Odd Airline Experiences

• said_aouita

  

  I wasn't flying but my best friend sat next to a Playmate of the month when flying to Los Angeles many years ago.
  She gave him her college ID and autographed a dollar bill.
• Cat Food Flambe'

  

  I was flying home from Dallas-Ft. Worth to Boston many years ago when the tail-mounted engine on our DC-10 gave up the ghost. The plane had to set down in Little Rock - since there were too many passengers for the smaller replacement airplane, I sat there for 18 hours before the second replacement plane could get there and take us to Boston.
  
  I got home and found a message from my boss telling me to turn around and head back to Texas the next day.
• dlazz

  When I was 12, we flew to Florida and transferred through Detroit. On the flight from Dayton -> Detroit, a woman on our flight had a seizure and my mom and stepdad helped stabilize her (both paramedics). The flight crew bumped us up to first class for our Detroit -> Tampa flight as a courtesy.
  
  On the way BACK from Florida, the same airline screwed up our connection in Detroit, so we had to stay overnight in that shithole. My sister, ~1 year old and running a fever at the time, had a seizure herself.
  
  It was a pretty shitty trip, now that I reflect on it.
• enigmaax

  Have had plenty. Best/worst, however you want to look at it were: plane catching on fire in the air resulting in an emergency landing in the desert (luckily, there was a military base close); running out of runway in a little 20 seater and ending up completely vertical to the trees; and then there was the crash....while @#$%ing backing out.
• like_that

  

  enigmaax;1330925 wrote:Have had plenty. Best/worst, however you want to look at it were: plane catching on fire in the air resulting in an emergency landing in the desert (luckily, there was a military base close); running out of runway in a little 20 seater and ending up completely vertical to the trees; and then there was the crash....while @#$%ing backing out.

  
  Wow seriously? Or is this a movie reference lol?
• gut

  OK, I think enigma just pwned this thread
• sleeper

  

  enigmaax;1330925 wrote:Have had plenty. Best/worst, however you want to look at it were: plane catching on fire in the air resulting in an emergency landing in the desert (luckily, there was a military base close); running out of runway in a little 20 seater and ending up completely vertical to the trees; and then there was the crash....while @#$%ing backing out.

  Only in the SEC.
• sportchampps

  Worst and most odd experience I had was on the day before thanksgiving a few years ago. Was flying from Kansas City to Columbus with a stop in Milwaukee. Something was wrong with the plane so we ended up being delayed in Kansas City for an extra 2 hours. Since we were delayed and the original layover was only an hour and 15 minutes the airline rebooked everyone flying to Columbus for another flight outta Milwaukee 6 hours later. Well we take off and the pilot comes over to tell us he was going to take a shortcut so we could make up sometime. Well somehow we ended up in Milwaukee just in time to make our original flight to Columbus and not have to wait 6 hours for another flight. So we all ran to the gate only to be told since we were rebooked we could no longer get on that flight. The airline ended up giving us $350 vouchers. What was odd is how the hell did the pilot take a shortcut from Kansas City to Milwaukee that cut 45 minutes off the normal flight.
• enigmaax

  like_that;1330931 wrote:Wow seriously? Or is this a movie reference lol?

  Yeah, those are all true. Used to travel every week...you'll pretty much see it all if you do it long enough. Well, except for maybe an on-time flight.
• like_that

  

  enigmaax;1331250 wrote:Yeah, those are all true. Used to travel every week...you'll pretty much see it all if you do it long enough. Well, except for maybe an on-time flight.

  I am not sure even the seasoned travelers have experienced your story. Let's hear more details from your story.
• enigmaax

  like_that;1331307 wrote:I am not sure even the seasoned travelers have experienced your story. Let's hear more details from your story.

  The fire was in 07, I think. Flying from Burbank (incidentally, I also happened to see the commotion when Snoop Dogg was arrested at the Burbank airport once...just didn't realize what all was going on) to a connection in Las Vegas.
  
  Hadn't been in the air long when the bitchy old flight attendant came over the speaker and said something like, "Whoever has the acetone or finger nail polish remover needs to put it away immediately. It is illegal to have such a substance on the plane and the pilot can smell it in the cockpit!!"
  
  Neither me nor the dude beside me could smell anything (I was about five rows back) so I knew there was something up. She soon comes back on all frantic and says we are going to make an emergency landing...."in the desert." A lot of people flipped out. I sent a couple, "I love you" texts. As it turns out, there was a military base close enough (Victorville CA) that we had a relatively safe landing. As we were landing, smoke was rolling out of the cockpit and we could see the fire trucks, etc. racing out to us.
  
  LOL...the directions were to leave all your personal belongings as you evacuate. I went ahead and secured my laptop. Crazy old bat actually tried to argue with me about leaving it. Like I was going to go put it back or something while we all stood there and burned.
  
  We spent several hours at the base before they finally loaded us onto a greyhound bus and shipped us off to Vegas. Got there at about the time I would've been getting home normally (around 6am). Hung around for most of the morning but did get some free beers. They never explained exactly what went wrong (wiring under the cockpit?) but they did send me a couple free tickets.
• like_that

  

  enigmaax;1331398 wrote:The fire was in 07, I think. Flying from Burbank (incidentally, I also happened to see the commotion when Snoop Dogg was arrested at the Burbank airport once...just didn't realize what all was going on) to a connection in Las Vegas.
  
  Hadn't been in the air long when the bitchy old flight attendant came over the speaker and said something like, "Whoever has the acetone or finger nail polish remover needs to put it away immediately. It is illegal to have such a substance on the plane and the pilot can smell it in the cockpit!!"
  
  Neither me nor the dude beside me could smell anything (I was about five rows back) so I knew there was something up. She soon comes back on all frantic and says we are going to make an emergency landing...."in the desert." A lot of people flipped out. I sent a couple, "I love you" texts. As it turns out, there was a military base close enough (Victorville CA) that we had a relatively safe landing. As we were landing, smoke was rolling out of the cockpit and we could see the fire trucks, etc. racing out to us.
  
  LOL...the directions were to leave all your personal belongings as you evacuate. I went ahead and secured my laptop. Crazy old bat actually tried to argue with me about leaving it. Like I was going to go put it back or something while we all stood there and burned.
  
  We spent several hours at the base before they finally loaded us onto a greyhound bus and shipped us off to Vegas. Got there at about the time I would've been getting home normally (around 6am). Hung around for most of the morning but did get some free beers. They never explained exactly what went wrong (wiring under the cockpit?) but they did send me a couple free tickets.

  You weren't afraid to fly again after that?
• enigmaax

  like_that;1331432 wrote:You weren't afraid to fly again after that?

  It's kind of weird, I hated flying before that and would take shit to make me sleep through flights because they made me so nervous. At that moment, I wasn't afraid. I mean, I didn't want to die and was like, "you gotta be @#$%ing kidding me," but I didn't panic and basically resigned myself to the fact that it was completely out of my control.
  
  I think that facing the uncertainty and the thought that I might actually die actually kind of eased my anxiety after that. I haven't really been able to sleep on a plane since then (not sure if the two are related, but it is annoying), but I'm not on edge for the entire process like I used to be.
• Pick6

  

  I need to stop reading this thread. Have only flew once before and was scared shitless going into it. Getting ready to fly to Florida in January.
• sleeper

  

  Pick6;1331546 wrote:I need to stop reading this thread. Have only flew once before and was scared shitless going into it. Getting ready to fly to Florida in January.

  I wouldn't worry. You have a better chance of winning the power ball lottery than dying in a plane crash.
• like_that

  

  Pick6;1331546 wrote:I need to stop reading this thread. Have only flew once before and was scared shitless going into it. Getting ready to fly to Florida in January.

  
  It sucks when your life is in somebody else's hands. Depending on how bad it is, turbulence still gets my heart rate going. I remember flying thru some dark lightening clouds. Scared the shit out of me although I later researched a plane struck by lightening will do nothing but be very loud. My rule of thumb is to check out the attendants when you feel nervous. If they are calm you are good to go. In enigmaxx case it's time to start worrying.
• sportchampps

  My brother flew thru a hurricane on his way to Puerto Rico earlier this year and said the turbulence was so bad people were actually screaming. They said before they left the pilot came over the loud speaker and told everyone to enjoy the free roller coaster ride.
• se-alum

  

  I've actually been more nervous about all the check-in and pre-flight stuff.
• lhslep134

  

  like_that;1331583 wrote:It sucks when your life is in somebody else's hands. Depending on how bad it is, turbulence still gets my heart rate going. I remember flying thru some dark lightening clouds. Scared the **** out of me although I later researched a plane struck by lightening will do nothing but be very loud. My rule of thumb is to check out the attendants when you feel nervous. If they are calm you are good to go. In enigmaxx case it's time to start worrying.

  I HATE flying, but when I was headed to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl the pilot comes on and says there's going to be some light showers. I look out the window and around/underneath us I could see dark clouds with a few lightning bolts sprinkled in. I was scared sh*tless as well. It got really bumpy and we even did one of those few hundred foot drops that feels like a roller coaster.
• lhslep134

  

  enigmaax;1331531 wrote: I haven't really been able to sleep on a plane since then

  I've never been able to sleep. Even on my 12 hour flight to Israel I couldn't sleep because I was scared. Then somewhere over France we hit some bad turbulence and the only thought in my head was "are you f***ing kidding me I'm going to die in France?!"
• I Wear Pants

  sleeper;1331575 wrote:I wouldn't worry. You have a better chance of winning the power ball lottery than dying in a plane crash.

  On this advice I took out a loan from Western Sky and spent it all on Powerball tickets!
  
  I had a stewardess spill a soda on me on the flight from Honolulu to Seattle. She gave me a free beer and all was well.
• september63

  

  When I lived in ATL I would fly back to OH several times a year, for 10 years. No horror stories there at all.
  
  One year I flew back in on New Years Eve with a friend and we were decently intoxicated. They had open seating and suggested we sit in the back near the bathroom. We did. She proceeded to then serve us 2 beers at a time because she said we might not want to wait for her to come back around.
• sportchampps

  Best thing about flying on the holidays is they give you feer alcohol
• like_that

  

  sportchampps;1331612 wrote:My brother flew thru a hurricane on his way to Puerto Rico earlier this year and said the turbulence was so bad people were actually screaming. They said before they left the pilot came over the loud speaker and told everyone to enjoy the free roller coaster ride.

  Surprised they even took off.

  lhslep134;1331633 wrote:I HATE flying, but when I was headed to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl the pilot comes on and says there's going to be some light showers. I look out the window and around/underneath us I could see dark clouds with a few lightning bolts sprinkled in. I was scared sh*tless as well. It got really bumpy and we even did one of those few hundred foot drops that feels like a roller coaster.

  Those are the fucking worst. That's the exact type of turbulence that gets my heart racing. I hate that shit.
  

  sportchampps;1331971 wrote:Best thing about flying on the holidays is they give you feer alcohol

  Really?
• Raw Dawgin' it

  

  sleeper;1331575 wrote:I wouldn't worry. You have a better chance of winning the power ball lottery than dying in a plane crash.

  Pretty sure you have a better chance of being in 11 crashes before winning power ball.