Have you ever had a bad flight experience? If so, what happened?

Once on a plane I was on there was extreme turbulence, the seatbelt sign was on, and I had just had three pepsis. It was interesting.

My last flight I was on had very bad turbulence, the plane was shaking around all other the place and it was very loud with the loud thuds.

Apart from that I have had a few problems in the airports, such as getting lost while flying alone.

I’ve been stuck in the airport in Copenhagen overnight because they couldn’t clear the runway in the Faroe Islands of snow long enough for a landing.
I’ve been on flights that had to circle for up to 3 hours with 2 landing attempts before finally succeeding on the 3rd attempt.
I’ve been on flights that had to be re-routed to refuel before attempting landing again.
I’ve been sent on a bus to the next airport because the plane couldn’t land at the one I was supposed to depart from due to weather.

Aside from those logistical nightmares, I’ve been on one or two flights where the turbulence and ‘air-holes’ were so bad you couldn’t drink out of a glass!

Just keep reminding yourself that statistically air travel is still the safest and if the distance is great enough, there isn’t a practical alternative, so if you want to go to your destination, this is what it’ll take (that’s my mantra!)

My plane cought fire. Disembarking was fast and prompt, however.

The worst thing I’ve had to deal with was when I had the seat next to the door. It was freezing!!! Haven’t had a bad flight experience that affected everyone on the plane. Just to be safe, I’d pack a blanket in my carry on for either having to sit by the door or having to sleep in an airport. Fleece is good for that because it folds up easily and relatively small.

I once got lost in the Las Vegas airport and missed my flight. What really pisses me off is that my take-off gate was right by my landing gate and I ran all over hell trying to find what would have taken 10 minutes if I didn’t go the wrong way.

Sat in front of a family with a most unpleasant child. They just kept begging it to behave. The flight attendants were involved. Headaaaache!

I think I have had them all during the years I traveled more than 70,000 miles a year. The scariest for me was a near miss when landing at Washington National Airport. With no warning, as we were about to touch down, the pilot pulled the stick straight up. The plane and the people in coach were screaming. We just missed a small plane on the wrong runway.

@Parrappa I know your experience was frightening. In all those years on all those flights over all those miles, hardly anything ever went wrong. If you think about it statistically, flying is very safe. Now that you have had the experience, you know one of the insider tricks of frequent travelers. Never listen to airline personnel who say there will be someone to help. Call the airline on your cell and tell them what flight you are on and get them to rebook you electronically. Then you don’t even have to stand in line!

Turbulence has been my only problem with air travel. Well, I don’t really think of it as a “problem”...I think it’s kind of fun. Makes the plane ride a little less boring.

I was on my way home from Europe for emergency surgery after having broken my arm. I few Ryanair from Rome to Dublin, and sat in the window seat. I was on Greek pain killers and I got very motion sick. Course, getting out of my inside (of three) seats was a hassle. I didn’t know the other two people, and I was completely helpless with my broken arm.

Ryanair doesn’t provide barf bags. I was soooo close to puking, so I decided to discuss a plan with the kind Irish man next to me. He had finished his coffee so he gave me the cup. Luckily, I managed to keep everything down, and not be the reckless American who throws up all over the unsuspecting passengers in her row:)

The good thing was that talking to the guy next to me about the potential vomit plan was enough introduction for him to then carry all my luggage through the airport for me:)

(By “few” I mean “flew,” of course.)

One time I was stuck on a small 50 seater plane for three hours. While we were in the lobby we were told that the plane was encountering mechanical difficulties, or as George Carlin put it, “the plane’s broke!” When we finally got on, we had to wait in line two hours for de-icing. The snow got so bad that they ended up de-icing us twice. By the time we arrived at our destination they had to contact someone to turn on the lights in the terminal.

Another time my family received a phone call from the airline an hour before our flight, telling us that we were rebooked on a different airline that left forty-five minutes earlier. It took no less than three terminals, two buses, and a tram to get to the opposite side of the airport.
Just be glad that you’re flying into Seattle; it’s one of the best airports I’ve been in.

As I wrote on this other discussion:

“It was probably the time we were flying back from Spain to New York and everyone started to feel unwell. All of a sudden the oxygen masks dropped down in front of us and the stewardi told us to put the mask over our nose and mouth and breathe normally.

The plane had lost pressure (fortunately not explosively) so we had to drop to a lower altitude and use the masks back to land. Then we had to land at Bangor, Maine, since it was an emergency. However, while they worked on the plane we were not allowed out of it because Bangor did not have a customs outpost. Thus, first we were deprived of oxygen for several hours, and then of freedom for an additional seven hours.

But then there was the time we were landing in Cuzco and the landing gear clipped the trees on the mountainside. That was followed by having the engines burst into flame upon landing in Lima. The ground crew ran out with fire extinguishers and put them out. BTW, the co-pilot was sitting in the row behind us praying the rosary the whole time.

And there was the time in southern Venezuela that they made sure to fly our DC-3 nice and low over the wreckage of last week’s DC-3 in which everyone aboard was killed. Just in case we missed anything, once we got off the plane at the air strip (after they shooed the goats off so we could land) they took us in ancient Land Rovers to get a close up look. American Tourister luggage is indeed tough. I now know that for a fact.

And then there was turbulence over Central Florida when I was in a Piper Cherokee, the time the prop plane from Key West suddenly filled with smoke, and the time the pilots in another Piper Cherokee admitted that the gas guage was broken but couldn’t remember if they had filled up in Ocala.

But the absolute worst flight of all time was when my bipolar, ODD, ADD son was three. First, we couldn’t sit together because the plane was full. Second, he got out of his seat and crawled the full length of the plane under everyone else’s seat, goosing folks as he went. Third, he screamed bloody murder because he couldn’t clear his ears. And fourth, he locked himself into the restroom and proceeded to pee on every surface. Technically, however, the flight was fine.”

But don’t worry, your flight will be fine.

@Darwin I know the things that your son has done aren’t funny… But they make me laugh. I got as far as “goosing folks as he went” before I got the giggles!

@avvooooooo – You can laugh or you can cry, but if you cry your nose hurts. We laugh about it now, too.

@Darwin i laughed out loud about fifteen different times reading your response. series of unfortunate events are always funny to look back on, but the part that got me the most was that they flew low enough to see the wreckage of the flight that crashed before yours LOL my god

In late October, my daughter and I were flying home from Seattle. We had a connecting flight through DFW. After boarding the plane and going through seat belt explaination etc, the pilot announced he was taking a meal break. We sat for over an hour. We he came back, he got into an argument with the co pilot, and fired him on the spot. They had to call another co pilot from a local hotel. When he came , his chair was broken, and they called to get it fixed, which took a couple of hours. This pissed the pilot off, and he walked out of the plane. Some passengers started screaming. The pilot comes into the plane and tells us he is quitting and all if the reasons why. Apparently American Airlines is a crappy place to work… They call in fir another pilot. He finally comes. Six hours of sitting on a plane seat belted and waiting for a forty five minute flight home. They fussed at us for using our cell phones. It was horrible!!! I got a speeding ticket for going five miles over the limit at one thirty in the morning driving home from the airport. My first ever! What a crappy day! The worst part is I have to fly again with this airline next month!

@mzgator Wow! That is a new one on me. After that pilot’s first announcement, I would have been on the cell to the airline, the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board demanding to be let off the plane, because the pilot was unstable, and it was not safe to fly with him. You are lucky his psychotic break occurred before takeoff.