Ah, What's the worst airport stopover you've had?

Woden · 31-03-2015 2:49pm

My worst stopover was probably in Schiphol. Great airport really like it. Stop over wasn't long but I made a tit of myself by going down the wrong escalator to what I thought was the gate. Realised it was a dead end. Tried to turn around quickly and run back up the escalator.

Catastrophe when I tripped. Smashed my knee into the teeth on the escalator while I was slowly moved to the bottom. This was about 7am in the morning with no breakfast. Climbed back up the stairs slowly. Felt faint and lay down as I could feel I was going to pass out. Woke up a few seconds later I guess. Not sure what I looked like lying on the floor. Me and my now bleeding knee however did make the flight. Couldn't walk right for over a week!

Thoie · 31-03-2015 3:48pm

endofrainbow wrote: »

having to sleep overnight in Atlanta due to all flights being cancelled due to biblical rains

Not a "worst stopover" story, but that reminds me of being on a flight in the States. Around the time we should have been starting to descend the pilot comes on the intercom

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, this is, uh, Captain Fred"

<silence>

"Sorry, as I was saying, this is Captain Fred, just letting you know that we're having"

<silence>

"We're having some technical difficulties, and unfortunately it looks like we're not going to be able to land"

<siiilllllleeeennnnnnce as the entire plane looks at each other in horror>

"Yes, it looks like we're not going to be able to land in Fort Lauderdale due to heavy rain at the airport, and we don't have enough fuel"

<silence.... people still staring at the ceiling/cockpit/speakers in horror ....>

"Enough fuel to wait for the rain to stop, so we'll be making a brief stop in Orlando, refuelling there, and we should be on our way again within the hour"

I'm assuming he was being interrupted by ATC or something, but woah, did he pick rotten places to stop mid sentence! I also assume that he said technical difficulties on autopilot, as it were.

duffman13 · 31-03-2015 3:56pm

I've had a couple of really long waits in airports for stopovers but the worst was Perth in Australia. On the way to Melbourne and travel time was approx 34 hours from Dublin all in. All going swimmingly and we land in Perth (1 hour early) with a seven hour wait. Had to go through customs, good Craic in Oz, then go do the domestic terminal. First flight was at 7 which we were on.

We had to wait for 4 hours before the check in opened, the terminal doesn't open till 4am. We check in, go through security and grab some food. About twenty mins before the flight they call out that our flight will be delayed by two hours. Nightmare. The missus and her mate are getting a bit claustrophobic so security agree to let them go out for some fresh air. I go to the counter and ask what's happening more so out of boredom and the girl looks at me and says we are just going to start boarding. I tell her there was an announcement a few mins previously to say the flight would be delayed two hours. Apparently they made they announcement and then corrected the flight number almost immediately but we obviously exhausted from the preceeding flights, missed it.

The wait had been horrendous but there was nothing worse scrambling back out through security to get the missus and her mate back to catch the flight. It definitely woke me up though. Then after all the frantic running around we were still on the plane before half the passengers.

michellie · 31-03-2015 4:30pm

househero wrote: »

Meh the new KL domestic (Asian) airport is one if the best I've ever been to, shopping mall (nandos) loads of food and no Q's. Koh Samui was painful for me, no walls, no ac. Crappy free food on a boutique airline doesn't make up for tarantulas crawling on the back of your wicker chair. Reminded me of the Dominican republic big ass fan airport.

& KL does have live jazz on the airside and a huge range of shops and food.

Was thinking Thailand for our honeymoon. But forgot about spiderbeasts. Nope nope nope

Dyr · 31-03-2015 4:48pm

suicide_circus wrote: »

8 hours in Luton. Sh1thole.

10 hours in luton after missing a flight then had to pay ryanair 250 quid to get home because they f**ked up.

Absolute sh1thole

Spanish Eyes · 31-03-2015 5:20pm

Got stuck in Izmir once. And tbh that was my first BAAAAD experience.

Everything cost a mint and was totally inedible, and the queues OMG. Then the food ran out. Mwaaaah. Eating passes the time, and keeps you sane.

From that day on, I am sorry, sound like a battleaxe or something, but I ALWAYS pack those 10 chocolate croissants from Aldi, they last forever, rain or shine, , Always now, in my hand luggage.

A bit of water or something like it (!) is not usually a problem, but grub that you can actually eat can be difficult to find! So do it folks. If you don't need it on a huge stopover.. grand, but if you DO, you will be sooo grateful.

I always try to buy something edible in the departing country too. Before I get to the airport.

A lesson learned for me.

Never go to an airport without an emergency supply of grub you can actually EAT!

Great thread, am enjoying reading all your adventures.

steddyeddy · 01-04-2015 1:44am

endacl wrote: »

KL? Deadly airport. Harry's Bar with decent grub, live jazz and you can smoke. Well at least you could last time I was through. Ex- smoker now. The upstairs food court had a place that served the best chicken satay I've ever experienced. I'd nearly fly there for it now. Really clean showers between arrivals and the main concourse. Massage if you want it.

WTF more do you want from a stopover?!? I'd go to KL international for a break!

Oh. Wait. That was Singapore. Yeah. You're right. KL is shyte. Best ever airport to be stuck at is Koh Samui. Think "Rick's beach bar, from Magnum P.I.". Only, with airplanes, and free iced pineapple juice if your flight is delayed...

Alcohol is highly taxed in Malaysia so I wasn't going to be paying astronomical prices for the beer in KL. Is Harry's the sports bar?

BetterThanThou · 01-04-2015 5:34am

Not a stopover, but I was waiting about 12 hours in Dublin Airport to board a flight that was delayed by about 10 hours, firstly, they discovered a bomb threat note and spent a few hours searching the plane for a bomb, which was determined to have just been an idiot taking the piss on the flight prior, then they discovered some mechanical problem with the plane, spent a few hours analyzing and trying to fix that, and determined it wasn't easily fixable and the plane was unfit to fly, the airline in question had no other planes at the airport at the time, since it was a small charter operation, so about 7 hours after the plane was supposed to board, we were informed that in about 3 hours, we'd be able to board another plane that they had coming in. This ordeal happened mostly while everything was closed, as it was a late flight anyway, the only entertainment I had with me was an MP3 player, probably not the worst experience someone could have in an airport, but it's the worst experience I've had.

SwiftEagle · 01-04-2015 6:20am

Overnight in Charles de gaulle. We were inter railing to salzburg for a champions league qualifier (bohs v red bull) and we got off in the train station in Paris that was a total dive. Since between 3 of us we only had something like 200 quid and a box of stella, any sort of decent accommodation was out of the question so we went to the airport for our first nights sleep (considering the night before in St Pancras was a terrible kip) so we go to the airport and roll out the sleeping bags and maybe sleep for like a hour before some clown starts spending the night driving around in one of them floor cleaners. Overall we spent the whole night lying on a cold floor sobering up Looking at the ceceiling.

CaliforniaDream · 01-04-2015 7:39am

Mine's not a stopover story either.
Years ago I was travelling home from Switzerland on my own. I was 12 years old so the airline staff were to look out for me during my stopover. I was supposed to be to fly Zurich-Dublin-Galway.

I had to be up at 3am local time to be driven 4hrs to Zurich airport.
Got there and went through security to wait for my flight. It ended up being delayed a few hours.
Got out eventually and landed in Dublin. But because the flight had been delayed so long I missed the connection to Galway.
They got me rebooked on a flight to Shannon instead. So I get into Shannon but now there's the issue of how do
I get home from here.
Buses were no longer running to Galway and my family didn't have a car at the time so the airline got me a taxi to Galway.
I ended up getting home at 11pm.

21 hours from Switzerland to Galway!!

Beefy78 · 01-04-2015 12:42pm

porsche959 wrote: »

Kuala Lumpur. Not a particularly bad airport as such, just being stuck there for around 6 hours after getting off a 7 hr flight from Sydney and facing into another flight of 9 hrs to London, and I can never sleep properly when travelling.

That's what airport lounges are invented for. Even if you have to pay $50 it is worth every penny for free food, drink and a hot shower at KL.

Beefy78 · 01-04-2015 1:00pm

the evasion_kid wrote: »

13 hours in Newark on the way home at Xmas and then the same on the way back,I kept jumping between the 3 terminals to fill time,I felt a bit like tom hanks in the the film the terminal

I had 13 hours in JFK once... would you not just go into the City? You've got one of the best cities in the World an hour away and you're complaining about 13 hours there. It's the perfect amount of time for a quick trip.

Photo-Sniper wrote: »

London Gatwick.

Was their for 8 hours overnight once. Genuinely the worst ****ing excuse for an airport in the world.

An absolute abomination.

I used to hate Gatwick but they finally finished the redevelopment of it a year ot two back and it is genuinely nice now. I was shocked.

Cody montana · 01-04-2015 7:17pm

A 20 minute stop over in JFK.

Had 20 minutes to get off my plane from Las Vegas and onto my plane for Ireland.
Had the flue, was hung over and tired.
Got onto the plane red faced and looking like a raving lunatic though.

eviltwin · 01-04-2015 7:19pm

Atlanta. A lovely airport but my god the heat!! :eek:

Mars Bar · 01-04-2015 9:29pm

Note to self, don't ever find yourself in a situation where you end up having to fly to/from Charles De Gaulle!

Thankfully I've never had bad experiences. We had a one hour delay sitting in the plane in Alicante once but that's harmless compared to some of the stories here. It felt like an age at the time though.

cuana · 01-04-2015 9:57pm

Delayed at the Dublin airport & just literally ran to make my connecting flight in London got onto next flight where we ended up sitting on the plane for 2 hours before take off it didn't help it was an 11 hour flight thereafter! All in all a pretty long day of traveling I had intended on getting the last boat to Vancouver Island which I missed so I had the hassle of looking for over night etc I shouldn't complain nothing too dramatic.

I think the worst had to be was stuck in New York for six hours penniless & extremely hungover!!!!

glassdaisies · 02-04-2015 12:26am

I think Philadelphia and Atlanta were equally awful!!

I have to echo the OPs mention of Zurich. I flew Swissair several times as a teenage, always connecting through there and it was equally painful each time.

artanevilla · 02-04-2015 12:45am

glassdaisies wrote: »

I think Philadelphia and Atlanta were equally awful!!

I have to echo the OPs mention of Zurich. I flew Swissair several times as a teenage, always connecting through there and it was equally painful each time.

Zurich is flipping lovely!

ProudDUB · 02-04-2015 12:47am

My sister moved to Seattle in the late 80's. The first time she came home for Xmas, her itinerary was Seattle-JFK-Heathrow-Dublin. It was only the second time she had ever crossed the pond, so she was nervous enough to begin with.

When she was checking in in Seattle, she was told there was a problem at JFK, with her connection to Heathrow. She wasn't told what the problem was, just that there was one. So she frets for hours wondering what is going on & will she (and her bags) miss her other two connections. When she gets to JFK, all hell has broken loose. Turns out, the "problem" with her flight to Heathrow, was that it was the JFK bound plane that blew up over Lockerbie. It was therefore not available to do the return leg back to Heathrow.

They eventually found another plane, but she sat for about 3 hrs surrounded by grieving relative and media throngs, which was rather upsetting. (This was in the days when the public could access the air side part of US terminals.) Needless to say, it was a pretty miserable flight to Heathrow. Then when she gets there, there are more grieving relatives and media packing out the airport.

She missed her flight to Dublin due to the delay at JFK & had to wait for ages to get a seat, due to it being Xmas. She also got a lot of grief from security staff. This was in the bad old IRA days, so Heathrow security were understandably skittish about anyone who could be a security threat. Irish people were pretty high on that list.

She tried to keep some perspective on it all, as unlike the poor Lockerbie passengers, she did make it to her final destination. But God love her, she was very, very shaken when she finally made it to Dublin, about 12 hours behind schedule.

PandaPoo · 02-04-2015 12:57am

Orlando airport is the only one I've been delayed in for a significant amount of time. I really love the airport, great food and shops

Delayed a few hours in grand cayman too, that airport is tiny. Nothing really going on there at all

galljga1 · 02-04-2015 1:12am

I arrived at JFK International Airport, but was not able to enter the United States. You see, while I was en route to the US, a revolution was started in my home nation of Krakozhia. Due to the civil war, the United States no longer recognized Krakozhia as a sovereign nation and denied me entrance to the US. I could not leave the airport or return to Krakozhia. I lived in the terminal. I had just come over to get an autograph from a jazz musician to complete a quest my father had started. After many months the war ended and I attended a concert after which I got the autograph and returned home.

artanevilla · 02-04-2015 1:45am

galljga1 wrote: »

I arrived at JFK International Airport, but was not able to enter the United States. You see, while I was en route to the US, a revolution was started in my home nation of Krakozhia. Due to the civil war, the United States no longer recognized Krakozhia as a sovereign nation and denied me entrance to the US. I could not leave the airport or return to Krakozhia. I lived in the terminal. I had just come over to get an autograph from a jazz musician to complete a quest my father had started. After many months the war ended and I attended a concert after which I got the autograph and returned home.

A true story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehran_Karimi_Nasseri

galljga1 · 02-04-2015 1:51am

artanevilla wrote: »

A true story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehran_Karimi_Nasseri

Don't start me on the time my plane went down in the Pacific and I was stranded on this godawful island with only a volleyball for company.

ButtersSuki · 02-04-2015 1:55am

O'Hare in Chicago for 14 hours and CDG Paris for 18, they were the worst by far.

Bench Press · 02-04-2015 7:21am

Dublin for 7 hours in the middle of summer 10 years ago, place was full of people wearing tracksuits going on cheap package holidays, shouting and causing a disturbance, drinking far too much before boarding their flight, typical Ireland really

Davidth88 · 02-04-2015 8:44am

I have to concur that CDG is the worst airport in Europe .

I have had a couple of bad connections there

1) More frustrating than bad , flying DUB-CDG-Rennes ..... the DUB CDG flight was a little late so I was in a rush to make the connection. The Cityjet/AF flights have busses meet them , so you get on a bus that seems to go in ever decreasing circles for ages , I then had to run to the gate that was closing , get on a another bus that went in ever increasing circles for ages , to get on the aeroplane that was directly next to the aeroplane I landed in ! all of 30 yds ..... the only good thing as I sat on the aeroplane sweating like a pig was watching the ground guys pick my bag up from the aircraft I landed on and walk over and plonk it on the new aircraft.

2) Anyone who has used T3 at CDG you will know this is basically a shed where they put the airlines that they want to forget about.

I had to fly DUB-CDG-Milan-Sardinia one time. Got to CDG and the flight to Milan ( in T3 ) was cancelled due to a strike ( The Italians go on strike just because they can ) . There was total and utter mayhem in the terminal. Next flight was the next day ! So I get a hotel for the night ( which I paid for ), get to the T3 the next day . ..... I mention passenger rights etc , the usual CDG response of shrug of shoulders ( and turning their name badges backwards so you can't follow anything up )

...... flight was 4 hrs late. Aircraft takes off , Captain comes on and says ohhh we are not going to Milan Linante but Malpensa ( which is the other side of Milan )..... remember I have another flight ! By the time we get to the Milan Malpensa its 9pm and basically everything is closed . So que another night in a hotel , taxi to Linante in the morning.... finally get to Sardina after a journey of nearly 3 days !

Beefy78 · 02-04-2015 10:06am

I think ProudDUB's sister wins the thread. Crikey.

Stone Deaf 4evr · 02-04-2015 10:08am

went skiing in bulgaria and flew out of a cesspit called plovidv airport, it was essentially some sort of re purposed military facility. Imagine a large hall. check in was on the left hand side, and you walked across the open area to a counter that was selling duty free. after you moved through the security area, where they examine everything from books to chocolate bars. you got to the departure 'lounge'. essentially another massive hall where everyone gathered, regardless of what flight they were getting and exited out through the same door. to pass the time, you could buy cans of warm beer from a table that was set up at one side of the hall, sold straight out of the cases. I reckon its the only airport in the world where you can buy a can of beer, and walk out onto the apron and up into your plane while supping away. We were stuck in that hellhole for 8 odd hours.

And it was also the only flight I've been on where they clapped when we took off.

Grayson · 02-04-2015 10:40am

Jawgap wrote: »

Got delayed in Abu Dhabi last year - and it was not fun. 'Only' 6 hours but you weren't allowed leave the gate. Eventually after a lot of pleading and arguing they gave out bottled water.......just as the flight was called!

Eti Had.........never again:mad:

I missed my connecting flight with etihad in Abu Dhabi. Was supposed to be a one hour stopover on the way to Saigon. Now to be fair to them they had everything organised with in 30 minutes. We were whisked off to a Hilton for our 10 hour layover. However we had no baggage. And instead of a 8 hour flight to Saigon I now had two flights to Bangkok and then to Saigon. That also included a 5 hour stopover in Bangkok.

So my initial flight was supposed to be 16 hours in total. It ended up being 36 hours. That brought me into the third day wearing the same clothes. And that's when I discovered they had lost my luggage.

I arrived a day late and smelling like ****.

Never flying with them again. Their customer service was useless in tracking my luggage. They have no contact number that works so I had to go onto their facebook page. All they would do is say someone would update me. My bags eventually arrived but they actually updated the facebook thread the next day and said they are still looking into it.

jmayo · 02-04-2015 12:00pm

househero wrote: »

Not knowing other cultures can be intimidating. FYI, they LOVE children in the UAE, the people staring at your (exhausted) son, probably wanted to make him smile but a language/culture/aware of a scared mum barrier didn't let them. Children are put on a pedestal and treated with huge respect in ME countries, other adults will often try to make strangers children laugh, its innocent and the whole airport did not want to kidnap your son.

I thought they used to put the kids on camels not pedestals ?

I remember a Delta flight to Florida from Dublin via Atlanta.
In Dublin first stuck on aircraft for over and hour, then off for two hours.

Got talking to guy beside me who actually was bound for Shannon after coming back from states.

This was two weeks after 911 and he had been one of those diverted to Gander on 911.
He said they were just told flight was diverting and there was nothing to worry about and the aircraft was ok.
He said arriving in Gander was a plane spotters wet dream.
Aircaft of all shades and descriptions were all over the place.

Of course they were stuck for hours once they landed and it took him best part of week to eventually get to San Fran.

He was a bit unlucky with his flights.

It however put the Dublin and subsequent hour long Shannon delay in perspective for me.

Ah, What's the worst airport stopover you've had?

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