Get those wheels down!

Back in the early 70’s I was flying with my parents from Bali back to Singapore on an Air Garuda flight. As we start circling to land a loud grinding noise is heard by all. It’s the sound of hydraulics forcing metal on metal. Shortly after the noise stopped the co-pilot or navigator came out of the cockpit, Opened a panel in the floor. (Can’t remember if we climbed down into the hold) But essentially he had to manually pump down the landing gear.

I still have the scars on my arm from where my mothers nails bit into my forearm

THANK YOU for the opportunity to share. I made a reservation on-line for a trip to SC a month before my departure date–Easter weekend. I wasn’t allowed to pick my seat on-line–that would be done at the airport, per the web site (Expedia). 30 minutes before departure time, the gate attendant starts boarding the plane and I was first in line. She told me to stand “over there” and boarded other passengers. Then she detailed other passengers to stand “over there” with me. Periodically, I would interrupt her nicely and ask when I would be allowed to board. Eventually, I was allowed to board, but the nice young man standing next to me was not. When the plane took off, the seat next to me was unoccupied. What’s going on? What does it mean to have an e-ticket for a flight–nothing, apparently. Do the airlines think we buy tickets and go to the airport because it’s a fun way to spend the day? No way.

I was supposed to take a quick 4 day trip to visit my sister in Utah during spring break. Unfortunatly I had a foot injury at the time, and ended up going to the airport on crutches. After the painful process of going through security(and being stopped so that my crutches and foot brace could get bomb tested, as well as getting extra security scrutiny) I got to the gate plenty early and sat waiting patiently for my flight. Several minutes before the flight they mentioned that they were overbooked and were looking for 8 people to volunteer to give up seats( on a small direct flight from Pittsburgh to Salt Lake) I went and asked if there was a possibility of getting booted off the flight, and I was told yes. Unfortunatly no one volunteered and I was told there were no more flights until tommorow, and that my flight would no longer be direct. They did give me a voucher for the airport hotel, but that still meant making my way there and going back through security the next day on crutches. Also they sent my bags to Utah while I was stuck so I was left with no luggage. The next day going through security again and then again on the flight I was asked to walk without the crutches to make it easier for them to check/stow the crutches. So I ended up missing 2 days of my 5 day trip. Lets just say I will be avoiding that airline from now on!!

Oh gosh Stanley! Where does one begin! I’m Executive Admin to Executive Extraordinaire – a true road warrior 250K a year (not long from now they will name a Terminal after him at JFK). The sky could fall, the stock market plummet – nothing is worse than when my mobile phone rings around the time Mr. Extraordinaire is due at any given airport around the globe…my stomach turns sour and instinctively (like a dog smells fear) I know the next 2 hours of my time will be spent yelling at a travel agent, negotiating with a ticketing agent and threatening gate agent (is agent by the way the new politically correct word for clerk?). Just when you think you have the system down, in saunters Mother Nature to stir up the works, canceling flights and reeking havoc with meeting calendars. I realize my stance is a little different, I’m not always the traveler HOWEVER I am accountable for Mr. Extraordinaire’s sense of sanity, and let me just say if he is having a bad day…I’m having a bad day. I don’t like to have bad days. Oh let the blogging begin!!!!!!!!!!

A chance to gripe about today’s horrible flying experience, why not!

Back in March of this year on a trip back from Tokyo to San Francisco, I was looking forward to coming home after a couple weeklong trip. On the airline I shall not name I had a flight scheduled for early afternoon departure. I arrived at the airport about two hours early and checked in with a luggage. About an hour before departure time, I went through the custom passport process. But I was told my flight had canceled, by the custom officer. I was surprised and almost reluctant to turn back. But turn back I did. I don’t need to go through the details of trying to retrieve my checked luggage. But I did get it back much later that day. The reason for the flight cancel – a crew got sick. I could only imagine that crew was the only pilot of that major American airline. Most of the affected travelers got tossed into the airport hotel for an overnight stay. A few got lucky as they were able to get transferred to some other flights. The airline did apologize and offered a small incentive, but the experience was very unpleasant…

Having recently returned from a tour in Iraq, I was taking a weekend trip to see a friends wedding, and my girlfriend that I hadn’t seen in more than a year.

Now, I’ve never enjoyed the red-eye, but it was worth it for such a short trip. To start off, the plane was more than an hour late getting to the gate. Sadly, by calling American Airlines automated system, I knew more about the flight delays than the staff.

After finally boarding the plane, we just sat there. After an hour at the gate, we were informed that we couldn’t take off because a flight attendant didn’t show up for work. It took them another 6 HOURS to find a replacement. All this time spent in the plane, at the gate.

Of course, I missed my connecting flight and had to wait even longer. In the end, I barely made it to the wedding, and I got to spent an entire 4 hours with my girlfriend.

There is an unfortunate trend of using old planes and poor service for third world destinations such as Azerbijan, India, Lebanon, Ukraine etc.. by major airlines. There seems to be the expectation that clients to and from these destinations will accept anything the “developed world” gives them. While this may be true now, this will change.

Example, I was on a recent flight from one of these destinations to DC, via Vienna, in business class. The 5 hour flight to Vienna was on an old plane that was delayed 5 hours due to mechanical trouble, when I finally boarded was shocked to see that the business class seats were IDENTICAL to the economy seats. When I complained , I was told that the food service was different and justified calling it business class and the higher fare. Needless to say I never flew that airline again, but the thought of paying $6000 for a business class ticket where I spent 5 hours of my 14 hour total airtime in economy still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

My wife, mother in law and children were checking in for an overseas flight in Seattle at the self-serve kiosk. The clerks helped people on both sides did not look at us, then left the area, when they returned they helped people who came 5 minutes after us. I told the clerk we had been waiting, she said you’ll have to wait your turn. I said, we have been waiting a long time. She then told me she would not assist us because we were “pushy”. I asked to speak to the “manager”, she said, now nobody will help you. The main she was assisting said “My, god. I’m sorry” to me. Then, she called me an a**hole in front of my children and the women next to her smiled. So, I went to see the manager. She politely helped us, but would not take a complaint. She told me that they were very busy and because of airline policies, people weren’t getting their holidays or pay raises. She never apologized. As I walked away with my family to security, the clerk yelled out again “a(*&hole”. She was not reprimanded. My wife was in tears and was afraid to fly with the airline. A week later I came back to speak to a different manager, he simply said, we have no person who looks like the one you described, I don’t know what I can do for you. It doesn’t sound like our staff to me.

My wife was 7 months pregnant and flying with our 2 and 4 year olds. She brought a car seat for the 2 year old. Her stomach was too big to reach around to buckle the seat in place. She asked a stewardess to help, the stewardess said “That’s not my job. You’ll have to find someone else to help you.” Later, we flew a Japanese airline. The stewardess asked if she could assist with the kids, gave them coloring books, even read them a short book…..

Flying is the biggest pain for me. I travel often like once a month or 2 months. And in the last over a year I have never had a flight that was on time or everything went smooth with it.
The worst one in last year was few months ago. I took an extra day off from so I can spend more time home. My flight was with a major airline, and was supposed to leave at 3:25pm. I get to the airport 2 hrs in advance, takin half a day off from work. Everything went smooth, which i was kind of surprised about. 30 min before the flight they announce that the flight is delayed by 2 hrs because of weather, which i m now used to. So i wait another hour and they announce that the flight has been cancelled. thats when all hell broke lose. there was a huge line at the gate, people trying to get information, book flight. they handed out the phone no. for customer service, and apparently all the lines there were busy. i had another no for the airline, and I got lucky and booked a flight for the next day at 1:30 pm, since they had nothing before that for me. but they advised me to come to the airport in the morning and keep trying to get an early flight. I wasnt happy about it, as I ended up the wasting a day and half that I took off from work.
Although few flights at same time left for the same destination same time, and they never explained why our flight was cancelled and no other.
Well next morning I get to the airport, pay for parking again, and wait and kept trying. 3 flights left before 1:30 and they couldnt accomodate me on any even though I learned that all those flights had a few empty seats on them. Finally 1:30pm, tired and frustrated, I get on the flight 24hrs later and luckily that flight was on time. Well I never got any apology from the airline though.
other incidents with other flights…plane is at the airport, but the crew is in some other city, cant close the door of an old plane, luggage not loaded on plane, the list goes on and on.
Only if I could, I would never fly again….but I am out of luck

My son joined the army and went to boot camp at Fort Knox Ky. I’ve been back twice to see him. On the second trip I stupidly wore a diamond tennis bracelet. I had trouble with the tray in the arm rest on the Portland to Dalls flight and I am pretty sure that is where my bracelet came off. OH MY GOSH! I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to try to find a phone number for lost and found, and they only keep the items turned in for 15 days because of limited space. Needless to say I have not regained possession of my bracelet. I hope the next person enjoyes it as much as I did.

En route to an 8 am speaking engagement in Santa Barbara, my itinerary included a stop in San Francisco, and a change of planes to Santa Barbara the night before. At about 8 pm, the airline I was on canceled the flight (no doubt because there were just 3 of us waiting to board the 737). What to do? Fortunately, or so I thought, another airline had a 10 pm flight to Oxnard, from where I could catch a 40 minute cab ride to Santa Barbara. So, I bought an egregiously expensive one way fare to Oxnard, and after about an hour delay, I boarded the 10 seat prop plane, all by myself. The short flight was not short enough, as we flew pretty much directly through a thunderstorm, in the roughest- scariest-most nauseating ride I have ever had in my million-plus mile airline “career”. Blessedly, the lights of the Oxnard airport because visible below, and we were cleared to land. But wait, right before my eyes, the airport lights went dark – for at east 30 minutes, causing us to circle in the thunderstorm – leaving me and the pilot to ponder the frightening prospect of returning via the thunderstorm to San Francisco, or taking our chances at LAX. The lights did eventually come on, we landed in Oxnard, and I found one taxi available for the drive on a dakr 2 lane road along the coast to Santa Barbara. All seemed ok, as I expected to arrive by 3 am, catch a few hours sleep, and give my talk as planned. Fate intervened, however, as 10 minutes into the ride, the cab’s headlights went out, completely out. The question then became, do the cabbie and I die in a head-on returning to Oxnard, or do I die in a head-on trying to get to Santa Barbara. We chose the latter, slowed down to a craw, and arrived at my hotel at about 4 am. Changed my underwear, had a little nap, staggered through my talk a couple of hours later, and immediately medicated myself with a couple of Bloody Mary’s.

Road Warrior…Rather Airport & Plane Warrior may be the best way to describe myself. Its a way of life trying to fight getting through airport and on the plane (seems like everyone these days is a executive platinum, Gold Medallion or any other elite clubs each airline has to offer). Since, everytime the ground crew announces “Now boarding Executive Platinum, Gold, Gold Elite, etc, the entire group of passenger seems to stand up. Now thats not even my story…
Checked-In at CVG (Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Airport for anyone who does not know) to take a flight to Lone Star State (DFW – Dallas FortWorth). Get on the plane and are informed by pilot that we do not have a clear for take off since DFW weather has been bad and we are on the plane for 2.5 hours in Cincinnati. 2.5 hours later, we finally take off for Dallas and most of the passengers are glad, they are headed to destination, until captain announces, due to bad weather, we will be going down South towards houston and make an entry northwards into Dallas. Which will add about 2 hours to flying time…Dull and gloomy faces around
Well, when we get towards south of Texas, captain informs, we are out of fuel and will land in houston to let passengers stretch and re-fuel. Its about 7 hours already and we are at a terminal in Houston at 11:00 pm, not sure when we’d be taking off. 1.5 hours later, we are ready to take off and this time, after take off are informed we will go towards Abilene, Texas and approach from the west. Well, at this point in time most of the passengers didnt board back in Houston, whoever boarded back in Houston had an expression…We could care less. We see Abilene airport from the sky and are circling to be informed by the Captain, we’ve run out of fuel and Abilene has no fuel either so are told we are going to Midland-Odessa. Off to Midland Odessa to refuel again..which is what we do. To cut the story short, it took us over 15 hours to get from Cincinnati to Dallas.
Understand, the weather is not under anyone control, but I believe the airlines today atleast must be forthcoming enough to provide the passengers the situation beforehand than once airborne where no choice can be made. They owe it to us !

Sure, I’ve got some good stories! On approach to Hartford, snow and ice everywhere. The biz jet in front of our 727 calls “braking nil” as he tries to maintain control on rollout. We have no choice but to divert—the closest suitable airport is Baltimore. On the ground, this business creep starts yelling at me about how important he is, and his big meeting, blah blah. I ask him if we went skidding off the runway if his colleagues could meet him in the fricking hospital. Then there was the time enroute to Portland, OR. Engine just up and quits in the middle of nowhere, at night, snow and wind. We head for Casper on one engine. Never been there, but it’s a runway. Mountains everywhere, no approach aids, night, wind. Yeah, we made it. I got a million of ‘em….Look, You guys got what you wanted: Fares at one half of what they were in 1978 (corrected for inflation), cheap upstarts all over the map, and miraculous safety in spite of weather, terrorists and outdated air traffic control. Your pilots are making a fraction of what they truly earn, are stretched to the bone with concessionary contracts, and still manage to get you there in one piece. You’re real heroes on blogs and at cocktail parties, telling tales about that rough time in seat 26C with a glass of wine in your hand while your pilots are wrestling that 767 beast through a thunderstorm; but in the tube at 35,000 feet you don’t whine so much. You’re welcome, ungrateful twerps. Get a pair.

I have well over 2 million miles in 25 years of air travel.
I am thus not a rookie and I well know the drill.
In early July I boarded an American flight with a scheduled pull back of 8:55am. At 9:40, with stifling cabin heat and little prior announcement, the captain announced that an APR was being brought over to assist in cooling the cabin. He also informed the passengers of the dreaded “valve” problem and said maintenance was on the way. Yadda Yadda.
THEN a passenger learned via cell phone of a death in the family and understandably, the jet bridge was brought back so the passenger could deplane. At that point the gate agent reboarded the flight and was standing fore with the crew, waiting for maintenance to arrive. I caught the agents attention and when the agent came to my seat, I stated “We have all had enough of this type of experience. This aircraft is either going to go, in which case let’s get it on, or it is NOT going to go, in which case let us all OFF the plane to return to the departure area and await information in reasonable comfort”. I added that “EVERY passenger would agree with this”.
The next thing that happened is that the Captain invoked his prvilege and ejected me as a “security threat”. American Airlines management apparently did not agree with this assessment, as they 1) allowed my checked bag to remain on the flight and 2) gave me Government-priority standby status on the next flight. I only lost a half day of business in return for expressing an opinion.
This is simply corporate “muzzling” at its very worst, under the auspices of “security”.
The upshot is that Captains clearly have complete command rights of their aircraft under aviation law….but I guess they do NOT have to be responsible for using good judgement!

I was traveling from Singapore to SFO last summer on United and was seated next to a newly married couple who just couldn’t seem to keep their harmones under control. After 2 very uncomfortable hours I called the air hostess and asked to be moved to a new seat and explained to her my discomfort with open and lewd displays of affection. She came back to me after 20 minutes and said the flight was full and she couldn’t find another seat for me in economy class. She said she would check with the head of the cabim crew and see whether I can be upgraded to business. To my utter dismay and horry, the head of the cabin crew came by our seats and asked the couple next to me if they would like to be moved to business class seats!! They were sent to business class and I was sitting thinking maybe the free show was better!

back when i was in college, i used to fly cross-country from la-boston-la during breaks. i remember one time when i got shuffled to another seat in the back of an old boeing plane because of some booking mix-up and i guess also because of overselling by the airline. anyhow, i got stuck beside a big guy who was a chain smoker. he was so big his arms and thighs crossed over the armrest boundary. to make matters worse, we were in the smoking section so he kept smoking. i am not a smoker so i was really bothered and uncomfortable during the whole trip. he was sweaty and hairy and it didn’t make matters any better. that was the worst flight i’ve been on and it was a long one too.

Leaving Monday to go to San Angelo, Texas to teach my final course for (company).

Rain delayed out of CS Airport – Get to DFW Airport late, but in plenty of time for connecting flight…3 gate changes later…

Sitting there, a lady starts talking to me, I’m chatting back a little. She’s a native of Sana Angelo and advises me to go see the sights! “Oh…what sights are those?” says I…”The river” she says…”Ok…what else” says I? “That’ll cover it” says she…turns out person on the other side of the lady is also going to San Angelo to teach a risk management course to (company). Wow…what a strange coincidence!!!

American Airlines announcement: flight cancelled…see desk for rebooking. A seething mass of (humanity??) rushes the desk, as if first or second in line gets you extra brownie points! The standard of care is quickly established. — No seats on later flights to San Angelo. No flights out to any other point (like returning to CS.) No flights out to anywhere. No rental cars available….they’ve been cancelling flights since 7AM and every place within 40 miles is wiped out of rental cars. I was like the 31st person in line. I make it to the desk. One of the clerks now decides to take a break, says “I haven’t eaten since 8am this morning” (meanwhile, there are still 20 people in line….) Witness to flaring duel between the 2 gate agents as one calmly munches away on her snack while the other one waits on frustrated customers.

So…the 30th person in line is the other instructor (going to (company) San Angelo)…she makes the decision to drive, since she lives locally. “Um…..want a passenger?” says I? “How do I know you’re not an ax murderer?” says she? How do I know you’re not an ax murderess?” says I? Holds up purse….”I can’t fit an ax in here” says she. (musing…yeah…but a Glock would fit nicely) thinks I, contemplating being found dead in a field outside of DFW area, double tapped in the back of the head… Guess we’ve have to trust each other. She has to make some phone calls…(I find out later that apparently one of them was to (company) to confirm that there was indeed a Bob going to San Angelo to teach a communication course.) She agrees to give me a ride there.

“Hi Hon?…Um….I met a lady in the airport and I’m leaving with her…I love you…see you Wednesday, talk to you soon!”

To AA: “Can we get our luggage back please?” AA: 4 hours until it is brought to baggage claim. To AA: “But there are no planes flying! Why should it take 4 hours?” AA: I’m sorry sir, but that’s what it is. To AA: Ship it on the 8:30 plane…30 minutes later, after bus to parking lot…wow…nice beamer! (The lady I hitched a ride with is a lawyer…apparently, a good one) (if you’re going to hitch a ride with a complete stranger, she might as well have a nice car…helps to have good padding on the seats as you absorb the impact from the rounds fired from the Glock)

….on the road outside of Abilene…musing….hey…what if the 8:30 flights screws up…maybe we ought to stop at a Wal*Mart and get necessities. Stop. No Wal*Mart. Stop at Sonic. “Hey kids..where’s there a Wal*Mart?” “Go down to the road and turn left”. “What’s the name of number of the road?” Blank stares. (Kids apparently don’t drive around town much.) Get to Wal-Mart following their directions, only it turns out to be a Target. No problem– Shop – Drive.

Get to San Angelo 11:15 Avis closed at 11 Go to AA. “Can we get our bags please?” AA: What bags…there have been no flights in. (Gee…good thing we stopped at Target!) File baggage claim…set for hotel delivery…Ah…Hertz is open…”Got a car on state rate?” No! “Got a car?” Yes! “Why can’t I get state rate?” You didn’t reserve one. “Fine….just give me a car.” Get car. The ax murderess (a.k.a. the other instructor) and I part ways.

Hotel – few hours sleep – drive to (company). (company): participant notebooks? shipped in last week? What participant notebooks? “The ones I have a UPS confirmed receipt for” says I. Teach. (company): an hour later…. oh….THOSE participant notebooks…we found them in a closet…Teach. hotel…food…sleep…

Midnight: cell phone rings-”This is an American Airline flight status notification alert…..” 7AM flight cancelled…call blah blah blah for rebooking…dialing…pleasant female voice…our current hold time is forty-…. five-….. minutes – (45 minutes!!! at midnight? )

Pass the time reading a Brad Thor book…1AM….AA: may I help you…explain situation, ask to rebook. AA: no problem sir….I can have you rebooked for …lets see…. Friday afternoon… Laughing… “I’m sorry, I thought you said Friday”…AA: Yes sir, Friday afternoon. “BUT IT’S TUESDAY!” AA: I’m sorry sir, that’s the first available. “Fine….rent me a car, I’ll drive home.” AA: I’m sorry sir, this is weather related, we are not obligated to pay for weather issues. “So are you going to pay for my room while I sit and wait for 3 days for you to fly me out? ” (Editorial note: original text expressing situational frustration could not be printed due to this being a family oriented publication) AA: I’m sorry sir, this is weather related, we are not obligated to pay for weather issues. “Why are other airlines flying?” AA: I couldn’t answer that sir…can I do anything for you sir? “Yes…get me the number for Continental!”

Dialing….Continental: May I help you? Explain situation….Cont: ok…I can get you on a flight out at 6AM “Book it” Cont: but sir, I haven’t told you the price. “I don’t care…book it.” 1:30am….go to bed…

3:00am…..CRASH, BAM, BOOM….(Holy Mother of God, what was that?) Bad thunderstorms ….emphasis on BAD!…widespread power outages, Verizon wireless completely knocked off the air….time to get up anyhow….check out. (Ever have a taquito at Whataburger at 4AM?) Go to airport. Cont: Not sure if flying, going to check everyone in and do security screening, etc….very small window to get off ground…all passengers be ready for expedient boarding…writing tickets manually…power and links to main systems off-line…Wait…Cont: We’re all ready! um…except the guy that drives the fuel truck overslept….we’re trying to get him here before the flight window expires….

6:19 AM lift off….
The lovely hamlet of San Angelo disappears below.140 minutes later, after doing the aerial tour of North (yes, North) Texas to avert storms, we land at Houston, gate A2…get out, check….CS flight at gate A1 Wow….on time….10:10…take off…fly…land…no luggage! (pondering….just how in the heck do you lose luggage between Gate A2 and Gate A1 ??)…file baggage claim…go to work….

(Pondering….how in the blazes am I going to explain this one to the business office….????)

Just one of many examples in the past 6 months.

July 15, 2007 – RDU to IAD on United. Scheduled flight is at 7:30pm. Starting around 5:00pm start receiving automated phone calls from United saying the flight is delayed til 8:30 and then til 9:00 due to weather. I head to the airport and wait. Incoming flight arrives at 9:00pm, they announce a quick turnaround but right after the announcement, I overhear the captain talk to the gate agent and I hear “Timed out”… crew is over their time limit. Flight cancelled. I call United and the Monday morning flights are overbooked, so get booked on the 10:30am flight but then am told they can’t lock it in until I un-check-in for the flight that was cancelled… WHAT?!?!? I ask for a supervisor and he gets me locked in on the flight but says he had to put in a request with the IT department to get me unchecked and then I’ll be able to check in for the new flight. The next morning I still can’t print my boarding pass so I have to call their IT folks so they can unlock it.
July 20, same trip, return flight, IAD to RDU – SO CLOSE!!!! Get to the gate, plane is there, ready. We board on time and sit for a while, noticing it’s getting warmer and warmer… guess what… no AC…. Again. The 3rd flight in two weeks I’ve been on in which the air conditioning wasn’t working. Captain tells us they’re reporting it to maintenance. 30 minutes later we are told that they’re deferring the repair but are waiting on paperwork to that effect. After waiting for another half hour for the paperwork saying they aren’t going to fix it, we finally take off 1 hour late. What exactly is the logic of having passengers sit on a plane with no AC for an extra hour? I honestly just don’t understand especially when the flight itself is only 45 minutes in duration to begin with!

I will not feel shy by naming my airlines because I want to tell everybody how bad they are. It is UNITED AIRLINES and Air India. We had the worst customer experience one can ever imagine. My mother and sister were travelling couple of weeks ago through Air India from Delhi to London and then to Chicago and finally Austin through United. They lost three of the four luggages and they have been searching for one of them from past 10 days with NO success. I must have spent around 25 hours (including me, my wife, my sister) but it looks like UAL customer folks (BTW they all are from India and they use english names Michael Smith and Betty Smith..so funny), but they couldn’t even locate the luggage. All they have been saying that I am sorry Sir and i am sorry madam. I am so fed up with these stup*d customer representatives and their lip services, I have decided to file a formal complain against UAL in Cosumer forum. Atleast UAL had a courtsey to receive the calls, please never ever travel through Air India, since they don’t have even a 1-800 number in USA and the number they have always go into answer machine without any replies or answer. It can’t get any worse than this. Air India has started direct service to Sillicon Valley and I will strongly suggest that one should not fly either with Air India and UAL b/c of the experience I had.

Many years ago,three of us from the main office of a company were traveling by car on business in Atlanta. We received a late afternoon call from the office that our cohart, Bill, absolutely had to be back in Little Rock by early the next morning – no exceptions. Atlanta was fogged in and the airport was temporarily closed. An airline agent was trying to help us and informed us that we had time to drive to Chattanooga, TN., and catch a flight out of there to Little Rock, but we would have to hurry. Hurry we did (even in the fog and mountains)and arrived at the Chattanooga airport where the weather was quite clear. At that time the Chattanooga airport was quite small and as we drove up we saw a plane boarding passengers at a time where we only had about 5 minutes to spare. We realized that was the plane Bill needed to be on so I suggested he run to the gate and I would go to the ticket counter and purchase the ticket. We did that and with a lot of waving back and forth between us and various airline emplyees we watch Bill get on board and see the plane leave almost instantly. We give a big sigh of relief and found a hotel room to spend a comfortable night after a job well done. As always we called the home office early the next morning to see if we had any urgent matters to take care of. They informed us that we had done a great job in getting Bill on the plane. However, it was a plane going only to Atlanta that had been held over waiting for the airport to reopen in Atlanta. Even though the airport was now open, the next flight to Little Rock was not until late morning the next day. Bill rented a car and drove all night to reach the home office early the next morning. No good deed goes unpunished.

Boarded American Airlines 100% full flight to Dallas. The obese woman sitting next to me refused to let the armrest down because she was too fat and had to also take up half of my seat. I got up and asked the flight attendant what the policy is regarding such a circumstance. “There is no policy” was the reply. . . . No way I could fly like that so I got off the aircraft and spoke to the gate agents (who also had no idea about any AA policy regarding overweight passengers.) They were nice enough to route my through LA, but the connecting flight was so close that I made it but my luggage didn’t. I much prefer the Southwest airlined policy os “if you’re too fat to sit in one seat then you need to buy two seats.” If AA had the same policy I would have had a much better trip, and I would continue my patronage to AA. As of today I no no longer fly AA. And I cancelled my AA credit card, too! I now fly other airlines.

Certain airline with a hub centered in the Great Lakes region was supposed to fly me from Los Angeles to Asheville NC for a wedding.

They flew me out to Detroit, upon landing I learned that they’d cancelled my onward flight to Asheville, refused to offer lodging, or meals, told me they couldn’t get me to Asheville the following day, either.

I responded with something like “you flew me out of Los Angeles at mid-day, cancelled my onward flight due to “weather”, then dumped me in Detroit on my own dime, telling me you couldn’t even get me to my final destination until Saturday AFTER the weeding would have taken place and I would be returning to LAX only 14 hours after that?!?!”

Pitiable airline, pitiable business practices, rotten customer service. In the end it took 36 hours to get from LAX to Asheville.

When I was coming back from Philly to New Orleans only a few weeks ago we had a flight canceled at 5:50pm and moved to 8:00pm. Which isn’t unexpected due to the time of year and Louisiana constantly having rain everyday.

Once I got to the airport the flight was delayed because they had another flight coming in and they had to switch Gates. So the new Boston flight got on the plane at 8:15pm and didn’t get to take off until about 9:00pm until instead of 8:30 because of delays.

After that our flight which was supposed to be at 9:00pm was moved back 30 more minutes. After everyone got on the plane at about 10:00pm we were in line for take off and had about 15-20 flights in head of us. It took 30 minutes for them to call take off. At 10:30pm we took off. By the time I drove home it was about 2:00am Central time, and I had to be at work at 8:00am. Leaving me with only 5 hours of sleep compared to getting home at about the expected 9:00pm.

I choose to not tell the name of the company. Though despite the fact I was delayed for such a long time, you kind of expect these things when you go to the airport.

With all the security and technology needed for airports to operate it’s amazing at times that companies are even willing to deal with that much stress and choas for so little in return.

My wife and I were flying coach on a non-stop, over booked flight from Sydney, Au > SFO. The seating was three across with me having the window seat, my wife had the middle and on the isle was a very old lady requiring oxygen for the duration of the flight. The flight crew placed her personal (hospital type) large oxygen tank on the floor and under the seat in front of her to keep it from rolling out into the isle. I imagine that since it was a 12 hour flight, it had to last. There was a massive amount of air tubing that had dropped to the floor around her feet making it impossible to get past her to walk around or visit the bathroom. Of course they knocked her out with a seditive so she didn’t move for the full 12 hours. We were stuck fearing we’d get her air tubing snared around our legs and we’d kill her for sure. We couldn’t be moved to another available seat and they didn’t offer us business class or first class alternate seating.

Last Saturday, I made the mistake of flying back to Houston from London via Washington Dulles. The plane arrived on schedule at Washington Dulles and the immigration was fast. But the security clearance (for transit passengers) was a big bottleneck with just two counters and hundreds of passengers queuing up.

Many of us missed our connected flights. I saw some passengers running to their gates. And Dulles airport do not connecting passageways. One has to take those tall transfer shuttles to other terminals.

I missed my flight by just five minutes but UA kindly put me up at a nearby airport hotel.

The flight down to Houston was also problematic. Mother Nature had placed a wall of thunderstorms along the East coast and our flight took a big detour to the North-West instead of direct to Houston.

Fifteen minutes out of Houston, the plane flew into a bank of big clouds. It immediately dropped a lot due to airpockets. The plane rose and fell repeatedly in large drops and rises. Some passengers were groaning.

I felt my body being lifted off the seat even though I had my seat belt on.

The turbulence was bad enough that the pilot had the emergency services meet the plane upon arrival at Bush International. It was worse flight in all the years.

I had the destinct joy of flying for two hours with United. I was seated at the back row, just in front of the broken toilet. The smell was so bad, I ended up using the airsickness bag. The first and only time it has happened. Since the liner was full, they could not move anyone. When I got off of the plane, I met a friend who said I smelled like a urinal. Not only did Unided do nothing (not even offering to clean the suit I was wearing), they said it was not thier fault. It was a very rude “kiss off”. If I had not experienced episodes almost as bad, I would no longer fly them. Unfortunately, it is symptomatic of today’s flying experiences it seems.

I was on United Airlines flight 870 on July 25th, heading for San Francisco from Sydney. We paid an additional $150 per seat to upgrade to “Economy Plus”, for an additional 5″ of leg room. The seats they assigned us could not recline because the flight attendant jump seats were positioned directly behind us. Worse, the flight attendants frequently sat down on those seats only to sit up a moment later, each time jolting us in our seats.

We were unable to sleep, that’s a dirty trick to “upgrade” us for such a luxurious experience.

The most memorable flight to me would be a flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Marseille, France in November 2006 that should normally take approximately 2h 30min. At about 1h 30 min of the flight, the captain announces –in English- that we are about to land. He further explains that a window is apparently Broken and we are about to make an emergency landing back in Frankfurt. That took about 15 min and most passengers on the plane did not realize that there was something wrong since they didn’t speak English (again Germany to France). They understood when they didn’t recognize the airport and saw all the ‘ambulances’ waiting for the plane. For those of us who spoke English, it was the scariest moment of our lives.

I travel fairly frequently, flying a few times per month, and thought I had gotten used to poor service in the post 9/11 era. My experience last week on Northwest Airlines was a new low.

My wife and I decided to fly from Buffalo to Jackson Hole and I bought two tickets for a flight later in the day. The agent told me the tickets were refundable up to 1 hour before the flight. The tickets were about $1,500.00 each but I managed to get one with miles.

I got to the airport and tried to check in for the flight. I was two hours early. The counter agent told me the flight was late. She wouldn’t even look at my itinerary to try to arrange an alternate plan. Interestingly, the departure monitors indicated everything was on time.

The agent was pretty rude and hostile but I’ve seen that before. I’m sure she was over worked and under paid – she just didn’t give a darn. I called the airline to try to figure out what could be done. Calling NWA would be comical if it weren’t so sad. Their voice prompt system asks a number of questions about your itinerary, frequent flyer number, origin, destination, etc. before putting you through to the agent. After answering all the questions, a recording by a very stern sounding man is usually played. The recording states they aretoo busy to take the call – try later!

Over the next two hours I must have called 50 times before getting through. When I actually spoke with someone, I was told that I would be delayed about 24 hours but could spend the night in Minneapolis. While I really like Minneapolis, I didn’t like that option and just wanted my money back. The agent then transferred my call to someone who was supposed to arrange a refund. Instead of getting an agent, I got another recording asking me to take a few minutes to rate the quality of NWA’s service!

I kept calling without much success and tried the ticket counter again. This time, I got a more sympathetic agent. She basically gave me the same story but did give me one of her phones that patched me through directly to a service representative thus bypassing Northwest’s 800 number. She couldn’t handle the refund herself.

You guessed it – they didn’t want to give me my money back because I was within the one hour window of scheduled flight departure time. I told them my tale of woes, explained the situation to the agent, and then asked for a supervisor. They kept reading the terms and conditions to me and I kept pleading my case using my best schmooz, charm, and tough straight talk.

In the end, I did prevail and was issued a refund – I’ll believe it when I get my credit card statement. I used UAL the next day and got to Jackson.

I took a trip to Hawaii this spring to visit with my husband during his R&R break from Iraq. My departing flight from a southeast Virginia airport was scheduled to leave at 0630. We sat on the tarmack with the plane fully loaded waiting on oxygen to refuel the tanks. Is it just me or would you refuel the oxygen tanks BEFORE the first flight of the day? This delay lasted over two hours before the aircraft crew sought special permission for a local contractor to refill the tanks. By the time the plane took off shortly before 1000 EST, I had already missed my connecting flight in Chicago. I was given new booking information on a new flight en route to LAX. The only problem was my connection flight from LAX was scheduled to depart at 1425 and my arriving flight from Chicago landed at 1405. I had to change carriers, retrieve my own luggage and move it to my new carrier and make my next flight all in the course of 20 minutes. This didn’t happen however, and was made even more irritating by the fact that my luggage was lost somewhere between Virginia and L.A. When I finally arrived in Honolulu, I was 6 hours later than expected and without luggage for two days. The return trip on the same carrier was no better as my luggage again was lost and I was continually delayed, arriving at my final destination at 4am. I will never fly that carrier again.

I do quite a bit of traveling both for work and pleasure, and I have observed more than a reasonable amount of bad manners and stomach-churning passenger behavior. I have come to the conclusion that, in the name of customer service, instead of just 3 classes of service —First Class, Business Class and Coach, the airlines should offer 4 —

First Class
Business Class
Some Class
No Class

To discern whether or not you belong in No Class would depend on how you respond to questions such as:

Have you ever used the aircraft lavatory in your bare feet?

Is the seat pocket in front of you a good place to store perishable garbage such as used banana peels?

Do you feel that it is acceptable to blow your nose in the pillows and blankets provided by the airline?

Do you feel that changing your baby’s blow-out diaper is best done at your seat?

And, yes, I have witnessed all of the above first hand.

Earlier this summer I was scheduled to return from Harrisburg, PA to Wichita, KS, with a layover in Chicago; leaving on a Sunday afternoon. Due to “reportedly” bad weather in Chicago, my flight from Harrisburg was cancelled and no alternative flights were available until late the following day. Since I have work and family obligations in Wichita needing my timely attention, I started looking for other flight options. Following a 45 minute phone call with an airline agent, I was finally booked on a return flight to Wichita, this time via Dallas, leaving the next morning from Philly rather than Harrisburg. Following an unplanned two hour drive to Philly the next morning, I dropped my rental car and caught the new flight. We left one hour late, but still arrived in time to catch the connecting flight to Wichita. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm hit the Dallas airport shortly after our arrival, causing a problem with my connecting flight – which was initially delayed and subsequently cancelled for reasons not disclosed. The flight would have been very full. Upon immediate inquiry with the counter agent, I was told the next confirmed seat available to Wichita was Tuesday afternoon. Missing another day of work was out of the question so I ended sharing a rental car with two strangers from the same cancelled flight, driving to Wichita that evening, arriving home Tuesday at 1:00 a.m. Of course, my luggage was stuck in Dallas, but eventually delivered to my house – soaking wet, ruining a suit and two pairs of dress slacks. Apparently the luggage was left on the Dallas tarmac in a rainstorm. The sad reality is that I could have driven home from PA in less time than it took to fly.

May 31, 2007

This is the third attempt to resolve the issue regarding my luggage on my round-trip to India from December 21st, 2006, to January 6, 2007.

§ First, my suitcase (only one checked in luggage) that had most of clothes was not at the baggage claim in Mumbai and I had to purchase clothes after 2 days without any communication from the British Airways office in Mumbai. We were not able to reach the office via phone after numerous attempts. Finally, I used 2 hours of my wedding trip to travel to the airport to attempt to retrieve my luggage. The only thing that I was told was that I could purchase necessary items since British Airways could not find my luggage. Finally, we traveled to Delhi without my luggage and communication from British Airways. While in Delhi, I learned that the luggage had been delivered in Mumbai to an address that we listed on the claim form, even though we wrote on the form to call us before delivering anything since we would not be in Mumbai permanently. We had to have an acquaintance in Mumbai deliver my luggage to Delhi because British Airways was irresponsible in handling the issue. I finally received my luggage after 5 days.

§ Second, on my return to the U.S., British Airways once again I lost my luggage and I was told in Chicago O’Hare Airport that it was not on the flight. Once again, I did not have my luggage and I called British Airways in the U.S., sent emails and left voice-mails. None of these messages were ever returned. I had to purchase clothes once again since many of my clothes that I wear daily were in the suitcase that was lost. After nearly 4 weeks, I was told that British Airways was attempting to deliver the luggage to Phoenix, Arizona. My flight was from India to Chicago, and finally to Indianapolis, Indiana, which is the state that I attended school at. I never told British Airways to send my suitcase to Phoenix, AZ. After numerous attempts and voice-mails to reach British Airways at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, I called American Airlines in Phoenix because that was the flight I had to take from Chicago to Indianapolis. Because your airline is so incompetent, the American Airlines representative actually visited the British Airways in Phoenix so she could return my suitcase to me, even though that was not her responsibility. I finally received my suitcase after 5 weeks. British Airways never responded to my messages or that of anyone who lived in Phoenix or Mumbai during my first trip to India for my sister’s wedding.

It is nearly impossible to reach your consumer relations personnel; I had to call twice and was on hold for over 15 minutes before finally acquiring this address. Contacting via the website as well as leaving voice mails with the offices at the airports are hopeless: I have never been given a reply back from either method. I have attached my expenses due to your negligence. I expect to be reimbursed for the additional clothes and necessities that I had to purchase while on my trip. I will avoid any future trips with British Airways. I expect to receive a response immediately from this attempt. Furthermore, I was not given my frequent flyer miles for this trip; it has been six months since the trip.

Please note four of my family members purchased BA tickets to Delhi and Bombay, India and British Airways lost my sister’s luggage as well in which she had her ‘Wedding Dress and other necessary items. Would you please show your courtesy to respond my letter and reimburse my expenses? Do you want me to fly with British Airways again? If so what is the incentive?

Sincerely,

Ritesh Bhattacharya
Enclosed : letters and expenses vouchers for the third time

I am a frequent air traveler from India to US. Here are a few horror stories that can make any thinking + rational being squirm.

Most recent: I was flying Virgin Atlantic with my old parents from Mumbai to London. The on board Virgin staff was less than helpful, spare one. In fact, most of them were downright hostile!

It started off with the first food tray. The food tray had broken glassware in it. I explained it to the air hostess serving the food and I requested a different plate. But she refused to give me another plate without any reason! Mind you, there were broken glass pieces in the plate!!! I was not going to put them in my mouth and kill myself. More over I did not comprehend the logic behind giving “glass” ware to customers on flight! I mean those fanatics don’t need to bring any weapons on Virgin flights any more – there’s enough glass to terrorize an entire nation!

The second incidence happened on the same flight. This incidence was initiated by “the most arrogant” purser on that flight. I call him arrogant because during flight, every time I requested him to get me something (water, mostly) he would refuse it flat out! I had to request other pursers to get me water whenever I needed it!! A few minutes before landing, this purser “commanded” me, not requested me as he did to other passengers, to return my blanket. The blanket was on the floor so I pushed it under the seat. He again “commanded” me to return it back to him which I did. Then for no apparent reason he said he had noticed that “I was not being a good passenger to other pursers”. He added further that he would “report me” to some aviation task force and ban me from flying “ever!” He basically managed to terrorize me and shut me up! I was with my old parents and didn’t want to get into a legal battle so I agreed to whatever insults he heaped on to me. His entire behavior smacked of racial discrimination all along. (I am of east Indian origin.)

The other incidence happened with United. They had overbooked the flight from SFO to Chicago. I was headed for a technology conference and had a lot of customer meetings lined up for my small startup. So I really needed to get to Chicago then. All of my fellow teammates, mostly white and a few Chinese, were allotted seats on that “overbooked flight”. But, I was pushed off on to a different flight and NEVER told/informed about it. When the “over booked” flight was about ready to leave, I queried the gate staff and they told me that I had been put onto another flight (an American Airlines flight) that had “already taken off!” (Those were their words!) Realizing the mistake they had made, United put me on to their next flight – a late night red eye flight that was to take off 8 hours later. After explaining the situation and literally begging them for an earlier flight they put me onto yet another flight that was about a couple of hours (4 hours, I believe) off. I don’t see how everyone but a brown man (me) got onto an overbooked flight or another flight that was withing an hour!

At LA, I was harassed by a man in uniform (not sure if he was customs or immigration or none) asking me reasons for my arrival in the US, “AFTER” I was cleared by US immigration and customs.

There are numerous other incidences. My favorite one is how I have been consistently “screened” at SFO while my fellow passengers (white, far east Asians, “middle easterners”, Europeans, etc) were allowed unscreened. Those days smacked of nothing short of discrimination. I have now significantly reduced my flights into and out of SFO.

The horrors of flying on international skies as a brown man (from East India) have multiplied manifold, for no apparent reason, during the last few years.

Grab your boot straps and fling yourself into private jet travel. http://www.mutualfundstockcondo.com

I’m not a ‘road warrior’ with 250K a year, but as a student, I do my fair share of flying. For a wedding, I had to change gates-B6 to B5. Let me tell you, wow. It was difficult and there was an hour between flights, so I could totally see how my baggage didn’t make it.

You know all that water they banned from security? Well, as I found out on a flight from DFW to Chicago, the airline is required to fly with water and at least some amount of bottled water. The plane was late coming into DFW, had mechanical problems (no water). So we had to wait for them to BRING SIX LITERS OF WATER ON. When we found out it was delayed because of the water, there was much talk, b/c you know, the 30 minutes it took to get the water, the passengers could have taken a collection and gone to the store that was across from the gate. To top it off, it made us miss our place in line so we had to wait 25 more minutes.

A couple of years ago, I volunteered. $300 voucher, I’m a student, the next flight was in an hour. They’ll move me on the list after they board. It takes them a while to board. They don’t get us moved in time. They give us ANOTHER $300 voucher b/c of the screw up. Put us on the 11:30 flight. Get to the 11:30 flight and they are over-booked, still. Because we’re the last to check in, they take us off. However, they give us a $400 voucher for the trouble.

That was before 9/11. That was nice and I flew that airline a lot. Now? Screw it. I’ll never make enough for the first level of mileage for either airline and unless you’re a Gold/Plat/Silver/Favorite metal member, you get treated like crap. I’m sorry. I know I only rack up about 20,000 miles a year, but I fly enough to know when you’re treating me like crap.

My favorite, though, is TSA. I realize that you’re allowed two bags, but a lot of times, I carry a lot of electronics-router, chargers, etc. I refuse to check bags (I can not count the times that I’ve been stuck in Dallas b/c the flight to College Station was canceled due to mechanical, weather, my flight from Chicago didn’t leave on time, etc). So, I’ve been told by TSA in College Station, that it’s easier to have all the cords, etc. together. So I put those in a bag and have them screened separately-makes everyone happy, right?

No. Not in Chicago. I try to explain to TSA agent what my rationale was–the small electronics bag would go in the roller bag after screening. It’s kinda like the whole laptop out of the bag thing, right? No. So, I stop, put the bag back in the roller board.

What happens? I get pulled over for additional security. Why? Because I had a lot of wires in my bag. Go figure.

1997-Northwest flight from Detroit Metro to LAX. We are delayed boarding by 40 minutes due to severe thunder storms in MI. We finally get on the plane and have to wait another 40 minutes due to severe thunderstorms. When the pilot announces more delays, the passengers boo and hiss, so he takes off anyway. We take off in the roughest skies ever. I am sitting in the very back seat on the left side, near the window. The whole cabin is bouncing and flexing like a slinky. We climb above the clouds as high as I have ever been and the captain turns north to Traverse City to avoid the terrible storm. We get above the clouds and he puts a burn on it. There is a disturbance in the 20ish row(Flight attendants hovering around a passenger with the seat belt light still on). The Captain announces “Ladies and gentlement are there any Doctors, Nurses, or Health-Care Professionals on the Plane?, if so please notify a Flight Attendant”. Seems some old Asian Guy had a heart-attack from the rough take-off.
The crowd gets bigger. Then the Captain announces:” Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a medical emergency, we need to put down in Las Vegas immediately”. At that point the plane dives like a rock. we are at 1000 feet in about a minute. We are so low, I can see people in their beds watching TV at the Budgetel Inn. The Pilot is navigating by the Expressways. We fly over the Vegas Strip at about 1000 feet(Which is the coolest view!). I see people getting their food out the window at a Wendys drive-through. I waved to em when they looked up. We landed at the old Vegas airport, now a Cargo airport.
They had an Ambulance and a Scissors-Jack thing take the guy off. Then the Plane wouldn’t start. We had to wait another 40 minutes for some guy in a janitor jumpsuit with a big pipe-wrench to go back in the back-room. I heard some hard pounding and the plane started. We then took off and got to LAX 4.5 hours late. My Sister waited for me untill 3 in the morning. She said the Big Board read “Tecnhical Malfunction” for my flight, the same thing they put up for a plane crash. She was very worried.
Conclusion: 8.5 Hours for a flight that should take under 4, I will never fly Northwest again as long as I live.

Overshooting the runway(Boston), plane inverts (Buffalo to New York), those are the memorable ones. Pilots say any landing you walk away from is a good one, I say all landings are basically controlled crashes.
Just stop flying – it’s easy. And we wold not have global warming then either.
Has no-one heard of video conferencing? Are you so bad at communicating that you have to be face to face?
Until travellers stop accepting being treated like cattle the airlines will simply walk all over you.

NY-TLV flight, I had the window seat another man had the isle and between us a third rather heavy man who had turret syndrome. 11 hours of pain…

FLying from bangkok to barhrain and on to Frankfurt. The flight seemed particularly packed with people and was late taking off. Very little legroom in the seats.

The nighttime flight continued towards India, and I noticed that a passenger had fallen illand was lieing on his back in the rear galley area. Then an announcement was made, to see if any Medical Doctor was on board, and if they could contact the crew. No reason was given.

About 2 hours later, we had just passed over india and where flying indian ocean. The pilot then made an announcement. Due to a seriously ill passenger, we have to turn back and make an emergency landing in Bombay, the nearest airport. This is according to IATA rules.

The plane suddenly made a u turn over the ocean and headed for bombay. The landing at Bombay was pretty rough. The plane remained on the tarmac for 2-3 hours while the passengerwas discharged, the planewas refueled and the paperwork was done to allow the plane to leave.

The flight eventually took off after about 3 hours, and headed towards bahrain. Once in Bahrain, the connecting flight had been delayed (to my disappointment), and it was off for a 6 hour flight to Frankfurt. A total of 17 hours sitting in an aircraft.

3 airline horror stories come to mind on the 30+ years of flying;
First: On a flight from Chicago to Raleigh a few years ago, a normally early afternoon flight, boarded on time, and everything was going OK. Moreover, as the plane pulled away from the gateway, we all felt and heard a “THUMP”. I looked out the window over my fellow passenger’s lap and saw that one of those little baggage carts had run into the wheels of our plane at full speed. The driver and luggage were sprawled all over the gateway area and the Baggage cart driver was obvious hurt and unconscious. Our Plane crew went into emergency mode and immediately pulled the plane back into the gateway. The pilot announced an emergency and told everyone to leave their carry-on and to immediately exit the plane which we all complied. The evacuation was very quick and orderly without panic and handled quite professionally. In the Gateway terminal, we all went to the windows, and we saw the commotion surrounding the accident as an ambulance and other emergency vehicles that had arrived and surrounded the site. They evacuated the injured baggage cart driver immediately and then emergency personnel worked on inspecting the wheel of the plane as other baggage cart employees worked to pick up all of the luggage strewn all over the gateway area. Later a wrecker came over and hauled off the luggage cart. Surprisingly the cart didn’t look all that damaged. So we all sat around for the next hour and half waiting for the wheel carriage to be repaired or cleared, or in worst case scenario a new plane. Finally the airline staff announced that the Airline wheel was thoroughly inspected and has been certified to be fit for service as there was no damage to the wheels. They did say that as the tires had taken most of the abuse they had been changed. We felt a little apprehensive and we all talked to ourselves on whether we would trust the airline and re-board, but in the end everyone re-boarded and the plane took off and landed without incident. The airline staff apologized profusely all during the flight and gave free drinks for the delay. Most if not all passengers were understanding and took the incident as something that the airline had little control over.
Second: On a flight from Chicago to LaCrosse, Wisconsin over a decade ago, I had boarded a small puddle jumper flight (25-35 passenger turbo-prop) that was completely full. I settle backed for the quick 55 minute flight. About 15-20 minutes into the Flight the cabin door opens up and the co-pilot walks down the aisle and bends over my seat and looks out my window and then yells up to the pilot “Yea, it’s leaking”. This got everyone’s attention and we all look out the window to a see a small streak of oil coming out of the engine cowling. The Pilot then announces an engine problem and states that we will have to land in Madison, Wisconsin. We all have white knuckles because of grasping the armrests. But the Pilot announces that the landing is strictly precautionary and that the plane can easily land on one engine. The engine is then turned off and the propeller is feathered so it no longer leaks. We land without incident in Madison and we are bussed for two hours to the LaCrosse Airport. We are offered a free flight for any other puddle jumper flight, which most declined, as we are not likely to fly them just for short flight.
Third: Over 20 years ago. Flying an international flight from Washington- Dulles to Frankfurt. Germany. I was flying with a few of my co-workers and we boarded a 747. When we were boarding we all noticed this heavy set lady whimpering in her seat. She had a look of fear on her face. The flight attendants all tried to comfort her but to no avail. Everyone continued to board and all settled down for the long flight. The stewardesses gave the standard emergency procedures in English and German, as the plane started to pull away from the gateway and taxi towards the runway. The heavyset lady was seated about eight seats in front of me whimpering even louder and with every bump and turn of the aircraft letting out a little yelp. Everyone around her tried to assure and comfort her as did the flight attendants. The plane then started down the runway to get up enough speed for take off, and the whimpering lady started to whimper even louder. The flight was two-thirds down the runway when suddenly the whimpering lady unbuckled her seat belt and screaming “I WANT OFF THIS PLANE”. She then ran toward the exit door. The plane was about 100 feet was off the ground by the time she reached the door. She then was tackled by an older flight attendant who was then helped by two passengers to get her away from the door. Everyone else was in a heightened state of apprehensiveness. The Lady was screaming at the top her lungs and the flight attendant and two passengers got her to an empty seat and used those demo seat belts and some Velcro strips that some other flight attendants brought and proceeded to strap her into the seat. She was still screaming when one of the pilots came down from the cockpit and yelled at her to shut up and that she was interfering with a flight crew and had committed a crime. She kept screaming and was in a total state of panic. After about 10 minutes of her screaming the rest of the passengers around her told her to shut up as she made everyone upset and angry at her as she would have put ours lives in peril if she had gotten that door open. The captain then went on the PA and asked if there was a doctor on board as there was a small medical problem. A lot of the passengers who were witness to the crazy lady all stated that they could shut her up and held up a fist as answer to the problem. Finally a doctor came back from first class and after a brief talk to the captain, administered I would guess a sedative and within minutes the lady was out. The rest of the flight was uneventful and everyone around her was moved to other empty seats. When the flight landed in Frankfurt, two German Police officers came onboard and removed her before anyone else deplaned, this brought a round of applause at her departure.

What a coincidence, just happened last week…I was going on a 3-day work trip from Augusta with a connection in Atlanta, and then on to FL.

I got to the Airport 20 minutes before my flight (9:15P), had 1 bag to check. They wouldn’t let me on the plane; got to be there 30 minutes before with a bag – 15 without…so I missed that one, which threw me off the rest of the trip. Sick feeling watching your plane just sitting there, and they won’t let you get on it…Next flight, 4:46P – made it. Got to Atlanta, confirmed connection to FL is at 10:30P – on Stand-By for the 8:30P. Don’t make the SB, have have 4 hrs to kill. Walking around listening to everyones horror stories about how long they’ve been at the AP and how many times their plane has been delayed. Find my gate, they changed my gate…find my “new” gate and find a seat. They’re announcing that they are overbooked and asking if anyone wants to basically sell their seat for “perks”. I have heard this comment and question all day as I’ve passed many gates…why do they keep overbooking?? Get on the 10:30, get to FL at 12:10A. Go find my bag which of course got there WAY before me…

Coming Back: Plane leaving at 11:15A…delayed until 12:15…untill 1:00…untill 2:00. They let us board at 2:00 (thank you). We actually take off at 3:15P (there goes my connection). Arrive in Atlanta at 5:20, next flight at 5:38P. I race to the gate and get on stand by…and actually get it! The 5:38P flight departs at 6:50P and I arrive home at 7:20P. Go to baggage claim, locked up, nobody there. Wait 30 minutes, someone finally shows up and my luggage is produced. Long day at the airport…and by the way, no comps were offered and we all know how expensive AP food is! If naming the airline IS permissible, pls do…that would be Delta. I understand that they are probably not the only guilty airline, but they certainly could work on their customer service skills!! And one last note…here’s a tip: next trip, wear very comfortable clothes, wear flat shoes and get the very EARLIEST flight possible, even if you have to switch days. The chances of that flight being delayed should be less possible. Good Luck!

Ill keep mine short:

Around the turn of the year, I was flying from Denver->Dallas->Austin on an American Airlines flight out of DIA.

I was lucky enough to have one of the window seats over the wing – thus I was gandering outside to see the progress on the deicing of the wings, when….. WHAM!!!!

The deicing truck hit the plane’s wing. After sitting there for 30-45 min watching just about every SUV, firetruck, etc come out and look at the wreck – they took their insurance pictures, yelled at the driver, and towed us back to the terminal. The plane was done for the day.

Oh, then came the 1 hour standing in line trying to find out how we were rerouted…. yeah!

In the end, I can honestly say that I survived a plane crash.

Flying from Dulles to Detroit at the end of spring March on a United flight with my daughter and my son in my lap. Checked in from home and was able to check in for myself and not my daughter. Called United and was advised that usual thing to happen. Advised to go to the airport and should be fine. At the airport, I am told that even though I have a confirmed flight with assigned seat numbers but the flight is overbooked by 5 passengers and I cannot get a boarding pass until the end. I ask her how can I get it if flight is overbooked. There is another passenger there with the same problem. Only she is with her relative who is blind and cannot speak English. After the boarding starts, they realize that the plane is heavier than they thought and now two more passengers are supposed to give up their flight. I ask the lady if I reschedule would she be able to give me another flight that day or the next day. She tells me that she will not be able to do so until tuesday evening which is three days later. She also tells me she will not look for any other flight on any other airline but I am free to do so. Obviously there is no question of providing accomodations so you just sit and pray. This lady is absolutely rude to begin with and actually cancels the seat of this other lady with the blind passenger. At the end, the overload situation is resolved. The lady with the blind relative is left out cold on the airport. My daughter gets a seat because my name happened to be on the front of the list and she is only 40 lbs which would not overload the aircraft. I do not understand the concept of flight overbookings if you only have two flight during the day for that destination. Moreover, why would you give a passenger a confirmed flight and seta number if you are overbooking a flight.

I went to Fairbanks, AK for work from Baltimore, MD in January. On the way out, AA lost our luggage, so there we were in -30 degree temps, with only the clothes on our backs and the few extra clothes in our carry-ons. Took them about 18 hours to get them to us. Then, on the way home, our flight was supposed to depart Fairbanks at around 1:30 AM–we get to the airport and find out it hasn’t even left Seattle yet. The plane finally arrived in AK around 5 AM. Needless to say, our number ous connections all had to be rebooked, and as the inbound flight got later and later, we had to re-rebook connections twice. After 7 hours in the airport, we’re finally off. Then, we get off the plane at BWI, and wouldn’t you know it, no luggage on the way back either. I love waiting 2 hours in the airport (both ways) to file a baggage claim after 40+ hours of travel. Took 3 days to get it this time.

Once in Tampa during heavy thunderstorms, my flight was delayed becuase they would not allow the plane to land. I popped open the laptop and used some flight tracking software (nice free wifi at TPA) and watched a few dozen planes circle off the coast. As the rain cleared, I noticed that the planes did not head in toward Tampa, but rather broke formation in seven different ways. Shortly after, a gate clerk came on and reported that, even though the storms are gone, the flights will not land, instead they have headed in to other airports to refuel. From that point, I watched the speed and position of our plane, and listen to the attendants lie to us about it being on the ground, on it’s way, and so on. I kept a straight face the whole time because THAT IS THEIR JOB. Those people who think the departure time on their ticket is anything but an optimistic guess by the airline is deranged. Those are the same people who wrote in demanding to see the manager when everyone else is stuck in the same situation and the same people who fight to the front of the boarding line so they can rush to their exit row seat right up in the front and shove their “I brought too many carry-on items” into the “shared” bin space on my $69 flight.

100 years ago it would take days to travel from DC to Boston and now people complain if their flight to Hawaii is delayed by twenty minutes. Please. The plane running out of cheetos is NO reason to complain. Until planes start crashing into each other on the runway and nobody getting their little in flight safety briefing, save the complaints for the people who really have them. It could be worse. You could live in Brazil.

(I hope you will post this dissenting opinion even though it doesn’t fit into the cookie cutter response you are looking for)

What’s with allowing people to bring their dogs on board? I was flying American Airlines from Dallas to Phoenix last year. The person sitting next to me had two poodles in a crate underneath her coach seat (how they fit, I have no idea.) They barked and growled the entire flight and who could blame them? To make matters worse, I am allergic to dogs, the flight was full, and there was no where else for me to sit nor were the flight attendants particularly concerned about my comfort. Naturally, no one on the flight wanted to switch seats with me, not that I was surprised (more as to why will follow). So, I was stuck. If that wasn’t bad enough, the lady with the dogs brought on enough fast food to feed an army (Biggie Coke, Starbucks Venti drink loaded with whipped cream, barbecue ribs and fries). The smell was lovely, to say the least. Then the lovely lady sitting next to me with the dogs and the food proceeded to pull out 12-inch knitting needles and knit a wool hat while I wondered how she got those through Security while I had to relinquish my half-used tube of chapstick at the Security checkpoint. It was a flight from Hell. When I got back to Phoenix and emailed a complaint to American Airlines about the dogs, they wrote back (promptly) to tell me that companion dogs were allowed on planes and that I should have told the flight attendant to ask for a different seat. When I emailed back to say that I had told the flight attendant about it, I didn’t discover the dogs till after the flight had taken off and they started barking, and that the flight was completely full, I never got a reply from the American Airlines customer service department. Moral of the story regarding dogs: Now we’re supposed to inquire at check-in whether the person sitting next to us is taking on a companion dog! What a mess.

Ok folks, try going through security with 4 screws in your ankle, 2 hip replacements a brace on said ankle and a metal plate in your wrist. These security people are more familiar with my body than my husband.Being the bionic woman is not what it’s cracked up to be.

Classic US Air story…
My wife & i were traveling to Maine, via Philadelphia on the last flight out. As I returned from the restroom in the terminal, I checked the departure board and learned that the gate had changed.

As I went to the old gate to tell my wife, i saw a flight crew. OUR flight crew. I asked if they knew about the gate change and got a “Yeah, right buddy look.”

The copilot went to the departures board, gets a disgusted look on his face, and motions for the rest of the crew to join him.

And I thought that they only get passengers in the dark!

I was flying on June 2nd form JFK to San Juan, PR. I was at the airport on time and got through security fine. While waiting they announed that the plane was late and we were not able to get everyone on board and seated and ready to go until 8:30p.m. Our flight was supposed to leave at 7:05p.m. on American Airlines. Once on board and the door closed and gateway moved away from the airplane the pilot came over the PA system and told us it would be about 30 minuntes before they could push us back from the gate. SO we waited 30 minutes then he came back on the PA system and told us they would not be able to push back from the gate until 10:30p.m. due to Air Traffic Controllers giving priority to international flights taking off currently and that he was having them move the gateway back to the airplane so we could get off and use the bathroom and get something to eat. However the gateway was not moved back to the airplane till 9:30p.m. which gave us only an hour of time. On top of that once we got off we were told we could not go outside to the food court because the TSA checkpoint had been closed so if we left then we could not get back in. Some people left others used the bathroom and I stayed. American Airlines workers started coming on the plane carrying more drinks, sandwiches, and snack like M&M’s, cookies etc.. So I thought they were at least going to feed us for free since we were bieng delayed from even leaving the gate for so long. I was compltely wrong however because once the doors were shut again and did not matter since outside in the gate everything was closed and their was no chance of getting food anywhere else they announed the food was for SALE! Meaning we had to purcahse it and I remember the prices very well. They were selling bottles of water for $2 and cheap crap turkey wraps for $5 sugar cookies for $2 and M&M for $3. This was near outrageous that after them dealying me for over 5 hours just on the gorund alone they had the gaul to charge me for water and some food especially when everything else is closed in the gate and we can’t go outside to get food unless we wish to miss our flight. The pilot was near cancelling the flight outright and then FINALLY a pushback crew came to our plane and pushed us back! God knows why it only took them an extra 2 and a half hours to get us out of the gate itself. They then put on a movie for us so I thought it would be something good! Oh no don’t even think that! It was something called Ms. Potter and another movie depicting old England from the 1800’s with people travelling to Asia for some stupid reason! I thought it could not get any worse! We finally got off the ground at 12:05A.M. and arrived in San Juan at 4:A.M. Kennedy has turned into a delay prone airport and I do not care what the FAA says about changing the flight patterns because it won’t help! They suck and Americna Airlines is a bunch of cheap bastards! I will NEVER EVER fly them again if I can avoid them!They should be embarassed and ashamed especially for chargin US for the food which is so taking advantage of the fact that we can’t get anything else to eat anywhere’s!

Are details needed to describe the depravity of being herded like cattle, shoved into a metal tube and forced to sit still in cramped seats next to strangers for hours?

Add the nagging fear of a mechanical problem or man-made threat bringing the tin can down, and the whole thing just feels wrong.

Fear of, or annoyance with, flying seems like a natural response to those conditions. It’s the people who get cozy with it that worry me. How much blind faith can one have in such a complex system when the skies get more crowded daily?

Here was our experience and letter to the CEO of AA.

Mr. Gerard Arpey:

Let me begin by saying that we come from a family that believes in flying the friendly skies with American Airlines for the simple fact that American Airlines offers outstanding service.

Unfortunately, on January 1, 2006, my wife and I experienced unacceptable and substandard service upon arriving at Los Angeles International Airport (Lax). Our luggage was lost via American Eagle flight #4972, departing from Nassau with an American Airline connection in Orlando, Florida flight #285 to LAX.

After traveling for over five hours and arriving at LAX, American Airlines confirmed two hours later that our luggage was lost. In the interim, and before this confirmation from the airline, my wife and I were instructed by American Airlines staff to check the various baggage claim areas for our luggage. The service that we experienced was deplorable and inconsistent. Staff was rude and extremely unprofessional. We were told that we would be receiving our luggage within a period of 24 hours; we received it three days later. On January 2, I contacted the airline and was told that our luggage was actually at LAX and that it had been there the entire time. Oddly enough, we did not receive our luggage until January 3rd. American Airlines gave our luggage to United Airlines due to the fact that American Airlines does not fly into Palm Springs Airport. Our final destination was in Palm Springs and your airline did not have the courtesy to shuttle our luggage on January 2nd, instead we suffered the misfortune and had to wait. During the wait for our luggage my wife and I received inconsistent information regarding the whereabouts of our luggage. At one point in time I was told that our luggage was going to be delivered to Denver, Colorado, because a staff person assumed that Denver was our final destination.

Finally, on January 3rd at approximately 7:00 PM we received a call that our luggage had finally arrived at the Palm Springs Airport. To our surprise, our luggage was pretty much destroyed and it had also been left out in the rain. Every item in each piece of luggage was drenched and many items were ruined. So I am asking, who is at fault here? I am hoping that American Airlines would take full responsibility for this….but again; this may be far too much to ask for in light of the horrid customer service that we experienced.

Furthermore, on January 6th, I received a follow-up call in Spanish from American Airlines confirming receipt of our luggage. Does American Airlines assume that a Spanish surname means a “Spanish speaking household?” Pretty insulting!!

I kindly hope that someone over at American Airlines takes the time to read and acknowledge this letter. Quite frankly, I don’t know if we would ever travel on this airline again. The service is less than American.

Horrible passenger story…I once took a twin piston engine plane (about 8-10 seats) from Fort Lauderdale to Nassau. On these small commercial planes, one could look straight up the middle and see the pilot’s console as well as out the front windscreen. This little plane taxis out onto the big runway, and everyone is looking out the front- not a view one normally gets on big commercial jets. Taking off, we’re about 100 feet off the ground and climbing, and we are all treated to the sight of the right side cargo lid in the nose of the plane suddenly popping open! It’s flapping now. Gasps ensue. The pilot very coolly and quickly throttles back, pushes the nose down and we just make it down on the remaining portion of the runway! Hard braking, then he pulls off onto a side taxiway right at the end of the runway and the co-pilot gets out and secures the hatch. So… we circle around and take off again. But in the eyes of some of the more whiney passengers, these pilots (and plane) were not to be trusted. One particularly annoying lady starts yelling up to the front, “My bag was up there, are you sure it didn’t fly out?” “No, Ma’am, nothing came out” “Are you sure?” “Yes, Ma’am” But she wasn’t satisfied, and goes on and on, describing the bag, telling them her vacation will be ruined if it flew out, etc. They must have reassured her 3-4 times before she shuts up. Later, as we’re crossing the straits, an annoying guy starts asking the pilots “Are you sure we have enough gas to make it? The gas guage doesn’t look full, and we had to take off twice.” And so on. It was all I could do, to not slug these idiots around me. The pilots did a fantastic job making a split second decision, that there was just enough runway left to land on. But because it’s a small plane these idiots thought they could second guess these professionals.

Now I do about 120,000 miles a year, been on a middle seat between 300lb couples, sat in a plane on the ground for 5 hours (just two days ago at EWR), slept in airports, etc -lots of fun.

Worst flight of my life:
much worse than my return flight from equador to tulsa, ok. pilot annouced due to engine troubles we were goinng to have to land in columbia. they didnt tell us that due to the high mountains surround the town a dive down was required to land. after the short falling experance we had to sit on the tarmac for 5 hours without airconditioning while they fixed the engine. so its fixed and we are off, but they didnt tell us they must circle and circle to get high enough to clear the mountains so there was a lot of worry if we would make the accent to the sky. finaly we were late so the airlines put us in hotels in miami for the night. so whats the worst flight of my life??
leaving san fransico we sat on the tarmac for several hours, they wouldnt tell us why. then a young boy with a radio annouced a plane had crashed in Dallas, our destination, during a windy stormy afernoo. many of us wanted to get off the plane but they wouldnt let us. so we eventually take off. in the air most were quiet. then there were the few who talked about bad flights etc and their fears. we approach dallas and land with out event. then transfer to another plane for the flight to Tulsa okla. OSU was playing OU so the pilot would annouce the scores during the flight for us, that was nice. but about 20 minutes from our landing the plane jolted and began a dive down. all i could do was stare at the word “the” attempting to figure out its meaning. the lady next to me began screaming. the flight stewarest, sort of floated by heading to the rear of the plane. i was afriad to look up. the plane continued down and down and seemed to accelerate. it was so steep my coke was spilling out on the floor though i was holding it perpendicular to me. some guy in the rear of the plane hollars, “this is it!”
then as quick as it started the plane leveled out. we were all rattled and the free drinks started to be served. the pilot annoucned we had hit a cold front which forced the plane down and they couldnt get the autopilot off.
it was five years of continuing flying before i could nap on the plane, or not hold the arm rest so tight all the blood would run out of my fingers, much less feel the gasp when the plane would hit some turbulance. to counter act my fear i had to sit by a window so i could see how far we were from the ground. i could always rationalize, if something happened we had time to pull out of it. but when landig, there is a point when you can see the pilot has no chance from pulling out of a dive so it was white knuckle time. i now can sleep again on the flights and its behind me.

Recently I traveled by British Airways (BA) very first time and had an interesting experience which left me wondering how BA is surviving in the tough competitive airline industry. May be there are lot of first timers like me who may be choosing BA.

I had my return connecting flight reservation from London Heathrow to Washington Dulles 2 weeks ago. The Virgin Atlantic Airline arrived late by 13 minutes from India which compressed my total connecting time to 1 hr 32 minutes from the time it landed at the London airport and the time BA flight takes off. Now anyone who has international travel experience knows how much time it takes to get out of the plane, walk thru long airport terminals, transfer to another terminal by bus that too in London and pass through painful long security checks imposed particularly in UK and US who has the most ongoing fear of terrorism. If you are traveling with kids and have to undergo this process after 8 hours of a long flight, it’s a real challenge. My kids cooperated so well that we reached BA checkin counter in 30 minutes but we were 5 minutes late from the British Air’s 50 minute guideline. The BA check-in clerk flatly refused check-in and allocated our precious 4 seats to passengers in waiting and indicated that flight was full (Ironically, next BA flight took off 1 hour late without any announcements for delays and check in continued beyond 50 minute guidelines but I guess, that didn’t matter). I was amazed with the cold response with no empathy that if a passenger is already in-flight that passenger would require to be on the connecting flight and 5 minutes delay should not be a hard stop particularly when airlines delay their flights frequently due to various reasons. BA tried to pass blame to Virgin Atlantic that they should have escorted us to the BA terminal knowing compressed connecting time or we should have moved faster. Virgin Atlantic tried to defend and made their 1 hr 30 minute policy is sufficient for any passenger to catch a connecting flight. If their flight would have been delayed by another 5 minutes, they were ok paying for the lodging even if we were the last passenger to get out of the plane. Clearly this is a flawed policy. Ultimately both airlines refused their responsibility to pay for hotel lodging/meals, transportation. Virgin Atlantic was more reconciliatory and ready to accommodate on their first flight next day, if BA agrees to issue a voucher to pay to Virgin Atlantic. BA initially refused to consider our request for their first flight next day but then agreed to counter Virgin Airline’s offer. In the whole process, we spent over 3 hours moving from one terminal to another since Virgin and British airlines are not on the same terminal. Ultimately we spent a night at Heathrow Airport with kids without any assistance from both airlines.

Next day we contacted several times BA checkin to ensure that our special meals and luggage is loaded. Promises were made that it’s automatically taken care of but we found that they didn’t load special meal for both kids and our luggage was also not loaded despite our best efforts. In the flight, I was told to contact baggage dept at Washington Dulles which was found to be closed. Many attempts to get help from British Airline staff or pager announcement failed. British Airline’s First Class Check-in clerk touted her responsibility to deal with First Class passengers only and had nothing to do with baggage dept. After waiting for 2 hours after 8 hour flight and a night spent at LHR airport due to 5 minute delay with 2 children, baggage clerk finally came in a nice happy mood even though there were several upset passengers in waiting. She said luggage will be delivered next day early morning; however, luggage was delivered in 3 different visits throughout the day with delivery man not knowing anything about other luggage pieces. A good example of grossly disorganized baggage handling process!

On our flight from Washington Dulles to London Heathrow, we had a similar experience. This flight was significantly delayed due to Hydraulic issues and BA agents gave so many different versions of the issue and flight arrangements that many passengers lost their mind and it turned into a chaos at the airport. Passengers had to recollect their luggage and pay for the porter/transportation. When BA put passengers in a hotel, they refused to pay for food for kids even though they charge the full airfare for kids over 12 years.

This whole experience exposed the British Airline’s poor quality of service, indifference to passenger concerns, unfriendly treatment towards kids, and mismanaged operations with staff not prepared to deal with unanticipated events.

I’m writing this as I sit on hold with United. They canceled my flight (and all flights) to NYC Friday night. The guaranteed seat I could get the next day would have brought me home Saturday evening–somewhat pointless since I was flying back to Chicago Sunday afternoon (I consult and fly to Chicago every week).

I had already booked my flight for this week, but will miss the flight from LGA to ORD since I’m already in Chicago. In order to rebook my flight back to NYC (the originally booking will be canceled when I don’t board the outbound flight) they want to charge me $100 change fee.

Under what logic is it better for them to try to rebook me on crowded flights (when thousands of others are in the same predicament) than to simply let me skip two flights and call it a wash? Why discourage this behavior by charging a %100 penalty?

My worst flight? As a professional airline pilot – it’s a gestalt of incidents.

During 5 years flying in the Navy – shut down 10 during a 3-year tour. Being cleared for take-off as we discovered all 4 engines leaking oil (they for got to put the caps back on). Taking off with a minor paperwork error that put us 10,000 pounds over max weight – mislabeled destroyer gearbox. Losing all electronics and navigational instruments with fog over the entire Iberian peninsula and landing visually under a 200′ ceiling. Numerous flight students landing simulated single engine at night for the first time.

During 15 years as a commercial pilot for a major airline – taking a 30% pay cut leaving the military to fly for a major airline. Losing hydraulic systems twice. Having a mechanic ask me if I “really” wanted to write that engine stall up in the log book. Losing an engine over the North Atlantic. Diverting off the tracks for an ill passenger who forgot his epilepsy medicine. Over flying our international destination due to an ice storm, sitting on the plane for 16+ hours and having a passenger storm into the cockpit demanding if we knew how long they had been on board the plane – then taking off again to get him/them to their destination. Dodging thunderstorms while explaining to an ATC controller that I won’t take a vector through one for his traffic flow pattern. Flying over Africa/South America in the middle of the night, non-radar/radio contact. Taking a 50% paycut and losing my retirement while a former CEO and his cronies pocket tens of millions in retirement and bonuses. Having a passenger tell that it’s Ok because I must still love what I do … I still do but that doesn’t mean I like doing it for 50% less.

Look, the old saw – “you get what you pay for” applies to the airlines too. Many “over-qualified” pilots are leaving the industry. The incoming replacements have minimal experience and qualifications. At some point the limited experience level and the demands of the cockpit will intersect and people are going to get hurt. I hope on that day the pilots in the cockpit are the “over-paid” and “over-qualified” ones I have always read about instead of the minimum wage wonders the airlines want to hire at bottom of the barrel wages.

I want to thank all of you for writing, most notably Chris, who has experience as a professional pilot. I would encourage not only passengers but also people like Chris, who work for the airlines and know the score, to join him. Also flight attendants, who can tell us a lot from their perspective, particularly how horrible we who fly can be.

The horror story to end all horror stories has stayed with me for over 10 years. I was 14-years-old flying back from visiting my father in Bolivia where he was an ex-pat. He saw me through customs and waited until it said my (American Airlines) flight was boarding and then left the airport.
We boarded alright, and then sat on the plane for an hour before we de-planed and sat in the airport for another 2.5 hours. No one would explain what was happening and several passengers were escorted from the waiting room and didn’t return.
We left Santa Cruz 4 hours late; however we did managed to make up about half an hour in the air.
We made it to Miami more than 3 hours late, where we still had to go through a rigorous customs. By that time in my life, I’d traveled throughout Europe and Africa and knew that something was amiss, but still no one told the passengers what was happening.
I made it to check-in about twenty minutes before my flight was scheduled to board (and in the late ’90s, this wasn’t as big of a deal as it is now obviously), only to be told that my flight had already left and there were no more flights to Houston for the evening. The American attendant looked at me (very obviously a young teenager) and said that I would have to find accommodations for the night, and that the airline could give me no assistance. As she’s providing zero help, another American employee walks behind her and asks why she’s said that since it states very clearly that the flight has been delayed for weather.
I made it to the flight (and sat on the runway for an hour) and made it home to Houston, only to find out that the original flight from Bolivia had been delayed due to American Airlines EMPLOYEES involved in some kind of smuggling.
It wasn’t one thing or another that made the trip so horrible, but it was American’s inability to update their passengers on ANYTHING. As well as telling a 14 year old that she needs to venture out into Miami in the dead of night to find a hotel. It’s safe to say, my family and I haven’t flown American since.

I have decided that once you cross the boundary to enter the airport you have entered the area where common sense is no longer allowed.

Keep this in mind and all the rest makes sense.

You know it will be a squeeze when you are in the middle seat and the passengers on both sides of you request seat belt extensions.

A good story:

Several years ago I was flying to see my girlfriend and was going to ask her to marry me that weekend. My flight was cancelled and the next flight was quite full. We had dinner reservations that night where I was going to pop the question.

I had asked the gate attendant as nicely as I could about ten times over an hour what she thought my chances were of getting on the flight. By about time number seven I could see she was getting exasperated as I approached the counter. Finally, about the tenth time, so said through clenched teeth “What is so important about making this flight!”

Without saying a word I reached into my pocket and pulled out the box with the engagement ring, opened it, and showed it to the gate agent. Her eyes were the size of salad plates. “Oh my God!” she said and then in front of my eyes began bumping everyone ahead of me off the standby list. I was the first name called, made the flight, and got engaged that night.

Two weeks ago-Dallas to Detroit. Arrive at gate to be informed that the airport is completely shut down due to weather. Told that *if* we were to leave, it would not be earlier than 830pm (flight scheduled for 630pm).

Flight back on….leaving sometime between 830-9pm (waiting for plane to arrive from Detroit which was delayed due to the weather in Dallas).

Went to discuss situation with flight attendant. Explained that by the time we were scheduled for take off, my connecting flight (the last one for the day) would have already left and I would most certainly be stranded in Detroit. Requested to stay in Dallas with friends. I was informed that staying wasn’t an option-the airline had to get me “as far as they (could)”.

Board plane, arrive after midnight in Detroit. Make plans to shuffle to airport and find needed luggage. Arrive at hotel around 2am. (note, hotel was Best Western, had I stayed in Dallas, I would have been staying at a Westin!). Wake up call for 6am so that I could make my flight (offered to take later flight, but again policy is apparently to get you on the earliest flight-even if you have less than 3 hours of sleep!)..

Definitely not the first problem and most assuredly no the last!

My “favorite” flight…
In 2006, I was returning to Omaha from Las Vegas with my parents and younger brother. I was a relatively inexperienced (and slightly nervous) flier at that time, but I recall the experience at the Vegas airport, including the departure, as being rather painless. All was right in the universe.

However, about 30 minutes outside of Denver-where we were to change planes-the pilot informs us of a snow storm which has blanketed Denver Int’l (the old one). Visibility was ten feet, or some unholy measurement, and the crew had taken care to arrange an alternate landing site (in Cheyenne, if I recall) so as to avoid ending our trip in a large fireball.

As many passengers began the obligatory cursing and moaning under their breaths as a result of this certain kink in their travel plans, the pilot quite enthusiastically announced that we would not be diverting to our alternate airport. In fact, in his own words, this professional hitman–excuse me–pilot, tells us: “Folks, we’re going to go ahead and give it a shot and try to land in Denver.”

Read it again. “Give it a shot” and “TRY TO LAND” I swear he said it, and the collective gasp that arose from the cabin gave this self-professed nervous flier nothing but utter confidence that I would not live to see the Cubs win another World Series… ok, bad example, but you get my point.

That 20 minute approach was easily the most horrifying experience of my life to this day. My kid brother (a much more nervous flier than I have ever been) made it quite clear to everyone in the cabin that ‘we are all going to die’. That went a long way in calming down my mother who was already a complete wreck.

Obviously, we made in one piece. Lucky for us, we had the extreme pleasure of hopping right onto another plane to take off right through the heart of the same storm.

I’m proud to say that I’ve overcome my “issues” with air travel. In fact, I fly two or three times per month these days, but it was eight years before I got on another plane after that trip.

On a 1hr 45 min Northwest flight from Detroit to Raleigh we made it to within 25 min of landing when they announced that we had to return to Detroit as the “weather radar” was not functioning and there were thunderstorms somehwere up ahead. They had decided to leave Detroit knowing the radar was out betting on the odds they wouldn’t need it. After returning to Detroit it was a 4 hour wait(midnight) until they had a plane for us. Oh, we got a $5 meal voucher for the discomfort.

It’s not always the airlines that make traveling nasty… Once I was on a packed Southwest Airlines flight (no assigned seats, people get on the plane by the order in which they check in). Just after the last few passengers settled into their seats, two more literally ran on board, looking like they’d had to run the length of the airport — a woman and her young son, maybe 8 or 9 years old. Naturally, there weren’t two seats together anywhere, and maybe three or four empty seats on the whole plane. A stewardess started politely asking people if they’d be willing to move so the two could sit together. A few people declined, but then one guy loudly yelled “NO,” then glared at the mom and kid and pointedly said “Life’s tough!”

Immediately, a few people jumped up and rearranged so that the mom and son could sit together. Then everyone spent the rest of the flight punctuating their conversations with “Well, life’s tough!” followed by hearty laughter. The rude guy came off the plane looking like he was gonna cry.

I remembered another one, this time a good one.

December 23. Departing Philadelphia, connecting in Cincinnati, final destination Nashville. Thanks to surprisingly prompt security, I’m in the terminal about three hours early. But between the monitors, the announcements, the little boards at the gates, and the general fury in the air, I have no idea what’s going on, where my gate is, or what’s up with my flight. I decided to just walk up to the least busy gate and ask.

As soon as I walked up, the guy just looked up and said “Let me see your boarding pass.” I handed it over. The guy looked at it and said “Right now your plane is four hours late. [pointing to another gate] That plane’s going to Cincy. If you don’t get on that plane, you’re not getting home for Christmas.” Admittedly dumbfounded, I just said “okay.” He printed out new boarding passes, stuck them in my hand and said “Go!” and I ran over and got on the flight.

The guy turned out to be absolutely right — less than an hour after the new flight left, PHL shut down until the middle of the next day. With weather delays all over the place, I probably wouldn’t have got home for at least another day. (Cincinnati was its own adventure, what with the fire, and having to walk across the tarmac in the wind and cold to my plane, but I digress.) That gate agent pretty well saved Christmas for me and my family. I wrote down his name (I don’t remember it now) and as soon as I got home I wrote an e-mail to the airline’s customer service to sing his praises. I never got a reply… I hope he didn’t get fired for it.