my mind. While we were in the air we hit some turbulence, and then the turbulence got worse. The seat belt lights went on and the flight attendants had to sit down and buckle in. Even my mum who had been reassuring me the whole time started to panic. Of course it ended up being fine, and every other flight I’ve been on since was fine (apart from other annoying passengers lmao)
Lol wife told husband to break into it. Wifes friend drove over a phone pole laying on the ground and was teetering. She told me and group of my meathead jym buddies to go get her car off it. They were joking and had already called a tow truck. It took me and five of my duh* buddies but we lifted the car and rolled the telephone pole out from under it. We had no idea they were joking.
Work trip from Connecticut to Denver. Had to get from Stratford (home) to Stamford (one of the stores locations I was working between at the time.) then the shuttle from Stamford to LaGuardia airport. Coworker manager got stopped by tsa for knifes in his luggage and made to drop his pants in front of everyone for his knee brace. Then the flight. We get up an head to Denver. But no. Reroute to ohare in Chicago Illinois because of a strange white powder the flight attendants found. So hazmat meets the plane and we are stuck two hours in Our seats not being able to go to the restrooms or stand up. White powder was paper dust from the package of freaking napkins they opened. Plane was surrounded by fire and police and dudes literally got on in the medical suits to check it out. Now we get to leave ohare an get to Denver finally. And our limo car was an hour late because he drove back to the garage because we were two hours late. Sooooooo.
Barcelona to NYC: as soon as we got over the Atlantic, the lady in the seat behind me called the flight attendant and let her know she had malaria and needed help. 🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️
I have a phobia of heights and flying(really bad) this did NOT help
Hold my hand (terrified of flying too) and let's not click on these posts again 😂
Load More Replies... 30,000 feet over the gulf of Mexico and one engine on a 737 shutsdown. We immeadiately drop to 15,000 feet. The pilot comes on and tells us the situation and that we are now flying to the Grand Caymans for an emergency landing 40 minutes away. Everyone on the plane was dead silent and did not move until we landed. The reverse thrust was not functioning properly and we skidded off the runway without any injury. Had to sit in the Grand Caymen terminal for 6 hours because we were not scheduled to land there until another plane showed up to take us to the US destination. Only one bar remained open for us for food and drinks and they tripled their prices because they were the only option available. This was never reported on by the US media. Happened in 2002
Wildest I've been on wasn't really all that scary, but we were on a smallish propeller plane going to Zagreb, but there was a huge thunderstorm in the way. The pilot had luckily known of it before we took off and planned the route circling it, but we did arrive over an hour late on an originally two hour flight. All the way there we could see the storm on the left side and the near constant lightning and we had the seatbelt sign on for the whole bumpy ride.
Last year i flew more than 10 times, worst that happened was like a 10m drop due to turbulences. And i was like, "So that's what turbulences are like, that's kinda fun."
I've flown many times over the years and slept on most flights. In 2001, I got to ride in a UH60 Blackhawk. One of the guys suggested I take off my kevlar helmet (so I'd have something to puke in. Apparently lots of people do that their first time in a Blackhawk.) Three hours later, they were waking me up after we landed. No puke. :)
Uhhhh.... London to Orlando! My mum got woke up (1am) and was told our flight was cancelled (Disney w another family) bxcoz of storm Ian she then spent the next HOUR getting us ALL another flight 😁 anyway on that flight the turbulence was so bad me (who literally NEVER) throws up, and my brother...and the other family kid (he's my age) all within a 5 min period... I even thew up off the flight... Anyway coz that flight was so bad it was the last one the airport did. BTW u Floridians should never come to Scotland...its much worse...
Because isn't a difficult word, or a hard one to spell. You aren't being charged by the letter, why do you feel the need to shorten it or misspell it? You come across, well, not too bright.
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Denver to Kearney, Nebraska aboard a little United jet (IIRC there were 52 seats) and the a/c was not working. Flight was at night, so it shouldn't have been a huge deal, but the chicks across the aisle had bad BO... then they pulled out some snacks. Whatever was in that bag STANK. Oh, and covid. Dad and I (and probably the rest of the passengers) caught it.
My wife & I had just boarded a flight from Melbourne to Singapore, my wife in the window seat, me in the middle & a young woman with a baby in arms in the aisle seat. Guy in the row in front had been up & down several times fiddling with his hard shell case & it slid out of his hands. I was reading the entertainment guide when the case fell past me & hit the baby. Cabin staff member was called & the woman & baby were offloaded so the baby cold be taken to the airport medical clinic. Cabin staff took a statement from the guy in front then asked us if we'd seen anything, I mentioned that the guy had been up & down to the case several times but we didn't see anything until it was too late to help. We felt upset for most of the flight, stayed overnight in Singapore, resumed our trip the next day & one of the same cabin staff was on board. She recognised us & advised that the baby had not been injured & the couple resumed their travel to Singapore on a later flight the same day
I'm terrified of flying so l don't know why l thought this was a good idea. Gonna look for a pups post or something.
I was on NY to London flight when I suddenly developed an ear infection. It was so painful I screamed into a pillow for the rest of the flight. That was long ago, before I (or the flight attendants) knew what to do about it. I was alone and had the entire upper level of a 747 to myself, so it wasn't quite as bad as it might have been. Saw the doctor at the airport, who told me I wouldn't be catching my connecting flight.
Oh God, same. I had a very minor sniffle and got on the plane and it was barely off the ground when my ear, tooth and the nerve in the side of my face just went wild. Was in pain for 3 weeks from it and now always fly with decongestant drops and employ them at the first sign of trouble.
Load More Replies... this was really traumatizing for me and my mother. we went to georgia to see my grandparents and it was a fun trip! i felt really anxious after we headed for the airport, because i feared i left something at my grandparents house. i usually always get anxious when flying, but this made it so much worse. i was breathing heavily, i was numb af, and i apparently blacked out. as soon as we got to the airport, i puked. i don’t even remember feeling nauseous or even starting to throw up, which proves i blacked out. i got cleaned up, and i was feeling a little better. i wanted to constantly hover over a trash can bc that made me feel better. when we were heading towards security, i threw up again, and it didn’t even shock me. i felt perfectly fine. however, once i got on the plane, the anxiety spiked due to my difficulty being on planes. i puked again. i don’t remember actually puking in the moment, i just remember my airpod flying out. i fell asleep shortly after that. that was…
…single-handedly the most traumatizing day of my life.
Load More Replies... 11 years old, on a 4 hour flight at night. I was with my mom and sisters, but a different row because there were 4 of us and 3 seats per row. I had the aisle. I also had a miserable cold (took some ibuprofen before the flight but still awful). The man next to me was middle-aged and large, but not so large that he wouldn’t fit in the seat. The whole flight I fee him pressed against me. I kept scooting to the aisle, eventually had my feet in the aisle, half my butt of the seat, trying so hard to not touch him (to make stuff worse, I’m autistic and I don’t like much touch from most people). Couldn’t sleep, felt awful, and no matter how far I scooted away he kept pressing into my side. When we landed and the lights came up I discovered he had put up the armrest to give himself better access to me. I should have called the flight attendant but I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t want to fatshame him. Also, the flight was delayed and we had to run for our connection. 1/2
My mom couldn’t see what was going on and I didn’t tell her. I hope he caught my cold. Different time it could have been bad but wasn’t. Night flight home, one connection, from a vacation in the Caribbean (total time about 7hrs). I had been in the hospital with food poisoning the night before, and while I hadn’t puked since then, I had had diarrhea and been almost completely unable to eat for two days. I was really weak, the first airport was hot, my pants were falling down I was so skinny, and getting across the airport was a challenge. My condition was fine on the first flight, was able to eat some pretzels on the second (got hungry), but our flight was again delayed and we had an hour to get through customs and security in the middle of the night in Charlotte. Carrying my heavy carryon wasn’t easy. Also, I was on my period. Really wasn’t bad though, managed to sleep some and didn’t get sick on the plane (bacterial food poisoning, didn’t infect anyone afaik).
Load More Replies... My family and I were returning from a trip to Japan, and the gentleman next to me had not only never been on a plane, but he was pretty terrified. He didn't speak English, and I speak nothing but, so it was a challenge to put his mind at ease when the inevitable turbulence happened prior to landing, but I was somehow able to convince him that it was normal and we were not in danger. I wish there was a sign or something in multiple languages that stated this. Maybe there is, but I've never seen it.
It was about my 3rd solo flight, just after getting my pilot's license. I'm tooling along in a rented Cessna 172 when a guy comes falling past me, then another one. Long story short- some guy was above me dropping parachutists (in the wrong place I found out later). He hadn't seen me and I wasn't even looking for him.
"Well folks, there is extreme wind sheer in Albany, and there's no way in Hell we're going to land this puppy under those conditions. So get comfy, we'll be up here several hours. Don't worry, if we start getting low on fuel, we can get clearance to land in Boston." A few moments later: "We'll be landing in Albany in a few minutes. Please resturn to your seats and put your trays in an upright position..." A few more moments later: "Don't worry, folks; I used to do this in Nam all the time." No joke. Uh, a 727 isn't very similar to anything flown in Nam during the war.
Bout of positional vertigo came on just before boarding a transatlantic flight. I hoped it would pass and didn’t do an Epley. You know that feeling when everything is spinning and you are so dizzy you can’t focus on anything? Now try that taking off and climbing in a thunderstorm. The nausea was devastating. In the end the flight attendant just gave me one of those industrial waste bags after I kept falling over in the rush to make it to the toilet.
Ugh I had that happen one morning before I work. I'm not sure how I managed to get dressed and go downstairs before I decided that I couldn't get to work.
Load More Replies... Coming into land at London Gatwick and the whole cabin is filled with the stink of poo. Turns out a guy in the middle completely soiled himself as absolutely petrified of flying. Walked from the plane to the toilets in the terminal like it and got changed. Why do people that petrified fly?
I was flying standby from San Francisco to Albuquerque, and the only available seat was the last one at the end of the cabin. There weren't any seats on the other side of the aisle. About 45 minutes into the flight, the woman (who was sitting in the aisle) had a massive seizure. When she started seizing, her upper body was flung over me, completely pinning me to the seat. I couldn't reach the call button, and apparently no one heard my calls for help. I tried kicking the seat in front of me, and that person didn't react at all. So I managed to get my arm around her shoulder and held her as best as I could. When the seizure finally stopped, both of us were literally dripping with her saliva. She came out of her post-seizure blackout without any memory of what had just happened.
1965 or so. Flying from Siem Reap to Phnom Penn in cCambodia, after visiting Angkor Watt. With my missionary parents. Plane is a DC3 I think with a French pilot. As we get to the runway, pilot does a go around. Then the FA comes around and has all the passengers move from the front of the plane to the rear seats. Missionaries, we were already in the cheap seats. As the plane attempts to land this time, he keeps nose wheel off of the ground until the very last minute. When it hits the ground, we rapidly veer of the runway onto the grass verge. By the time the plane stopped, the FAs had the door open and the rubber slide deployed. Thank goodness no fire or other emergencies. Didn't get to use the slides..dammit.
When I was eleven I was on a red eye transatlantic flight back to the states and a middle-aged perv tried to chat me up, telling me he wanted to show me Chicago and just generally being creepy. I had to move back to my assigned seat with my Dad to get rid of him. Another time, on my way home from a funeral, my family (10 of us) stopped in an airport bar for drinks before our flight. The glasses were unique and anytime someone finished their drink, my aunt stuffed their glass into her pocketbook. I was mortified.
Flight from Malta to somewhere in the UK, I forget where. Girl behind us was sick the entire time. I didn't know anyone could still find something to throw up after the first couple of hours. It was that really violent "bubbling" puking, the noise was awful, so hard not to join in with the vomiting. Does seem odd we didn't look for an alternative landing for her after the first hour, tbh, it was clear she wasn't going to start feeling better.
I boarded a cross Atlantic flight and it seemed to take ages before the plain started moving. The pilot said we couldn't take off due to a technical problem. A technician came on board and the stewardess walked with him through the isle. He was carrying nothing more but a role of Ducttape. All the passengers started laughing. Was he going to ducttape the wing back to the plain? Or one of the engines? Turned out one of the food carts wouldn’t close anymore and was a possible hazzard during takeoff. They had to ducttape it close. We took off 20 minutes late. But had lots of fun guessing what the ducttape was for.
Personally love flying but find landings scary, I can feel that the wheels are not hitting at the same time. Huge respect for pilots. Also, one time coming to land at JNB/ORTIA, we hit a typical joburg thunderstorm. I had a wing seat and the wings looked like they were plowing through an ocean wave. Pilot pulled up and circled till the storm went away. https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/631991/terrifying-storm-lightning-south-africa-joannesburg-pictures
my sister was in a catholic highschool and they were supposed to go to new york for something. guess what day they were supposed to go? september 11, 2001. luckily, the pilot got a message before they landed and they ended up stopping at another airport. my sister ended up going to paris instead.
The first time I ever flew was the scariest experience I’ve had on a plane. I was 16 and travelling from Melbourne to Brisbane, a short 2 hour flight. And I was terrified. I was shaking and sweating, and when we board the plane I find out we were in the exit row and I was in charge of opening the door in an emergency. Me, a 16 year old kid already stressed out of my mind. While we were in the air we hit some turbulence, and then the turbulence got worse. The seat belt lights went on and the flight attendants had to sit down and buckle in. Even my mum who had been reassuring me the whole time started to panic. Of course it ended up being fine, and every other flight I’ve been on since was fine (apart from other annoying passengers lmao)
Lol wife told husband to break into it. Wifes friend drove over a phone pole laying on the ground and was teetering. She told me and group of my meathead jym buddies to go get her car off it. They were joking and had already called a tow truck. It took me and five of my duh* buddies but we lifted the car and rolled the telephone pole out from under it. We had no idea they were joking.
Work trip from Connecticut to Denver. Had to get from Stratford (home) to Stamford (one of the stores locations I was working between at the time.) then the shuttle from Stamford to LaGuardia airport. Coworker manager got stopped by tsa for knifes in his luggage and made to drop his pants in front of everyone for his knee brace. Then the flight. We get up an head to Denver. But no. Reroute to ohare in Chicago Illinois because of a strange white powder the flight attendants found. So hazmat meets the plane and we are stuck two hours in Our seats not being able to go to the restrooms or stand up. White powder was paper dust from the package of freaking napkins they opened. Plane was surrounded by fire and police and dudes literally got on in the medical suits to check it out. Now we get to leave ohare an get to Denver finally. And our limo car was an hour late because he drove back to the garage because we were two hours late. Sooooooo.
Barcelona to NYC: as soon as we got over the Atlantic, the lady in the seat behind me called the flight attendant and let her know she had malaria and needed help. 🤦🏾♀️🤦🏾♀️
I have a phobia of heights and flying(really bad) this did NOT help
Hold my hand (terrified of flying too) and let's not click on these posts again 😂
Load More Replies... 30,000 feet over the gulf of Mexico and one engine on a 737 shutsdown. We immeadiately drop to 15,000 feet. The pilot comes on and tells us the situation and that we are now flying to the Grand Caymans for an emergency landing 40 minutes away. Everyone on the plane was dead silent and did not move until we landed. The reverse thrust was not functioning properly and we skidded off the runway without any injury. Had to sit in the Grand Caymen terminal for 6 hours because we were not scheduled to land there until another plane showed up to take us to the US destination. Only one bar remained open for us for food and drinks and they tripled their prices because they were the only option available. This was never reported on by the US media. Happened in 2002
Wildest I've been on wasn't really all that scary, but we were on a smallish propeller plane going to Zagreb, but there was a huge thunderstorm in the way. The pilot had luckily known of it before we took off and planned the route circling it, but we did arrive over an hour late on an originally two hour flight. All the way there we could see the storm on the left side and the near constant lightning and we had the seatbelt sign on for the whole bumpy ride.
Last year i flew more than 10 times, worst that happened was like a 10m drop due to turbulences. And i was like, "So that's what turbulences are like, that's kinda fun."
I've flown many times over the years and slept on most flights. In 2001, I got to ride in a UH60 Blackhawk. One of the guys suggested I take off my kevlar helmet (so I'd have something to puke in. Apparently lots of people do that their first time in a Blackhawk.) Three hours later, they were waking me up after we landed. No puke. :)
Uhhhh.... London to Orlando! My mum got woke up (1am) and was told our flight was cancelled (Disney w another family) bxcoz of storm Ian she then spent the next HOUR getting us ALL another flight 😁 anyway on that flight the turbulence was so bad me (who literally NEVER) throws up, and my brother...and the other family kid (he's my age) all within a 5 min period... I even thew up off the flight... Anyway coz that flight was so bad it was the last one the airport did. BTW u Floridians should never come to Scotland...its much worse...
Because isn't a difficult word, or a hard one to spell. You aren't being charged by the letter, why do you feel the need to shorten it or misspell it? You come across, well, not too bright.
Load More Replies... Denver to Kearney, Nebraska aboard a little United jet (IIRC there were 52 seats) and the a/c was not working. Flight was at night, so it shouldn't have been a huge deal, but the chicks across the aisle had bad BO... then they pulled out some snacks. Whatever was in that bag STANK. Oh, and covid. Dad and I (and probably the rest of the passengers) caught it.
