<p>after reading the other airplane thread, i came up with this: What's the worst thing that's happened to you involving airplanes?</p>
<p>1.) well when i flew to California last summer my flight was delayed 10 minutes on takeoff and ONE MINUTE before we were supposed to leave the gate, VP Cheney's plane landed (he was doing a weekend visit). So we sat on the plane, at the gate, for an HOUR. And the worst part? When we began our taxi to the runway, we saw his plane at the Air Force hangar which isn't even connected to the main terminal/airport building. Grr...</p>
<p>2.) Flying to Maine last year, my dad got bumped off our first flight. So my mom and I flew to Detroit and then to Portland, Maine. We got checked into our condo in New Hampshire and went back to the airport to pickup my dad. Nothing too bad. But the return flight...bad. First, my dad got searched at the airport because his name on his ticket didn't match his license. He goes by Joe (middle name) but his legal name is Leonard so when "Joe" on the ticket didn't match "Leonard" the Portland security guys searched him. I didn't have a problem with that, it makes sense. However, he was NOT searched when we left on our first flight despite having the same name difference!! So we flew to Detroit (all three of us). Well then we got bumped off our flight from Detroit to home. And there weren't any hotel rooms open nearby. So we slept in the airport. Not a huge deal, I've done it before. So the next morning, we had a flight at 9:00 to Des Moines (home airport). I got bumped off the flight. Just me. So my parents flew to Des Moines--they wouldn't let them stay behind for "unknown reasons from our supervisor". So I went back to my seat and sat around until 4:30 PM. Then my flight was delayed an hour. And I had to fly to Minneapolis. Well when I got to Minneapolis my flight had already left (thanks to the delay in Detroit) and there were no more flights to Des Moines for the night. So I spent another night in the airport. Finally, at 10:00 in the morning, I got a flight home. On a PROP JOB plane that held 12 people (including 3 person crew). But it was only an hour flight. The plus side to all this? I got free roundtrip tickets to anywhere in the U.S. thanks to the bump in Detroit, which I used for my trip to California in story #1.</p>
<p>Whew...that was long. But I had to vent. Have a great day! :)</p>
<p>Well, I haven't been on enough planes to have that many bad experiences, but here's a few:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>My flight for the school trip to Washington DC was 8 hours delayed and we got in at about 2:30 AM</p></li>
<li><p>On the way home from DC, I slept on the fold-out tray thingy and I kept thinking everyone was touching me as I slept.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Once, I was on a flight with a bunch of optometrists when the plane crashed. I was the only survivor, and after the incident, I began telling people about my experiences with time travel.</p>
<p>i was flying to hawaii for vacation and our plane got delayed for 4 hours (while we were inside). we started moving, but before we reached the runway, the plane just kinda .. stopped. they made us all leave and come back the next day. there went one night of a payed for but unused hotel room.
the way back was extreme too. there was some tropical storm and the turbulance was intense. pretty fun though</p>
<p>not really a plane story, but whenever i fly to russia the passport control ladies always start a conversation with me. and they always end up *****ing at me for random stuff (the last one corrected my grammar and called me a disgrace to russia)</p>
<p>i was flying to boston to visit my aunt, and i sat next to some random guy. accross the aisle sat his BOYFRIEND. i am really not disturbed by gay people or whatever, but for half of the plane ride they were loudly discussing how bad it was that they didn't get to sit next to each other. so i offered to switch seats with the boyfriend. they didn't even say thanks, but i did spend the rest of my time sitting next to a fat guy who was barely small enough to not take up the whole first class seat. the couple was fondling one another the whole time, too.</p>
<p>last time i flew to paris the stewardess spilled tea on me</p>
<p>.. the list goes on i take a trip about 5 times a year. so yay planes.</p>
<p>an indian person reaching into his bag, white dude beside him yells "OH MY GOD", indian dude replies "calm down ya big jerk....... i'm just getting my diskman player...... gotta listen to them instructions............"</p>
<p>once we were flying through air frace to Paris for a connecting flight to India and first one of our bags was about 2 lbs over wieght. The limit was 7 bags each 50 lbs, or something, and we had 4 bags, one of them was 52 lbs. So they made a big deal, and after a long drawn argument, made us remove some stuff from that bag and put it into this box. Of course, we had been planning on eating dinner @ the airport after checking in and before our flight, but this problem took up all of that time, so we decided we'd just eat on the plane. We get on the plane and are just about to takeoff, and something goes wrong with the runway and there is a delay, for an unspecified amt. of time. They don't let us get off the plane and its been 3 hrs, currently about 10PM, and we hadn't eaten anything thince about 12-1PM. My brother was about 3/4 and me 8/9. Hungry kids are not exactly happy. They wouldn't give us food, idk why, and wouldnt let my mom get something from outside, so they forced us to sit in that plane, extremely hungry and cranky. Finally, my mom was able to argue her way into them giving us some fruit, which I ate, but my brother, being a picky eater, didn't. We finally left around 1AM, and they served us snacks around 1:30-2AM, but my brother was already asleep. My mom and I ate though.<br>
THEN. We land in Paris and b/c of the delay, we missed our connecting flight. So they say they're going to put us up in a hotel for the night, and our flight will be next morning. We get to the hotel and they kept the dinner open for us even though it was like 2AM there, but the food was HORRIBLE. Every single entree was a duck meal, except for 1 insanely disgusting vegetable soup. Now, we don't eat duck, and my brother is probably the pickiest eater you'd ever meet, not to mention that he's cranky b/c he hasn't eaten for nearly 10-12 hours+. So we end up having bread and butter for dinner. Then the next day, on the plane to India, the stewardess spilt water on me. At least it was water though.
Seriously, the worst plane ride I've everrr been on.</p>
<p>^^ Future note: Always take snacks! Im a diabetic, and would HAVE to eat, so my mom always brings a bag (seriously like a duffel bag) full of food and supplies. </p>
<p>One of my friends who's Japanese went to Japan. On their return flight, the plane was grounded because security believed that some people on the flight were infected with SARS. I'm not sure where she was grounded, but they were stuck there for 2 days. Nobody was infected with SARS...so yea.</p>
<p>I thought this was funny, my best friend was coming in from Mississippi and someone went on the intercom and said, "Is there a doctor aboard??" That would freak me out...I made a joke after she told me this: "It would be even scarier, if someone came on and said, 'Is there a snake specialist aboard??' " Got a few laughs...</p>
<p>one time I was flying from London-Heathrow to Chicago O'Hare and it was on August 13th (or 12th i forget) this last year, and it was just a few days after the whole terrrorist bomb scare and we were in the BA (British Airways) Terminal and it was freaking packed and then we missed our flight b/c of background checks and the fact we came from Pakistan via India. so yeah....</p>
<p>My flights weren't too bad. The last time I was going from my regular location to the one I'm in right now, the flight was an hour late and then took another half hour to change a tyre. So I stayed in the lounge unable to leave, while every person in sight was smoking in what was clearly a no smoking zone.
My nostrils actually started to hurt from all the smoke.
And the food on the plane wasn't exactly edible.</p>
<p>I ate a bag of old m&ms before a 6 hour plane ride. They were rotton or something and I had food poisoning for the entire trip. Throwing up in those tiny bags for 6 hours is not my idea of a good time. </p>
<p>PS. Can we try and cut down on all the name dropping? I get that you all fly everyone all the time and that you're very rich, but honestly...I don't care.</p>
<p>ummm one i was just next to a very obese guy who was sweaty and it was extremely uncomfortable...the other, on a trip to israel, i sat next to an orthodox jew who couldnt stop bothering me asking me to pray and trying to get me to go in the back with the other guys praying and teach me. i just wanted to sleep :</p>
<p>I can't believe I forgot this one in my OP...flying to DC and had to use the bathroom. Well there was some turbulence so we had the seatbelt light on most of the way. When it went off I went to the bathroom and when I came back out they had turned the light back on and the flight attendant was a couple rows ahead of the bathroom.
Our conversation:
Her: "You have to sit down. Go back to your seat and sit down."
Me: "I just went to the bathroom. My seats right up there...look, just six rows."
Her: "No. The seatbelt light is on and everyone must remain seated at this time."
Me: "Why aren't you?"
Her: "Uh...well, uh...I'm making sure HOODLUMS like you don't wander."</p>
<p>w.t.f.?? where am i going to "wander" on an airplane?? and hoodlum? i'm a white female born and raised on an iowa farm. does she think i'll use my cow-milking skills to rob her or something? and who says "hoodlum" anyway?</p>
<p>Well after a while of attracting an audience, she still wouldn't let me go back to my seat--and it was a full flight so I couldn't just plop down anywhere. After literally TEN minutes of trying to get back to my seat, the pilot came over the intercom and said "We are now approaching our descent" (or something like that) and she told me "i think it's best that you sit down now for the final approach" and let me through. Hello?? That's what I wanted to do ten minutes before!</p>
<p>Reminds me, when I was 4 or so, I came out of the bathroom with my pants down at my ankles because...actually I really don't know why...but I walked to my parents seats. Gave the flight a good laugh</p>
<p>first they start boarding, and as soon as I get on the plane, I smell this funky smell that's there when they don't vacuum the plane. I'm really sensitive to dust and stuff like that, I can tell if they vacuumed or not, and clearly they didnt. I sat down, and then the flight attendant has me, my sister and my grandmother switch seats because there was more air on my side or whatever, (This was a B757 jet, it was an ABC DEF configuration with one aisle, they both have the same goddamn amount of air!!!!) anyway 7:55PM. Flight's scheduled to leave NYJFK. 8:35PM. Plane finally pushes back from the gate. Takes off, lands in Vegas at like 11 or something. Then a 1hr layover turns into a 6hr layover. Oh yeah, AND WHEN WE BOARDED WE FOUND OUT THAT FOR THE SECOND SEGMENT OF THE FLIGHT, THEY GAVE OUR GODDAMN SEATS AWAY TO SOME OTHER PEOPLE!!!!!! So big fiasco with that, and then we landed at SFO at 5:30AM. We were supposed to get in at midnight. NEVER AGAIN, AMERICA WEST!!!!</p>
<p>1) Flying out of a really small airport, I got hand checked. It was one of the more awkward experiences of my life. I felt like after that the guy should have at least bought me dinner.</p>
<p>2) Coming home from a school trip, a flight that was supposed to last 35 minutes ended up lasting 3 hours, and then we missed our connection. To make a very, very long story short, a trip that would have taken us five hours to drive took us thirteen hours to fly.</p>
<p>3) The time I was wearing a white shirt on a turbulent flight and the guy next to me ordered red wine.</p>
<p>Has anyone seen the comedian Jeff Dunham talking about his worst airplane story? I don't know, this reminded me of that.</p>