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Flying in a plane that got hit by lightening, then dropped so far that the oxygen things fell out of the ceiling. So far that it was written up in the NY Times the next day (albeit on page 18).
Had trouble flying for many years without massive amounts of alcohol or Xanex after that experience. I still panic in turbulence.
My worst one was when I was just a little late to the airport and all the coincidental bad lucks thenceforth falling together: when I arrived at the airport the plane had not taken off yet, but they closed the check-in, so they said I could decide either to change date (not much penalty) or schedule for the next flight a couple hours away (4-digit extra bucks--don't remember the exact figure). That was not an important trip but I didn't feel like returning home after all the hassles of preparations, so I paid the hefty for the rescheduled next flight. After getting on the plane waiting for take-off, they kept delaying, finally the announcement had it that they discovered some problem with one of the plane's doors and had to order a new one from out of the city. We thus waited until 4 or 5 hours later when they finally had the door delivered. The hotel I booked refused to refund the night that I didn't stay, nor did the airline compensate me. On my return during that same trip back to the airport, there was a truck somehow stuck in the middle of the road blocking our airport bus for a very long time, after that, the driver, being a newbie on the job, lost directions causing another significant delay. I believe some bus passengers missed their flight for that. All in all, I counted at least 4 unfortunate unexpected troubles for that unimportant, unnecessary trip. Since then, I always made sure to get to the airport early, and avoid a trip if it's unnecessary.
Flying in a plane that got hit by lightening, then dropped so far that the oxygen things fell out of the ceiling. So far that it was written up in the NY Times the next day (albeit on page 18).
Had trouble flying for many years without massive amounts of alcohol or Xanex after that experience. I still panic in turbulence.
Geez, thanks for reminding me.
Good grief, my stomach droppped just reading that. The exact reason I use drugs drugs drugs while flying. Even the teeniest tiniest bit of turbulence sets me off. In fact, I'm on edge the entire flight unless I have drugs drugs drugs.
My worst in recent memory is a few weeks ago we on a flight from Abu Dhabi to Washington Dulles. After a nearly 16 hour flight we landed about a hour after a snowstorm ended. We had to wait almost an hour for them to clear the snow from the gate before we could disembark. Then we had to wait almost two hours for our baggage because the doors to the cargo hold were frozen. Finally when I got to my car, I had to dig it out from under about 6 inches of snow but fortunately they were in the process of clearing the parking lot so they cleared the snow away from the back of my car so I didn't have problems getting out. However I did have problems getting into my driveway. I was able to make it to my house but couldn't get into my driveway so we had to shovel the driveway and the walkway so that I could park, after getting stuck for a while in the middle of the street in front of the house, and then had to carry the bags in after all of that.
We have mainly flown on jets but also commuter prop planes.
The smallest prop plane we ever flew on was a connecting flight from St. Vincent's to Union Island In the Grenadines. When we checked in at a tiny airport and they took our luggage and threw it through a hole in the wall behind them and onto the tarmac, we realized what we were in for. The two of us were sitting shoulder to shoulder with our opposite shoulder touching the plane. There were seven passengers; no chickens, but groceries a woman had from her shopping trip. We had a clear view of the pilot and his GPS was the same one we had for our small sailboat, worth about $250. The pilot announced we were picking up a passenger on Bequia. What?!? We did the unscheduled landing, picked the passenger up and took off.
The pilot flew low over the water and it was beautiful seeing the water and reefs. And yeah, I was wondering if we were going to see our loved ones again. It's a great story to tell, well after the fact.
Flying in a plane that got hit by lightening, then dropped so far that the oxygen things fell out of the ceiling. So far that it was written up in the NY Times the next day (albeit on page 18).
Had trouble flying for many years without massive amounts of alcohol or Xanex after that experience. I still panic in turbulence.
Geez, thanks for reminding me.
I had a similar experience, only I was 13 and we were flying in a bad thunderstorm circling the airport over and over around ATL waiting for clearance to land. The turbulence was so bad people were intermittently crying and screaming. We circled for so long (2 hours) and the storm was so terrible, that I had to pee really bad, but the flight attendant wouldn't let me get up due to the turbulence. She eventually told me it was OK to pee in my seat. Being unable to hold my bladder any longer, I did, so adding to my terror was embarrassment at peeing my pants at age 13 I take Xanax while flying to this day, 25 years later.
Also, has anyone been turned back after arriving at destination city due to inadequate documentation?
I'd be surprised to hear of this happening in recent time. In my experience, they won't even let you board the plane without checking your passport at least a couple of times. I've heard of people not being able to travel because they didn't check to see if they needed a visa for entry into their destination.
Ooh, I've got one and it's bad and it was only about 3 years ago. I had been dating a man for several months and off and on I had my doubts about the future of the relationship. I had been planning a trip with my daughters to Scotland even before I met the man and as soon as he heard about it, he was spoiling to go. I held him off awhile but he somehow wormed his way to getting an invite.
So, we had it planned for mid-June, tix bought, everything ready to go and then he said something so phenomenally stupid that I knew that I could never sleep with him again, so I told him that it would be great if he were to get a doctor excuse so I could get a ticket return, but he insisted that he still wanted to go. I told him the relationship was over but he still wanted to go so I said that if he could behave himself and not make us uncomfortable in any way, then he could go but if any issues came up whatsoever, he would be on his own. You may wonder why I agree to this but it's because he had only just written me a check for the ticket I had bought and I didn't want to be stuck with $1000.
So, flying out, seats together on a crowded flight. Flight delays due to tornado activity in Chicago. Got there finally and discovered that he had only brought a Discover card. To Europe. Had claimed to be an experienced traveller. So it was obvious that he had planned to travel on my dime. Not young and cute enough to get a sugar momma as he was older than me. Dumped him in Glasgow while he cried like an abandoned child. Ugh. (Oh yeah and did I mention we spotted him talking to himself out on the street corner when he thought he was unobserved?)
Then, the flight back. There are no words. The flight out of Chicago was delayed again. By 8 hours. 8 hours spent in an airport with an angry retired Jungian Psychologist with a major sense of entitlement. We got to my house at 1:00 in the morning and he had a 2.5 hour drive to his and as crazy as I was at that point I simply could not find it in my heart to make him drive home that night so I let him spend the night on the couch while he sobbed loudly. I swear that every word of this is true. I'm not a stupid person but I don't seem to have much sense when it comes to relationships but then he was my first after my 23 year marriage crashed and burned.
PS--the check did clear for the flight but I suspect that was b/c I told him that if it didn't he'd have to find another way to get home. I wasn't at all sure it was possible for me to do that but it must have worked.
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I take Xanax while flying to this day, 25 years later.
