A long flight to your destination is already tedious, but once a lengthy trip is accompanied by airplane turbulence, annoying passengers, illness, toilet problems, and other misfortunes, it could result in a total disaster.
These are a collection of stories about airplane nightmares that you would never want to experience. You will surely salute these Redditors because of their patience in enduring these types of chaos. Come check these out!
1. A Flight to Remember
The guy who sat a few rows behind me passed away from a massive heart attack. It was a flight from Kenya to Stockholm and I think I was around 11 years old at that time. They couldn't land, as we were right above the desert, so they just put a sheet over him and stored him under the stairs (it was a double-decker plane).
I remember walking past the corpse on our way out the following morning and the sheet didn't cover his feet. I was 50% excited and 50% terrified that I had seen a corpse's feet.
Destructve
2. Flatulence Fiasco
My wife farted while we were on a plane. It stank so bad that I could hear people from 3 rows back complaining about it.
She pretended to be asleep. An air hostess walked up to me and started blasting me with some flowery air purifier. I got the full blame for it.
cindyjohno
3. Awful Gas Conundrum
It was a 14-hour flight from Vancouver, Canada to Shanghai, China. The old Chinese man beside me who spoke only Mandarin had really bad gas the whole way through. Things got really bad when he curled up in his seat to sleep, his buttocks pointed towards me so he could face his wife.
The worst part is they were a super sweet couple (as revealed through tons of smiling and nodding from each of us). I didn't want to make their flight worse by complaining to the flight attendant. I swallowed my pride and a whole lot of old Chinese male gas that day.
Philipjeremypatrick
4. Bad Turnout of a Good Deed
I was sitting across from a young mom who had an infant and a 2-year-old. She had her hands full with the 2-year-old, so I offered to hold her baby. I'm a dad, I've fed and let sleep babies.
She agreed and I held the baby, fed her a bottle, patted her on the back to soothe her, and let her fall asleep. She did fall asleep, but not before projectile vomiting in my face and down my shirt. On the bright side, I'm pretty sure I earned Karma that day.
Trazoc
5. Terrifying Turbulence
We were circling Atlanta because it was covered in a severe thunderstorm. We went round and round for over an hour, this was after a 4-hour flight from Phoenix. The pilot comes over the speaker saying, "Folks we're out of fuel so we're landing now.”
We started the descent and it went pitch black. It was dead silent in the cabin. You could hear alarms in the cockpit and the engines revving like they were going to explode. It was terrifying.
We would suddenly drop every few seconds, just straight down, and a startled gasp would echo throughout the passengers but they still stayed quiet. The pilot came back on and said we were about to touch down and to brace for possible impact.
When we landed it felt like we just dropped 30 feet down instead of gliding down to the runway. You could hear the tires screaming on the wet pavement. Finally, we came to a complete stop and just sat there for what felt like an eternity. Then we slowly started taxing around to the terminal.
The pilots came out and greeted people as they got off the plane. A couple of women hugged them. Most men shook their hands, I certainly did. When I shook their hands I could see that they were soaking wet from sweat. I think that's what affected me most, this wasn't routine for them and they were probably just as scared as the rest of us.
Tuscabam
6. Surprise in a Hoodie
At the end of my trip to Canada, all I had was a hoodie, and no clean T-shirts. I chuck everything in the hold of the plane except my iPad and headphones. I am queuing with my boarding pass and this dude behind me makes this weird sound but I'm British, so obviously I don't turn around.
I got on the plane and the air conditioning was cold. I pulled down my sleeves, put my headphones on, and pulled up my hoodie. So anyhow, that dude had been sick in my hood.
Jblonde002
7. Screaming Saga
The lady behind me brought her kid who screamed the entire 4-hour flight. He kicked my seat and screamed some more.
He had a tantrum and was climbing over the back of my seat and shaking it furiously. Meanwhile, the mom is just sitting there smiling, not even apologizing or trying to correct the behavior at all. I had the worst headache when we got off.
Haysus25
8. A Double Plane Whammy
I had two unfortunate incidents on a plane. The first one is I got food poisoning from chicken on a flight over to Ireland. It was wholly unpleasant.
The second one is I asked for a vegetarian meal on my way home from the same trip. They forgot to have any veggie meals, so they gave me fish. I explained that I don't eat fish, so they took my meal away.
I asked if I could have at least the bread and salad, but it was a no-go. I had spent the night before at the airport and hadn't eaten in about 12 hours by the time I boarded the flight. Then the flight couldn't land so we were in a holding pattern. Then, at customs, I found out that my bag had incorrectly been marked as having live poultry, so I had to go through extra screening.
Yayscienceteachers
9. Rollercoaster in the Skies
I'm not fond of flying to begin with and this was my nightmare fuel for months after. On a trip from Portland, Oregon to Las Vegas in December of 2005, the pilot comes on the radio about 15 min after take-off and tells us we're about to hit a rough patch of turbulence and that nobody can get out of their seats. I'll never forget his words, "This is going to get rough folks, I'm sorry, but we'll be okay."
For the next 2 hours, I experienced exactly that, the worst turbulence I have ever experienced on a flight.
This wasn't just minor bumps, this was ups and downs and big dips into massive air pockets.
The lights flickered a few times, luggage compartments opened, and stuff fell. I was sitting in the rear and all I could hear were the clinks and clanks of the flight attendant drink trays. It was awful. If you've ever seen the airplane scene from the movie Almost Famous, that's what it felt like for 2 hours.
Z0MBGiEF
10. Toe Jam Symphony
I was once on an airplane sitting in first class. A man was sitting in my row that was clipping his disgusting toenails and they were FLYING in all sorts of directions.
He then proceeded to take that long metal thing on toenail clippers, clean out his toe jam, and wipe it all over his seat.
He wins “the most treacherous human being” award.
wahteverr
11. Periodic Pain
I was on a 7-and-a-half-hour indirect flight (1 stop, no plane change). I knew I'd be starting my period in the next couple of days so I was being overly cautious, checked right before I got on the plane and everything was fine. Plus, I can always tell exactly when I start my period because my cramps are horrendous. I put on a pad, and I’m good to go.
Literally within minutes of taking off, horrific and soul-crushing level cramps took over me. The painkillers I packed were in my checked bag. There is no way to sit on a plane that makes it any better.
The entire experience was just constant, excruciating pain. I'm honestly surprised I didn't vomit. It was so bad, I couldn't focus enough on anything, may it be a book or a movie. Nothing was enough to distract from it. I just sat there and held back tears and waited for my end, For 7 and a half hours.
No flight has ever felt so long. I haven't taken an indirect flight since.
Puppersnupper
12. Last Minute Slam
This happened to me a few weeks ago coming home from California. The horrible plane was on the runway and we took off at full speed to get in the air. All of a sudden at the last second the pilot SLAMMED on the brakes. It was terrifying.
I had to wait an hour for them to see what was wrong and spent the entire flight wondering if every bit of turbulence was something wrong.
Bigblueballz77
13. Unfortunate Discovery
I was on a flight and I went to the toilet. I opened the door and lo behold! This girl was doing their private business with this guy, who was sitting on the toilet. After a few seconds of eye contact with the blond-haired chick, I didn't feel the need to go to the toilet anymore and I threw up.
I was quite young back then and didn't know what they were doing. My parents found me and saw what was happening in the toilets, and they, well, had words with the couple.
TustinIsTheBest
14. Flight Delay Chronicles
I had a flight delayed several times due to "ground operations at O'Hare" from 8 am to 5 pm at the airport, After long hours of waiting, we finally boarded the plane only to sit there for 2 hours and be told that the "crew had timed out" so they went to find another crew.
Another hour later, they announced they couldn't find another crew today, and we all had to de-board the plane. Then back in the airport, they announced that the cancellation was due to weather so they would not be issuing any sort of credit or hotel reimbursement.
Anonymoushero1
15. Delayed, Diverted, and Missing Luggage Drama
I was trying to fly home to NH from New Orleans for Thanksgiving while on a break from college. I had a layover in Knoxville. The layover flight got delayed because they were having a terrible snowstorm and we had to wait for it to pass before we could take off.
5 hours later, I was in the air headed home. The flight goes mostly normal for the 2 1/2 hours it was supposed to last. The pilot came on and said that we should be making our final descent towards the airport. I think it's probably another 30 minutes or so before we actually touch the ground.
20 minutes go by and the pilot came back. He told us that the storm we had to wait out in Knoxville moved faster than they thought it would and was now over the airport keeping us from landing. He told us that, instead of diverting us to another airport like Logan or maybe to New York, they were turning the plane back around and going back to Knoxville! And we did!
We got back to the Knoxville airport about 4 1/2 hours after we had taken off. It was completely dead. They gave me a voucher for a local hotel and got me on a flight out the next day.
The next day (Thanksgiving Day) I was finally on a plane back to NH. My luggage, however, was missing. I had to have my dad come pick me up at the airport at like 6 am and drive me to the closest Walmart to buy new clothes so I had something clean to wear to Thanksgiving at my grandparents because apparently the “Alcatraz Psycho Ward - Outpatient Facility” t-shirt I used to wear while flying, wasn't really Thanksgiving/Family Holiday appropriate.
Eternalsunshine325
16. Unbuckled and Unprepared
It was a small twin-prop (maybe 15 seats) from a regional airport to an international airport, with only three passengers. The three of us had met in the departure lounge. We were all in our early 20s, two guys and one girl.
We walked out onto the tarmac together and boarded the plane. The girl was nervous because it was her first time on a small plane. We reassured her that there was nothing to worry about.
The plane took off and a few minutes later, the copilot pulled back the cockpit curtain and told us that we could unbuckle, but that there was likely going to be some turbulence on the trip.
I took off my seatbelt, raised my armrest, and turned around with my feet in the aisle so I could see the other two and said, "See, it was fine." At which point we hit an air pocket, the plane dropped, and I flew up and hit my head on the bulkhead. The plane came up again and I slammed down into the aisle landing on my knees and bashing my head into the floor.
I started laughing, the other two started laughing, and the copilot was yelling back asking if I was okay. I was fine and I climbed back into my seat and suggested that maybe the other two should leave their seatbelts on. The rest of the flight was uneventful, and the three of us had the most amazing conversation about everything.
Outbound
17. Airline's Seat Shuffle
It was a Sunday and I was going back to California because my leave was over in the service. When I went to check in, the lady said, "The planes are not even close to full, so seat yourself, you don't need a ticket." I was thinking okay, sounds great.
I got on a plane. A lot more people on it than I was expecting. I found a seat, and then some guy came up and said, "Excuse me, I think you are in my seat." The flight attendant came and asked for my boarding pass.
I told her what they told me. She said the flight was full, and since I did not have a boarding pass, I had to get off the plane immediately.
I tried to explain again, and that if I didn't get on that flight, I would be AWOL.
Then she yelled at me saying that I should get off or the police would be called and they'd escort me to jail. I was pissed obviously. And tried again to explain that I paid and I wasn't leaving. As I was being escorted off by her and her 2 friends, someone on the way back pointed out how there was an empty seat. I ended up sitting there and the flight was sold out. I will never fly with that airline again.
Mosluggo
18. High-Flying Hemmorhage
My nose started bleeding while I was on a flight and it would not stop. Apparently, you don't clot at altitude.
That was also the day I discovered that if you lock yourself in the toilets for too long, they bang on the door till you open it. I was shirtless and COVERED in blood.
172116
19. Pregnant and Potty-less
I was on a work trip, 5 months pregnant with 2 male colleagues. In the terminal right before boarding, they announced, "We want to inform you all ahead of time the rear lavatory on the plane is broken.” My seat was closer to the front, so my pregnant waddling self did not worry.
However, they failed to inform us the rear lavatory was the ONLY bathroom on the plane! No bathroom, 5 months pregnant, and on a 3-hour flight, I was trying not to lose my urine in the seat next to my boss.
Nosenuzzle
20. Drunken Dilemma
A few years ago I used to be a DJ and got a few gigs in other cities. There was this great gig where I went with 4 other guys and we got wasted. We went to bed relatively early, except for one of them who kept binging almost until our flight back.
It was a hot city and we stayed on the runway for a while. At some point, I looked over and he was pale, looking like he was dying.
The stewardess noticed him, said we couldn't fly with a zombie, and canceled the takeoff.
The protocol was that a doctor from the airport had to check him, but there was a doctor on board who checked him with a stethoscope and said he was fine. We took off and he drank tons of water on that hour's flight. When we landed, the doctor said he was an OB-GYN who knew he was wasted, so he half-assed the diagnosis just to get going.
Alangf
21. High-Flying Trials
I recently became a flight attendant and my worst shift was a flight from Punta Cana to John F. Kennedy Airport. We had a medical situation where a man was very dehydrated. It was my first medical and I was nervous, but thankfully there was a doctor on board.
One flight attendant had to stay with the passenger, so the rest of us had to split up the cabin and service more rows than we were used to.
It took me forever and people were getting upset and I was already nervous. Not to mention this was a 10-hour shift with no break, an hour of sleep, and no food. It was so stressful and I was crying by the end of the shift.
I've heard worse stories so I guess I'm at peace with it. Thankfully, I haven't had any incidents involving anything awful or vomit.
iambfizzle
22. Unwanted Splash
I ate dinner at a restaurant at Newark Airport. I boarded a plane bound for Oslo for approximately 8 hours of flight. 2 hours in, I was just chilling and watching movies when I suddenly started feeling weird. I was sweating cold and just not feeling my general self.
I decided to try and walk it off and just splash my face with water in the restroom. Suddenly, there was projectile vomiting EVERYWHERE in the bathroom. When I was done, more vomit was outside the toilet than in it. I had food poisoning, and the 6 six hours were a living hell. It was so bad that I don't even remember it anymore.
I just zoned out between running to the bathroom, knocking asking the person to please come out if it was occupied, and sitting back in my seat listening to classical music with a puke bag in hand to try to calm down. I would never do it again.
As a bonus, I had also vomited a bit on myself, so the poor people sitting next to me had to smell it the rest of the way as well.
crowslanding
23. Seat-Swap Nightmare
I was on a plane from Vancouver to Toronto. I had the window seat. The passenger next to me was begging me to switch seats as she wanted to take some photos out of the window. Reluctantly, I agreed to switch places with her even though I wanted something to rest my head against while I slept during the flight.
I was seated in between her and her husband. I had asked the husband if he would like to sit beside his wife, but for whatever reason he refused. I'm a bit shy so I couldn't insist any further.
The whole flight consisted of the couple loudly conversing over my head. The worst part was, about 30 minutes into the flight, the husband decided to take off his socks and shoes. The smell was so bad. I didn't dare to ask the man to put his shoes back on, but lucky the passenger in front asked a flight attendant to tell the man to put his shoes back on.
The lady never ended up raising the window blinds to take pictures.
Justinoh711
24. Feverish Flight Adventure
Being a foreigner, I was in Copenhagen. I waited for my flight for 6 hours with a killer flu. I felt like I was hallucinating or losing consciousness most of the time, I couldn't keep my head straight.
Finally, the boarding time had arrived. We took our seats on the plane and waited for 2 awful hours. Meanwhile, the pilot was announcing there was something wrong with one of the engines, and mechanics were trying to repair it.
After 2 hours they decided to change the plane and redirected us to another gate. This also took some time.
Meanwhile, being sick and lacking self-confidence, I couldn't explain my severe situation to anyone or ask for help. I had to keep my head up and follow the people from the previous plane without fainting.
It felt like an eternity.
Sayarko-totoru
25. Overbooked and Underfueled
I was perfectly on time for my flight. I waited 2 hours to get on because the wrong plane showed up and they sold too many tickets so people weren't going to fit. They took an app, put all of the passenger's names on it, and clicked it to randomly choose people who weren't going to make it on the flight. Luckily it wasn't me.
Once we all boarded (except the few unlucky ones), they found out that there wasn't enough gas in the plane to make it to where we needed to go so we had to make an extra stop. All of this combined made it where I missed my connecting flight leaving me now stranded in Iceland.
I was madly pissed off at that airline.
Kidscribble
26. My Airplane Guardian Angel
I got sick the day before I left Japan. After anything I ate, I went to the bathroom for 5 minutes and it was never a pleasant bathroom break. I also developed a cough. The next day rolled around and I ended up feeling even worse, but I forced myself to eat before the plane so that I could attempt to not eat on the plane for a 10-hour flight.
I lay in the terminal for about an hour and just now decided that I should go looking for any antacids 20 minutes before my flight. I was running around the airport looking for a pharmacy or convenience store. I found one on the other end of the airport but there was a long line.
After 5 minutes, my buddy texted me that boarding started. I was already at the front of the line. I got checked out and made a sprint to get back to my terminal. I got there just as my group started boarding.
It went a lot better than I planned, my whole row empty baring my seat. The dude across the aisle from me hooked me up, with cough drops, tums, and pain-relieving medicine. He even gave me his bread from meals and offered to let me use his battery pack to charge my phone.
I still felt terrible, got home, and got even sicker, but wherever you are dude, you’re a lifesaver. This story would have been a lot worse without you.
Mystyrion
27. Clarity Amidst Turbulence
I'd recently gotten dumped by the person I had thought I was spending my life with but already had tickets bought for a trip, so I went. On takeoff, there was a huge amount of turbulence and the plane was shaking so much I thought it was about to come apart in mid-air.
I suddenly realized I didn't care. I even welcomed the thought of it. I realized that the last half year I'd only kept going because I was, pardon the pun, on auto-pilot. I understood that nothing meant anything to me anymore.
I'm better now.
Throwaway1161611111
28. Odor Guilt
It was a 12-hour flight. A severely disabled person sat in the row behind us. About 6 hours in we started to become aware of a slightly unpleasant smell. It became stronger every minute and soon it was clear that it was a smell of feces. I don't know if the man's colostomy bag was malfunctioning or if this was usual for them, but the smell became overwhelming soon.
Those became the longest 5 hours of my life (they brought him to the toilet an hour before landing and the smell was way better afterward). And worst of all, I felt so bad and ashamed for wishing awful things for the man at the moment, but it was really hard to take.
Redchindi
29. Winter Travel Menace
I flew out of Detroit in the dead of winter and was supposed to fly into a small town in the Upper Peninsula. Halfway through the flight, all the lights go off inside the plane. The flight attendant won't tell anyone what's going on. All I could see was the blinking lights on the wings, and then it hit me we were extremely close to Lake Michigan.
The pilot came on the intercom and told all of us we had to make an emergency landing in Green Bay because the wings were frozen.
I believe I was in such a panic, I don't honestly remember much except being scared We eventually made it into Green Bay.
We're all terrified and shaken up. Then here comes the kicker, Green Bay is about three hours away from where we were supposed to land and it's like 1 a.m. They get us a freaking Greyhound bus and try to drive us the three hours. There's a huge blizzard and our bus gets stuck halfway home and we have to sit on this cold bus for 5 hours until someone can rescue us.
Hillakilla_
30. Sleepless Flight Odyssey
I had a flight that was scheduled to take off at 10:45 pm. I got through the airport security by 8:30 pm only to find out the flight was delayed for 3 hours. I told myself no big deal since I'd just slept during the flight.
I finally boarded the plane around 1:45 am only to realize this cheap airline doesn't have reclining seats. I spent the rest of my 4-hour flight trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in which I didn't. To make matters worse I had to drive for another 3 hours before I got to my hotel.
Pavelli
31. Rebellious Granny
I was on a flight out of Florida with a huge storm coming in. The pilot instructed everyone to get seated quickly before the storm, or else we would be grounded for a while.
Well unfortunately this old lady didn't like something about her seat and refused to sit down, resulting in us having to sit there for about an hour or so.
The silver lining is we got some laughs when I said louder than I thought I had, "Hurry up and sit down you old hag."
Ddrober2003
32. Barfing in the Sky
I had a lighthearted terrible experience. I had an amazing weekend in LA with friends with a crack-of-dawn flight back to Seattle Monday morning. I've got a champagne hangover. I hate flying anyway and was so happy when we started our final descent.
The 5-year-old next to me had slept all flight but woke up about five minutes before we landed and barfed all over me. He'd had some kind of nasty giant breakfast involving milk. I was swallowing down my vomit like crazy while his mom kept apologizing. God I haven't seen that much barf in my life.
Needless to say, I didn't go straight into work as planned.
Caleeksu
33. Night of Terror
I was on a nighttime flight 15 years ago. Suddenly, the cabin lights are turned on to full blast and the captain makes an announcement. "You may be smelling a noxious odor. We have an electrical fire on board, and can't be sure how quickly it might spread. We are being diverted to the nearest airport and will be executing an emergency landing in 15 minutes. Please give your attention to your flight attendants as they instruct you in proper crash landing procedure."
I would have thought there would be hysteria, but everyone became deathly quiet. I had my 11-month-old with me and was advised to hold him in my arms and assume the crash landing procedure as best as possible to shield his body from mine. Everyone on that plane thought it would be the and of us.
I was talking quietly to my baby, pointing out the window at the earth below and telling him how beautiful it all was. I didn't want him to die scared. After about 10 minutes and no catastrophic failure, we all began to relax a bit, thinking that the fire was contained or spreading extremely slowly.
We all positioned ourselves for a crash landing. The tarmac was ablaze with the flashing lights of fire trucks, ambulances, & police vehicles, all in preparation for a worst-case scenario. We landed smoothly & without incident, thank God. That was a bad 15 minutes.
XelaNiba
34. Turbulence of Troubles
It was more than a 12-hour flight and I was sitting on the middle aisle. The seat recliner was broken. Then, the guy next to me took his shoes off and his feet stank.
The woman to my left spilled orange juice on me, and the headphone plug for the in-flight entertainment was broken.
I did get extra potato chips as compensation for the seat problem, though.
26pointMax
35. Smelly Trauma
This was when I was 10 or 11 years old. We went on a 9-hour flight and had the middle seat. An older woman sat in the window seat and had a horrendous-smelling perfume on. The kind that gives you a headache in the first 10 min. She went to the restroom and reapplied her perfume every couple of hours.
The smell plus turbulence was enough for me to throw up for the duration of the flight. For years after I was so scared that I took motion sickness pills every flight. I realized eventually that I didn’t have motion sickness, it was just that old woman’s horrible perfume.
DudeAbides29
36. Ear-Pain at Altitude
I had a lot of ear problems as a kid that required multiple surgeries. I figured out on my first flight at the age of 19 that my ears could still bother me when the worst ear pain of my life hit me during the descent. Since then I figured out how to make them pop, making it less of an issue.
I was unprepared the first time we were on a flight and spent quite a bit of time holding back tears until my ears popped on their own a few minutes after landing.
MadamNerd
37. Tale of Flying Toothpaste and Wee
I was headed to the Philippines on a 2-week vacation with my cousin. We were in San Francisco waiting to board our plane got delayed for 4 hours. Finally, after boarding, they had over-seated the plane and no one was volunteering. So they started to force people off the plane and I had been chosen. After some arguing and negotiating, me and my cousin thankfully stayed on the plane.
After taking off and eating our dinner on the plane, the lights got turned off. As the flight attendant was navigating the cabin and handing out drinks, she tripped over someone’s foot in the aisle and spilled beer over me and my cousin. After getting cleaned up and into clean clothes, almost everyone was asleep as we were in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It was roughly 3 am at this point.
I can never sleep on planes so I was wide awake. I decided to go brush my teeth and use the restroom. Being the multitasker I am, I was using the restroom while brushing my teeth (I know it’s unsanitary, but being a guy and having two hands makes me productive).
Then everything went south. The plane gave one small bump warning of turbulence with no comment from the pilot. Out of nowhere, we hit dead air.
The plane dropped, and I mean dropped!! My body flew up and smashed the ceiling, toothpaste and pee flying everywhere in the latrine.
Meanwhile, all I heard was the blood-curdling screaming in the cabin outside the door. I was on the ceiling for a solid 5 seconds that felt like 5 minutes. We finally hit good air and leveled out. Income smashing back down and hit hard. Latrine was always an absolute mess. I rush out of the bathroom to my seat and buckle in immediately.
The cabin was destroyed. People's food, drinks, and personal items were everywhere! Seats were soaked, including mine. The ceiling had food stuck to it while people were still screaming and crying.
The pilot came on and said that the dead air was not on the radar and the rest of the flight would be smooth. Thank God it was. The rest of the flight was peaceful, but heck that was the first half of a 10-hour miserable flight. Thankfully, I always pack 2 changes of clothes on a carry-on for international flights so I had another clean pair to change into.
Schrader-nick
38. A weird dream premonition
We were flying from Florida to London when one of the engines caught fire somewhere out over the Atlantic, so had to turn back and land in New York. The engine on the replacement plane also caught fire, so the pilot had to turn back again.
We didn't gamble with a third plane and went with a different carrier, I was 8 years old at the time and for some strange reason, I'd never had a nightmare before then. My first nightmare was on the third plane back and involved a Mickey Mouse in a glass coffin and an emaciated green version of Thing from the Addams Family.
WufflyTime
39. Clamped and Claustrophobic
I was seated between two morbidly overweight people on a fully booked flight once. Unfortunately, I have claustrophobia issues.
I'm pretty broad-shouldered so I was wedged in. It was a 2-hour flight of me silently freaking out and being the most uncomfortable I've ever been.
-Words-Words-Words-
40. Unpleasant Companion
I was seated next to a woman with an “emotional support animal.” If I had to guess, it was a pug-chihuahua mix. Whatever it was, it was small enough for her to keep on her lap.
The dog needed its emotional support animal because it was a wreck. It kept standing up, whining and would leak piss anytime someone walked by. The smell is horrible.
MizzDevious
41. Terrifying Touchdown
This happened a long time ago, in the 80's. I was flying into MPLS on a low-budget commuter plane, DC type. There was severe weather in town when we came in. After circling for what seemed like hours, we dove through the clouds in a small opening. Suddenly, there was the runway. We were quite low already. The pilot had a hard time keeping the plane lined up with the runway.
The pilot committed to the landing and we hit the runway hard. So hard that from my place near the tail, I could see the plane flex. Several of the overhead compartments came open.
If that weren't bad enough, the plane then started to tip to one side. We landed on only one side of the landing gear.
Now the plane was rocking left and right and we weren't slowing down like you'd expect. The plane finally settled and the nose went down hard. The brakes were on hard and reverse thrust was beginning.
We were just at the very end of the runway by the time we stopped. Almost overran it. It was the worst flight ever.
MysteryUser1
42. Mid-Air Panic and Mom’s Quick Thinking
My brother choked on a pretzel. He was an infant and I'm not sure why he had a pretzel but the flight attendants had no idea what to do. I think we were flying from Germany to the USA at that time.
Finally, my mom got fed up and jammed her finger down his throat and had him hook it up. I was really little when it happened, so I don't remember much other than the incredible panic surrounding me, but my mom always mentions it when people talk about planes.
Tinycherrypie
43. Battling Food Poisoning
A bout of food poisoning came on me on the way home from Barcelona going back to Manchester. I spent about 90 minutes violently throwing up in the tiny sink whilst everything was gushing out of the other end. I'm a pretty anxious person and not being able to move out of the little toilet, whilst also having people banging on the door for me to hurry up then near enough induced a panic attack.
I then realized we were about 5 minutes from landing, and luckily enough my bowels were pretty much empty. So I make my way back to my seat which is about 10 rows in front, while getting glared at by everyone. I get back next to my girlfriend and we land, and as we touch the ground. I then start vomiting again into a sick bag.
I've never eaten another steak and kidney pie since. At least I got escorted off the plane first and to the front of the security queue!
UpTheMightyReds
44. Airborne Ash Mishap
Took a passenger on a flight to dump his mother's ashes over a lake but he opened the container too soon and the entire cloud of ashes got sucked into the cabin of our plane.
I still remember the gritty taste and it took years to get the last of it cleaned out of the fuselage. Mom's resting with the angels now.
Tomparker
45. Delayed by a Sign
I was on a flight from Seattle to San Francisco for less than 2 hours. We all got on the plane and we all took our seats. The flight attendants are helping the last few people find spots for their carry-ons. Then, right in front of me, an attendant lifts a bag into the overhead bin, and as he does he hits the emergency exit sign. It's not completely fallen off but it's not completely fastened either.
After 20 minutes they came on the intercom saying they were trying to find a tech who could fix it. 5 hours later, they were on a different airplane with a different flight crew and finally took off. The whole time I sat there thinking, give me a screwdriver and I'll have this fixed in 5 minutes.
Scobeavs