Your Worst Flight

[wallnutz]

On our 20th Anniversary were taking a red eye home from Kona. About an hour into to the flight we see a stewardess go towards the back of the plane with a fire extinguisher. After a few minutes she goes towards the front of the plane with the extinguisher with another stewardess right behind her with an extinguisher. I told my wife someone is probably smoking in the bathroom so it's no big deal. Right after I tell her that the pilot comes on and says there is a smoke detector malfunction and they are trying to fix it. About 10 minutes later he comes back on and says we are turning back to Honolulu to fix it. After another couple of minutes he comes back on and says he has declared an emergency and we were diverting to Maui because it was closer. People were starting to freak out, I told my wife to stay calm that it seems the plane is flying fine. The stewardess' starting going around picking up drinks and making sure the isle were clear. They also told everyone to take the safety card out and read it. When we got a little closer they did their preflight safety speech telling us what to do in case of a water landing.
I was sitting in a window seat and was able to see the wing and the back of the engine. They both seemed fine. When you fly into Maui, you go in between the mountains and then make a big 180 turn and fly back between the mountains to line up with the runway. We didn't, he made the turn in between the mountains and when he did we lost about 2000 ft like a lead balloon. That was the first time I got nervous. Everyone started screaming and the pilot told us to get into the crash position. (I sat up looking out the window the whole time, figured if I was going to die I wanted to see what was going to kill me.) He hit the runway before the numbers we were so low and he locked up the brakes big time. When we stopped the opened the emergency doors and deployed the slides. I was trying to hold my wife back explaining to her we were on the ground and there was no visible fire, only smoke from the brakes and tires. As soon as I let her go she was gone, felt sorry for anyone in her way, pretty sure she knocked people over. I slowly went to the exit helping people on my way. (probably the ones my wife took out) I made my way down the slide and stood and looked the plane over and looked at the fireman in their tin fire fighting suits. I couldn't see anything wrong with the plane. When we finally all made it back to the Maui terminal which at the time closed at about 9pm the pilots came out and told us there was smoke in the cockpit and it was getting to the point they couldn't see.

There is more to the story about the aftermath but I digress.

 

[Desert Whaler]

Flew with an ear infection once as a kid.
Felt like a nail being driven into my head with the pressurized cabin.
Don’t wish that on anyone.

 

[poncho]

Flew with an ear infection once as a kid.
Felt like a nail being driven into my head with the pressurized cabin.
Don’t wish that on anyone.

Incredibly painful

 

[azsunfun]

Haven't flown since the unconstitutional ( patriot act ) won't be one of the cattle beyond the front door of the airport.

 

[poncho]

Flew with an ear infection once as a kid.
Felt like a nail being driven into my head with the pressurized cabin.
Don’t wish that on anyone.

Mine felt like my skull was going to crack in the center of my forehead

 

[TPC]

Flying into or out of Canada.
Always a third of the plane with 3rd world families with screaming kids with hours old loaded diapers.

Miles of walking in the airports and hours of customs in Canada.
The Canadian rideshare services are shams.
Canadians are either the best people you ever met, or the worst.

 

[Mandelon]

Coming home from Rome. Taxi out and stop. Two and a a half hours in the hot Roman summer.
Missed our second leg. Spent the night in a budget hotel in Baltimore.

Another stop over in New York. Two hours parked on the tarmac. yes, in the summer.

A guy one row back, three seats over has a puppy in a carrier. Dog takes a fresh shit. The whole row almost puked. Poor puppy howled from the pressure changes.

Coming back from Denver, a man traveling with a baby...alone. He was exhausted. My wife held the baby for an hour. LOL She liked it.

Coming from San Pedro Island in Belize back to the mainland international we get a puddle jumper. Twin engine seats maybe 16. I get the co-pilot's seat?!? I act like I'm ready to help. "Ok, what do you want me to do?" Nothing. "Hey, what does this lever do?" The pilot wasn't much fun.

 

[Badchoices03]

I have flown a lot of work...but my worst experience ever was when my wife and I thought it would be a good idea to book a last minute trip to Florida on our sons spring break, we flew Frontier Airlines with a layover in Atlanta....enough said....lol

 

[poncho]

I have flown a lot of work...but my worst experience ever was when my wife and I thought it would be a good idea to book a last minute trip to Florida on our sons spring break, we flew Frontier Airlines with a layover in Atlanta....enough said....lol

Never flown them but that Frontier seems to have more than its fair share of online passenger freak out videos.

 

[DaveH]

when i was about 20 i went fishing at great bear lake up n the artic circle.

Buffalo airways (yes from the TV show Ice Pilots) flew us into a dirt strip from an abandoned uranium mine.

on the way out, the DC3 we were flying hit a tree on take off. didnt realize exactly what happened at the moment, other then a horrific thud like hitting a speed bump at 60.

however, i was sitting in a window seat on the wing and could see metal flapping in the wind and 3 feet f the tip f the wing GONE. the copilot came running back and sat in the window seat behind me observing the wing.

this is serious remote country, so they kept going and we flew 2.5 hours to yellow knife and landed. we got off the thing and since we used stairs and walked the tarmac, i could see the damage clearly. the rounded wing tip was gone and the carnage stopped only a few inches from the outer aileron hinge.

 

[Kurt96]

I was taking a short flight about 10 years ago, Phoenix to San Luis Obispo. It was a small jet (CRJ 900), so we all loaded up quick, taxied, and took off.

15 minutes into the flight, a strange but not too concerning noise appeared, followed quickly by some louder noises. About this time you could feel a permanent list, and I noticed we were doing complete 180 turn back towards Phoenix. People were freaking out at this point. Flight attendants were trying to keep everyone calm, saying we’re doing an emergency landing but everything is fine. Apparently the left engine had a complete failure with no warning. Seeing the Phoenix runway come into view with flashing lights lining it was definitely an unsettling sight.

The landing was a little rough but everything was fine. The real nightmare was spending 10 hours in the airport waiting for a replacement plane. The only available plane was smaller (CRJ 200), so a quarter of the passengers were getting cut. I was the third to last person that made it on the plane. I finally thought the ordeal was over.

Once on board that one, a defroster sensor or something stupid like that was malfunctioning. We had to wait another 2 hours at the gate inside the plane while that was fixed. Worst experience by far and all for a 1.5 hour flight.

 

[boatpi]

In 2022
We were flying to Italy from lax on Air Canada. Stop over was in Montreal, plane loaded for of Indians apparently on the way home. When we reached 10,000 feet, out came the food x-100. It was like a free-for-all potluck, and the odor of curry was beyond anyone’s imagination. You thought they had a hot pot and maybe they did , in the center seats. After about two minutes, my eyes started watering and didn’t stop until we landed. I pretty much been to many places around the world, but this was the worst.

 

[Mr. C]

Been lucky. Never really had worst flight. Had delays , cancellations blah bla.
But the one that sticks out is when the guy in front of us is so impatient and is trying to get his laptop from the overhead. Flight attendant is telling him to sit dow til we are stopped. Nope. Asshat opens the overhead and his laptop falls out with the corner hitting a young lady on her head. Next thing you see is blood dripping down in front of her ear.
Needles to say. He was then the last one off the plane and escorted to security. Hope they nailed his ass good.

 

[Mandelon]

 

[stoker]

Last Friday flying United into Medford Oregon about 50’ above the runway the pilot decided to abort the landing and hit the throttles and up we go at a pretty steep angle. He flew around for a bit trying to line up for another attempt. The plane was making all kinds of crazy turns and going up and down like a roller coaster. the pilot would slow way down then suddenly speed up real fast again. Finally lined up for second attempt and same thing again, up we go about 50’ feet from touchdown. The third attempt was much smoother and fully under control and we made a smooth landing. I think the captain said fuck this and took back control of the plane from the DEI co pilot.

 

[DaveH]

Last Friday flying United into Medford Oregon about 50’ above the runway the pilot decided to abort the landing and hit the throttles and up we go at a pretty steep angle. He flew around for a bit trying to line up for another attempt. The plane was making all kinds of crazy turns and going up and down like a roller coaster. the pilot would slow way down then suddenly speed up real fast again. Finally lined up for second attempt and same thing again, up we go about 50’ feet from touchdown. The third attempt was much smoother and fully under control and we made a smooth landing. I think the captain said fuck this and took back control of the plane from the DEI co pilot.

what was the weather like at the time?

 

[HTTP404]

My daughter was flying back from Hawaii tuesday. The guy in the seat next to her was vaping into his jacket the entire flight.

 

[Smupser]

Flight home from Vegas. Paid for my assigned seat. Woman with young child show up and say the flight attendant said they could take my seat so mom could sit at window and kid between us. I don’t argue, just switched cause I didn’t want to make a scene. Kid smelled like he shit his pants the whole flight.

 

[DaveH]

few years back in my plane i took off near vegas, heading to Minden just south of Reno.

very hot and high density altitude day, struggled to get past death valley. but made it to the eastern sierra, but now winds had pushed smoke from wildfires (flying VFR) on my northern route. turned west and was landed at Mammoth.

wouldnt have been a big deal except i was in a glider and had to wait hours on end for my wife to come get me

 

[2Driver]

Back in the day, flight from the east coast to San Diego non stop. I got the middle seat in the smoking section. Flanked by chain smoking drinkers the whole way.



SD to the east coast with a stop over in Chicago. They served a gross smelly chicken meal from SD to Chicago. It smelled like a chicken coop. I ate it. No time in Chicago to eat and the same meal was served from Chicago to the east coast so I ate half of it and nearly puked.

At the end of my business trip I could feel the stomach flu coming on fast. I got on the plane trying my best not to puke, I had horrible nausea. We took off and the breakfast was cereal in those plastic tubs. The tubs got heated by accident with the eggs and it burnt the plastic tubs and the cabin filled with burnt plastic all while I’m doing biofeedback trying not to hurl. Smelling burnt plastic is enough to make anyone sick, let alone in my condition.

I change planes in Chicago to head home to San Diego and now I’m saying a chant…I can make it home, I can make it home I’m not going to hurl, I can make it home. I get on the plane for the final leg to San Diego and they bring out the same fucking chicken coop smelling meal I forced down on the way there. I walked in the door at home and blew chow for 24 hours.

 

[Deckin Around]

my buddy had to ride next to a woman with a 30lb emotional support pig.

 

[stoker]

what was the weather like at the time?

The flight attendant said it was due to high winds but when we finally landed there was zero wind.

 

[Flat freak]

1987 flight from LAX to Heathrow, 100% full airplane. I had a 350 LB Indian lady with moles the size of Milkduds taking up half MY seat and I’m 6’0 -230lbs. I stood at the back of that 747 for twelve hours .

 

[cofooter]

Back in the day, flight from the east coast to San Diego non stop. I got the middle seat in the smoking section. Flanked by chain smoking drinkers the whole way.



SD to the east coast with a stop over in Chicago. They served a gross smelly chicken meal from SD to Chicago. It smelled like a chicken coop. I ate it. No time in Chicago to eat and the same meal was served from Chicago to the east coast so I ate half of it and nearly puked.

At the end of my business trip I could feel the stomach flu coming on fast. I got on the plane trying my best not to puke, I had horrible nausea. We took off and the breakfast was cereal in those plastic tubs. The tubs got heated by accident with the eggs and it burnt the plastic tubs and the cabin filled with burnt plastic all while I’m doing biofeedback trying not to hurl. Smelling burnt plastic is enough to make anyone sick, let alone in my condition.

I change planes in Chicago to head home to San Diego and now I’m saying a chant…I can make it home, I can make it home I’m not going to hurl, I can make it home. I get on the plane for the final leg to San Diego and they bring out the same fucking chicken coop smelling meal I forced down on the way there. I walked in the door at home and blew chow for 24 hours.

I'm not sure how I did all those 11 hour flights back and forth to Asia for years with all of those Japanese chain smokers when the smoking "section" was defined by what ROW you were in, haha. I can't even fathom that today........

 

[DaveH]

The flight attendant said it was due to high winds but when we finally landed there was zero wind.

when the weather is "unstable"........often associated when there are thunderstorm type of convective activity, winds can shift VERY dramatically and unpredictably, going from strong gusts to dead calm, almost instantaneously.

there was a fatal crash a couple of years ago in Colorado from this very thing. Active weather surrounding the airport but no rain. an aircraft was turning base to final when the winds shifted and he was hit with a 40knot tail wind out nowhere. the plane stalled and went in. being relatively low, there was not sufficient altitude for recovery.

 

[Perlmudder]

Worst day of flying was from Toronto to Fort Myers through Charlotte scheduled to arrive at 10:30PM. Original flight was late departing Toronto due to weather and was going to miss my connection in Charlotte. Change flights to Philly, then onto Fort Myers. Arrive at Philly with 20 minutes to make my connection, got a ride in a van across the tarmac, to my connection and make it in time. Pilots time out and cannot make the flight down to Florida. They call new pilots who arrive two hours later and we depart for Fort Myers. Coming in to land around 1AM in Fort Myers and the pilot bails at 100ft because of a squal. Doesn't circle around but instead heads for Tampa. Land in Tampa, they tell us they are just going to refuel and turn back to Fort Myers. These pilots time out, flight is now the next morning, no hotel rooms. I rented a car and drove 4 hours to Fort Myers finally arriving at 6:30AM.

 

[j21black]

Never really had a bad flight flying commerical - A few rough ones but nothing serious...

I've had a few good one(s) flying private though.

1 - Myself and a Co-worker flying from KY to Michigan - Get just about to V1 and the pilot just shuts it down and slams on the brakes. We look at each and we are both white as ghosts. Pilot turns around, looks at us and says, had a light come on the dash and decided to shut it down instead of figuring it out while trying to take off. Light was no big deal. Turned around and took off.

2 - Flight back from football game in Indy to Southwest, IN - We had to fly all the way over to Cincy to try and avoid some storms. It didn't work, talk about a roller coaster ride. We all should have been scared to death but we had been drinking since 6am and hadn't stopped yet so it was all fun and games to us. I still remember coming in for landing and seeing lighting hit the ground out both sides of the plane.

3 - This was probably the worst of all Charlotte to NYC - Had 3 of us on board on a Friday afternoon going to the city for a Yanks game and just to party for the weekend. Somewhere over VA we ran out of beer. Told the pilot to land and go get more. He was going to until we told him to just keep going. He never ran us out of beer again though.

 

[Flatsix66]

1. LAX to Frankfurt on a packed 747 about halfway over the Atlantic. The very large and old lady sitting in the seat directly in front of me gasps and dies. Over the intercom they ask for a doctor. They lay her out in the aisle and try CPR but no use. They put a sheet over her in the aisle until we land for the next six hours. During this time the flight attendants have beverage and food service, stepping over the body. Very sad and creepy to have to step over her to get to the bathroom.

2. LAX to Paris, in coach, halfway to arrival. I had a few drinks or ten, sleeping pretty good. I wake up to getting my ass kicked, the guy next to me is swinging and hitting me. One of the next senses I pick up is something smells like shit and piss, then people yelling and screaming. As I wake up I looked over at the guy next to me, he was foaming at the mouth, eyes almost popped out of his head, shaking and jerking uncontrollably. Poor guy had a massive seizure and just lost it all. I found another seat in the back of the plane for the remainder of the trip.

 

[SoCalDave]

Flight back to LAX from Ontario Canada. I was scheduled to swap planes in DFW but we arrived late so missed my connecting flight. Was set to get another one at 6:35 and about to board flight when a lightning storm rolled in cancelling all flights. Small bar is open so a group of about 10 people gather and the drinks are pouring. Bar was to close at 9pm but the bartender didn't have the heart to kick us out so he pulled the gate down turned to us and said "drinks are on the house". My flight eventually loaded at 1:30am a d it was a blur. Next thing I know the flight attendant was trying to awaken me as we had landed. I woke up, looked at a little old lady seated next to me in the window seat. I apologized to her and proceeded to exit the plane. Poor lady, I wrecked of alcohol and I'm most certian I used her shoulder as a pillow for that 3 hour flight.

 

[jetboatperformance]

My Life flight was the FIRST time I've flow since 1970 , The Navy flew me from San Diego to Chicago Ohare (great lakes ) Commercial air liner Stewardess served me a Michelob (in a can) , a Filet mignon and Potatoes Au gratin was awesome , never flew again till the Chopper ride to Stanford

 

[HBCraig]

Dublin Ireland to Los Angeles non-stop.
Middle seat, full flight.... sucks.
Now add Mother with under 6 month old at the window and father of the kid in the isle seat and the would not switch to sit side by side because they were fighting.

Same here. Aer Lingus back to LAX. The most janky plane I've ever been on. The plane I had from Dublin to Munich actually still had ashtrays. That's how old this plane was

 

[poncho]

We need more of this.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1770940109405503546