Flying Horror Stories.
 

OK we all have one to tell...whats yours?

When I flew over earlier this week I was one of the first on the plane because I was travelling with an infant anyhow our seats were window and aisle over the wing... 2 women were sat behind us when they got on the plane I over heard one say to the other (with a nasty attitude) trust us to get these seats... it is gonna be so noisey (she looks directly at my daughter and says really loud) and I don't just mean because of the engines' That was the first of a few digs. while I was waiting for everyone else to get on I had my daughter sat on my lap the woman in front of me gets on sits down fastens her seat belt then reclines her seat :rolleyes: felt like I had her sat on my lap too! anyhow one of the cabin crew noticed and asked my if I would like to move and I said yes... one of the women sat behind me actually thanked me for agreeing to move like I did it for her!!! :mad:

By the way my daughter was perfect on the flight... she cried for all of about 30 secs taking off and maybe 1 min when we landed. She selpt 5.5 hours. I had people complimenting on how quiet she had been when they were getting off.

I also had a similar problem when flew over last Oct I was heavly pregnant and I had the woman infront just about sat on my lap...one of the cabin crew (without being asked) asked her if she would mind putting her seat up alittle because I was pregnant... she got really irrate yelling (and I mean yelling) that if I wanted more room I should haved cited medical reasons when I booked blah blah. She was right in that she had paid for her ticket and had every right to recline her seat but she didn't need to be so nasty about. Anyhow I made sure she didn't have a comfortable flight ;) and the cabin crew were exactly nice with her either :D

Unfortunetly I can only afford to fly cattle class right now... maybe someday I will be able to fly business or 1st class

Ash

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

Wow, I can't believe how incredibly rude some people are. I've flown so many times and I can't think of one that stands out above the others. You just know when you try and cram so many people in a small space that someone is going to act like an arse. Hope your trip back is better. :)

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

I fly cattle class and premium economy (occasionaly), I always thinks thats its inevitable you are going to come across a screaming baby at some point. Parents always seem to be aware of this and luckily on the flights ive been on they have made the effort to move about the plane and try and get the baby to be quiet.

I always think; im sure the parents want a quiet flight as much as everyone else and all the posts on this forum enforce that. Next time Id make the point that if they want a quiet flight they can pay the extra 4k or whatever it is and fly business if they want.

They also give out ear plugs on long haul flights so hand them an extra set for good measure! :)

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

One flight we had a few years ago coming back from Heathrow. We 3 were sat in the bulkhead row with a woman on the aisle seat. She had a carry on (pull along case) that either was too big to go up top or not enough room. She had it lying down on the ground and kept constantly pushing it into my foot space. I just pushed it over into her space and then did not move my feet from the edge of my area. It was just uncomfortable having my feet and legs at an angle when they shouldn't have been. She also went up and down the cabin before everyone had boarded and took the pillow and blankets of other peoples seats and said she was cold. She complained about a lot of things on the flight including the food. She had a special meal which looked and smelled awful, but she ate it then complained. We were only glad it was a 7 hr flight and not one to Australia. Our only other problem flights have not had enough leg room, (cattle class).

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

Hi Ash

As mother of two and step mum to three, I always feel for the parents on planes when their baby/child won't stop crying. I've heard people complaining about the noise just like you described. No sympathy or anything. I just want to say to the mum and dad that it's ok and if I'm near enough always do. Most of us with kids have been in that situation at one time or another whether it's a train, plane or bus (or anywhere in public for that matter) and have felt so stressed worrying about the other passengers. It's easy to forget what it was like. I'm just relieved these days that I don't have to do it any more although that's debatable with our childrens ages ranging from 11 to 22! Even at 11 they usually have something to moan about when travelling!

Maggie .

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

Ah.....thank goodness you arrived safely! From the title of your thread I initially thought that you had had an emergency landing!

I wouldn't have liked to have been a passenger on this Korean Airlines flight landing in Hong Kong....

http://www.flightlevel350.com (video is top row, 2nd from the left) :scared:

Yes I do think it's best to strap little ones into their own seats and not sitting on mum or dad's lap LOL!!! :cool:

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

I have actually been on a plane that had to make an emergancy stop... which is one of the reasons I really wanted Emily in her own seat. About 5 or 6 years back when I was headed home from Florida the plane was speeding down the run way just about to lift off and he had to stop because of some warning light... there was no warning at all and everyone was thrown forward quite hard... my hips hurt for quite a while after that.

Ash :)

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

Hubby tells me that the plane landed in this way cos of cross-winds, (seems like they were very, very angry)!! :eek:

Not something I'd like to experience myself... :scared:

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

That's a cool site. I'd love to go to St Maarten and stand on the beach whilst a 747 flies a few feet overhead!

I think the approach to the old Hong Kong airport involved lots of low flying over houses and tight turns in order to get lined up.

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

My worst flight was from Savannah to Atlanta.

We were getting close to landing and the plane suddenly dropped. And I mean dropped. It must have been bad turbulence.

The trolley dollies (they love that) grabbed hold of anything they could and drinks were flying. Then, a number of people started screaming and I thought this was the big one.

The engines started roaring and it soon righted it self and we landed 30 minutes later. Thankfully, I had change of underwear but I was put off from flying for a while after that one.

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

My worst flight was from Philly To Gatwick on Continental (I know, I was desperate). The row in front of me consisted of two kids around 5-7 and their dad who was like the pushy dad on The Fast Show? Can't for the life of me remember the character's name. It was an overnight flight but he decides to keep the kids up all night to play video games. It wasn't so much the kids playing, and jumping up and down on the seats :eek: but the flippin Dad who cheered every time he beat his kids and kept reminding them how much better he was than them. To top it all off both the kids barfed just before we landed, and the dad went to get the mum rather than sort it out himself :rolleyes: What a complete twat. Any time I've sat near kids and babies on planes they have always been better behaved than some adults.

I'm a spoilt cow now and fly first class on airmile upgrades. You may get more room, and better food, but believe me you're not excluded from the fair share of tossers up front too :o

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

I sat next to a woman on an AA flight from Heathrow to Chicago. She was without a doubt the smelliest person I have ever had the misfortune to be near. I really cannot describe how revolting it was, you could smell her from a few rows away. I sat for the whole flight with the overhead air on full blast in my face (and her obviously unhappy about that, from the faces she was making). The flight was completely full so although I asked to be moved, there was nowhere to be moved to. She didn't speak any English, and was, I believe, from India (dressed in traditional clothes). I can only believe she may have been travelling for a few days and had not been able to shower. I will never do that again.

My all-time worst flight was Chicago to London, but I missed the flight I should have been on, due to thunderstorms in ORD, and managed to get on the last flight out, but in coach (I had upgraded on the original flight). It was a 767-300 (I hate the 767, slow, no seatback video, cramped and very few lavs) and I had the overwing emergency exit. I didn't realize until I sat in the sat that it did not recline, so that got me pi$$ed off to start with. 4 hours into the flight, and I was dozing, when the captain come over the PA and announced that they had a problem with one engine, and that they would be returning to New York as they had maintenance facilities there. So 3 hours back to NY, was landed on the dead of night. They taxied to a remote part of the A/P and shut down. With it being the height of summer, the temperature inside the plane was unbelievable. I felt faint and basically everybody on the plane was moaning and complaining (with good reason). After about 3 hours they had fixed what ever was wrong, but we have to wait another hour for a replacement crew. They didn't bother to get extra food or drinks loaded, nor empty the lavs. So it won't suprise you to find that for the remainder of the flight there were no drinks other than water, and the lavs were slowly taken out of commission as they were filthy and probably full. Got into Heathrow something like 9 hours later than planned, completely knackered. I complained to AA afterwards and they give me 20,000 airmiles for my trouble.

The strangest was the flight back to the UK on Sept 14th 2001, the first flight from Chicago to Heathrow, let's just say everyone was tense and happy to land. I was delayed in Chicago for 2 days waiting for the flight. I saw the longest lines ever for check-in. They must have been more that 2 miles long, stratching out of the AA hall and down the road. The flight was 1/2 empty, mainly because most people didn't manage to check-in, or were delayed by the security checks.

I do travel quite a bit though, in 2001 I came to the US and back 13 times, Australia (via HK) and South Africa. I was Executive Platinum (8 1-way upgrades free!). Now I am 'only' Gold, but for life, as I made the million mile club.... I am currently at 1.5Million miles, only 500,000 to go before I make Platinum for life! Oh and at 3 million you are Platinum Exec for life (we have one guy at our company who is at 3.2 Million miles, good grief!) That's about 5800 hours on average, or about 2/3 of a year, solidly sitting on a plane going somewhere.

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

Yep, I had some weird experiences.

In 97 I flew to Australia, the old bid I sat next too had a coughing attack the whole 13 hours to singapore! luckily she got off there, if I had to endure another 7 hours after that I would of gone mental.

on our last trip back to the U.K in sept, I was sat next to mr and mrs stinky that had been travelling, her hair was starting to dread, he took the "french" approach and squirted half a bottle of aftershave all over himself, I was so pissed off, I had to cover my face in a blanket, but still it got up my nose.

On the way back, my 3 year old would sit back and stick her feet against mateys chair in front of us, he was thoughly irratated and would do, only what could be described as a massive spastic attack. When the grub came out, he purposely had a "seizure" in his chair and pelted the chair back and forth, Mrs Yosser almost lost it and shouted across to me "if he does that again, I'm going to smack the living sh!t out of him.....

I was so embarrased :(

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

Great isn't it? I hit Platinum with American Airlines in August. 20,000 miles and $75 to upgrade to business class on a flight to the UK! Spent the whole flight next to some obnoxious drunk with a flatulence problem! If he'd have been in cattle then I'm sure they would have stopped serving him!

Re: Flying Horror Stories.
 

Executive Platinum, I'm jealous :D

Hubby got Gold for life, hit a million miles.