Bad Flight Experiences...

PaulMcG

Inspired by otron's thread on long haul fights - has anyone got any bad flight experiences to share?

I don't really have any just the usual turbulance and stuff.

I really enjoy flying and had a great time when I went to America last year and went on 4 flights in one day!

Nightwish

PaulMcG wrote:

Inspired by otron's thread on long haul fights - has anyone got any bad flight experiences to share?

I don't really have any just the usual turbulance and stuff.

I really enjoy flying and had a great time when I went to America last year and went on 4 flights in one day!

I had no bad flight experiences other than kids crying constantly/running up and down the aisles etc. I would definately pay more for my ticket if I could get on a child-free flight

simu

I ordered coke but it was American coke - icky.

!El traumatismo!

Rb

The worst experience, which isn't exactly bad, was when I had to sit on the plane, going nowhere for 2 hours because the door wouldnt shut...typical Ryanair.All through the flight I kept thinking about the door and the possibility of it opening.

Repli

I was taking off on a plan to gran canaria with my girlfriend last year, and u know the most problems happen on the runway, anyway as the plane was taking off smoothly, it JERKED back down a few feet as if it was only starting to take off again.. then the landing was far from normal either ... it was like .swoooooooooooooooooossssh BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM...

Then I was coming back from France with my girlfriend this year, and while we were away the 2 huge crashes happened (stelios and venezuela) so wa a bit freaked out anyway.. But the plane was sitting on the runway with all passengers aboard fro almost 2 hours (waiting for space I presume, was CDG) .. that freaked me out a bit too..

Flyings a scary experience at the best of times..

Pataman

I had just qualified as a pilot and my first passsenger was a good friend. I fuelled up the plane, he opened his door to offer help, which I declined, but I forgot to check his door. Anyway we get our clearance, off down the main runway in Dublin airport. About 200 feet up doing approx 70 miles per hour in a small 2 seater his door opens. I have never seen anybody go white instantly before, incredable. Anyway I reassured him, didnt work he was ****less for the rest of the flight. At least we laugh about it now. Well I do anyway.

rainbow kirby

Turbulence on the way into Innsbruck on a stormy February evening.

BuffyBot

The worst experience, which isn't exactly bad, was when I had to sit on the plane, going nowhere for 2 hours because the door wouldnt shut...typical Ryanair.

I wouldn't say typical anyone - been on more than one airline who've had door trouble :eek:

stelios

[pedant]Helios[/pedant]

joejoem

While flying to New York a few weeks ago a friend had a bad stomach. In the bar before we took off he was dropping bombs, by the time we got on the plain it was constant. It was so bad that he would tell me he was trying to let one go quietly and it would still give out a big rip. All of us being locked and giddy would start to laugh and cover our noses (disgusted but when your locked and on the first day of holidays everything is funny) he would laugh aswell out of embarressment which would make him fart more and more and more, coming out in short bursts.

The smell was terrible, the aerhostess's would walk by and there reaction was priceless. They would jump back and clutch there noses. I didnt feel bad for them though the snotty Aerlingus bitches.

That was a very very long 7 hours. I felt soaked in fart by the time I got off the plane.

Dizzyblabla

I was on the way to Portugal, flight was at 6.30am, we had gone out the night before, which was fine, and still even a little tipsy checking in, flight took off, no problems...
we were about 20 mins from Faro airport, when a voice came out over the intercom, "Due to technical dificulties, we will be turning around and going back to Manchester"....
We ended up in Gatwick Airport for 8 hours, before we finally left, and all we got for our troubles was a £10 voucher to get some lunch...
I got to my holiday destination 11 hours late... not nice at all

netwhizkid

My worst flight experiences are This year going to New York i wore a t-shirt only and i was perished for 7 hours by the A/C i ended up getting an awful head cold that stuck with me for the whole holiday. In 2003 i went to Lanzarote and i had a little turbulence but noting major, however it was the first day of the Iraqi War and i was afriad we'd be shot down as we crossed over islamic Morocco.

ixoy

My worst flight experience was when my plane crashed on a tropical island, which had a polar bear on it. Other than that, my flights have been okay.

joejoem

1) Turbulence on a cheap arline flight from New York to Miami. Scary, really bouncing around, weightless legs and arms at times.

2) Coming back from Greece after 4 days excessive drinking and other boldness with a broken toe and bloodied hand. Four day hangover after eating next to nothing over the four days and this old (55ish) woman beside me has a glass of wine and decides she wants conversation with me. The plane is tiny, there is no escape, I feel so ill. Go to the toilet for privacy and possibley air and get overwhelmed with the smell. Four hours of listening to her blather on or just plain stare at me. Do you know how irritating it is when you feel sick and you can feel somone staring at the side of your face???? I think will go down as four of the worst hours of my life. My poor toe had swollen to 4 times its size.

Dizzyblabla

Being asked if I can stay an extra day in Boston, and even being offered money to stay, but turning it down, getting on the plane to find an elderly couple sitting in our seats, getting them bumped up to first class (that's gotta be ageism, they were already sitting, they should have put us in first class).
When we got to Dublin airport, our bags were never put on the plane, so I had to wait 5 hours for the next plane to land with our bags cause I (stupidly) put the keys of the house I was staying in on the suitcase that didn't arrive...

DublinWriter

Not my experience, but did anyone hear Valerie Cox on the PK radio show last week?

She was on a Ryanair flight were there was a pool of vomit nearby as the 'plane hadn't been cleaned properly from the previous flight.

When she complained and took pictures with her phone, the flight-attendant threatened to kick her off the flight (hadn't taken off at the time).

Personally, I was flying Ryanair to Charlois a week after 9/11. Noticed one of the stewardesses going up into the cockpit - she left the door to the cockpit wide open for about three minutes as she chatted to one of the pilots. Pretty unnerving considering the vibe of that particular time.

Dinner

12 or 13 hour flight from Paris to Singapore on the dullest plane ever. The only telly within my view was about 10 rows infront of us and it was tiny. They put on sh!te films for most of the flight but for the last hour they put on Mr. Bean.

Last year coming home from Austria I was bet down with a cold/sore throat and by the time we got up in the air the pressure was killing my ears. I couldnt sleep because they hurt and I wasnt able to concentrate to read. Worst flight ever.

Lemlin

Was really thirsty flying from Birmingham to Dublin so bought a can on Ryanair.

£1.30 for the smallest can of 7UP I'd ever seen in my life!

As a scabby Cavan man, I still have nightmares about it to this day.

Lump

Lemlin wrote:

Was really thirsty flying from Birmingham to Dublin so bought a can on Ryanair.

£1.30 for the smallest can of 7UP I'd ever seen in my life!

As a scabby Cavan man, I still have nightmares about it to this day.

How do you think Ryanair make money. No one forces you to buy stuff on the flight, and it's not like they don't allow you to bring your own stuff on.

John

frodi

Flying home from Bulgaria about 20 years ago (gee I'm old), eastern european (read communist) airline. Some rivets were missing on the wing and for the entire flight I could see smoke/steam/condensation coming out of the rivet holes. Throw in some turbulence I was close to bricking it.

Wertz

Recall when I was pretty young (about 8) being on a flight from Jersey to Heathrow, on a turbo-prop plane (the one where the wings are above you rather than below and you can see the engine and prop)...anyways on coming in to land , we touched down smoothly enough, and then all of a sudden the tyre on our side of the plane which we could see out the window blew out and thew plane veered and skidded all over the runway as the pilot tried to bring it to a halt...he brought it to standstill on a slip way and we were met by about 4 fire engines and everyone was rushed off the plane. Now as an 8 yr old I thought all this was f*ckin' A, great craic...if it happened now I'd probably think worse of it.

A few years back was on a connecting night flight from Chicago to Dallas when we ran into a pretty bad t-storm...all the seatbelt lights came on and even the air hostesses ran for their little fold downs....the turbulence was dire...I'd say the plane dropped at least 30-40 ft in one pocket, and you'd get that mad sound as the engines compensate for the drop in speed, everything in the overhead compartments rattling...and as it was an internal US flight I was sober ><
Seeing loads of lightning out the window kinda made up for it. A stiff drink wouldn't have gone astray either...

boneless

14 hours on an Aeroflot aircraft from Moscow to Pyonyang... I hate flying at the best of times, but that was sheer hell!! I am convinced I handed back the same bit of "chicken" twice. We stopped in the armpit of Siberia to refuel or something. I got eaten by the most savage mosquitos I've ever encountered... the return journey was worse. There was nothing to drink on the plane!! We just got plastered on Korean rice hooch.

PaulMcG

I was on one of those Continental Express planes (only hold like 30-50 people) and was flying from IAH (Houston) to Lubbock in Texas and there was amazing an lightning storm below us. The plane was rocking all around the place for a while - twas great!

Lemlin

Originally posted by Lump
How do you think Ryanair make money. No one forces you to buy stuff on the flight, and it's not like they don't allow you to bring your own stuff on.

Jez, relax mate, do you work for RyanAir or something!? Anyway, like I said, I was really thirsty, dehydration from drink had hit, and we nearly missed the flight so I didn't have time to get a drink before I got on board.

Tall a chill pill though, it was a tongue in cheek post.

Lump

Lemlin wrote:

Jez, relax mate, do you work for RyanAir or something!? Anyway, like I said, I was really thirsty, dehydration from drink had hit, and we nearly missed the flight so I didn't have time to get a drink before I got on board.

Tall a chill pill though, it was a tongue in cheek post.

No I just hate people moaning about, in my opinion, the best airline around atm.

John

Civilian_Target

Coming back to Dublin after a weekend on the piss in Nottingham - started on beer, then hit the ale hard. Was flying Ryanair, so I had my knees round my neck to start with, which was not helping my hangover.

We hit turbulence approaching Howth. And as a costsaving measure, Ryanair don't have sickbags. So people started getting sick on the aisles, the seats, and each other. And the smell of sick only causes you to get sick....

Needless to say, in that hungover state, the night before got re-aired...

Ozzy

I was really really tired, felt like ****! Things were looking up though when I got a nice cup of hot coffee placed in front of me ready to go down, yum yum yum. Put the sugar in, mmm coffee, licking my lips and rubbing my hands together, admiring my beautiful cup of coffee.

But no, God doesn't like tired people in urgent need of a chemical stimulant! Just as I stretch my hands out for it, the stupid little kid in front drops a ****ing carrot or some **** over his seat from his dinner which plops right into my unspoiled drink like an orange turd, splashing acid coffee into my innocent panda-eyed eyeballs...
I admit it was a nice shot and all, he wasn't even looking but... that little bastard

DublinWriter

Lump wrote:

How do you think Ryanair make money.

By having a cute pricing model where you pay *a lot* for flights if you book just two weeks in advance. Check their site for most popular UK flights in the next 1-2 weeks and most will be around the €200 mark return, excluding taxes.

Chucking away a few seats for 99p on each flight and calling themselves the low-fare airline has to be one of the great marketing coups in history.

I've found Aer Lingus to be cheaper for UK/Brussels flights in practise.

Anyway, another flight experience, interesting rather than bad, was flying with Aer Arann about 15 years ago. Everyone had to get weighted at their small airport in Galway. The scales were gigantic and on the wall, so needless to say most of the women weren't happy with that!

The plane was a 6-seater that looked like a Hiace with wings. The poor pilot looked like one of the original Wright brothers. Silent novenas were said mid-flight for his health.

I was in the co-pilots seat and there was only what resembled a car door between me and the altantic some 5,000 feet below.

Coming back from Inisir, the plane landed and took off from the other two islands before eventually heading back to Galway.

My gf at the time needed valium to even get her onto a 737, so you can imagine the state of her after all that!

cee_jay

We flew from Chang Mai to Bangkok (extremely hungover at 6 in the morning!) and had to wait 7 hours to get our flight to Singapore - and then on to Sydney.
There were 3 of us, and as we were so early for the flight we were the first ones to check in and we were told we couldn't get seats together!
A bit surprised at that but the reason was there was an American school tour (all girls)on the same flight as us!
Got on the plane and the air hostesses were going mad cause all the girls were swapping seats, jumping over other passengers to get to sit beside whoever, and most of them had ordered special meals - i mean not just plain vegetarian or whatever - the girl in front of me wanted nut free, dairy free, gluten free, and meat free!!! so there the air hostesses were trying to figure out who was who and who wanted what meal and the kids (and teachers for that matter) just ignoring them - and being so loud!
Finally got to Singapore, got on the connecting flight to Sydney, and there they all were again...........
Longest flights ever! Thought I would never get off the plane!

scojones

I was on a flight from Larnaca to Dublin a few years ago, the engines stopped working and the planed dropped a good few thousand feet, the airhostess bringing around the drinks flew up and hit her head off of the ceiling inside the plane because we fell so suddently, her head was split open, all of those masks came out of the ceiling and the lights went out. The engines started working again when we were very very close to the ground, I thought that was it...

My uncle flies about three times a week, he was looking out the plane at the engine, and a bolt was loose, and flew out, then another and another and then the engine fell off. Everyone was ok though, thanks to a very experienced pilot.

DublinWriter

sjones wrote:

My uncle flies about three times a week, he was looking out the plane at the engine, and a bolt was loose, and flew out, then another and another and then the engine fell off. Everyone was ok though, thanks to a very experienced pilot.

What?!?! I know most 'planes can fly on a single engine, but the cavity left on the leading age of a wing after the complete loss of an engine would make it as aerodynamic as a brick - the entire wing would have been ripped off!

What airline and type of 'plane was it?

electric69

Last summer,on my last night of holidays i got just a lil drunk,got collected from the hotel at 8 in the morning....spent the 2hours 2 the airport getting sick on the bus....when i got on the plane my blood-sugar level was basically zero,then there was no food available on the flight bcus it got damaged due to turbulance on the previous flight.I then proceded to have some sort of fit on the plane and all my muscles siezed up.they were going 2 divert the flight but they filled me up with coke and chocolate and i was a bit better....had 2b carried off the plane in dublin airport in a wheelechair though.

BuffyBot

And as a costsaving measure, Ryanair don't have sickbags. So people started getting sick on the aisles, the seats, and each other. And the smell of sick only causes you to get sick....

Charming. They do have them - next time hit the call bell and ask.

Tiffany

On a flight to Turkey, the turkish airline we were flying with allowed people to smoke. So of course people did, and someone kept farting throughout the entire flight. So fresh air was out of the question.

nedoo

A flight to Mexico City with Air Mexicana. Feeling hungover and served crap food. All the Mex people then started drinking Taqulia with their food making me even worse. Then a selfish cow started to do her nails and between the smell of the nail varnish and the drink which the air con was spreading throughout the plain, I puked! Bastardos.

Sparky

i wouldnt say i had a bad flight experience but in the way to NY, we hit some serious bad turbualance it was like a but going 30mph over ramps, i was loving it actually, then this american old one went ape sh1t behind us and of all things asked to get off the plane, her son had to reassure her it was ok, but anyway when the flight landed the pilot had a nice gentle chat with her before customs.

but on planes as such i hated those united airlines there seats were cramped compared to airlingus, when i got a airlingus flight back from LA i felt at home already, although the flight ladies on united and delta were ok, but i liked to see a bit of irish girls again

monkeyfudge

Tiffany wrote:

On a flight to Turkey, the turkish airline we were flying with allowed people to smoke. So of course people did, and someone kept farting throughout the entire flight. So fresh air was out of the question.

Actually the air is a lot clearer on a fight that allows smoking. The airlines save a fortune from not allowing smoking on planes. When smoking is allowed on a plane the Co2 scrubbers have to work a lot harder and as such the air is kept much cleaner. But on a non-smoking flight the air is far more stale.

I had one bad flight from London to Dublin once... It was a really stormy night and Dublin airport had been struck by lightening, so a lot of flights were cancelled, but mine was in the air at the time. I was up near the front and there was a very strong smell of fumes and they had the cockpit door wedged open with a bit of cloth as the co-pilot kept nearly passing out from the fumes.

I really didn't mind all this too much as they were quite happy to pour the drink into me for the duration of the flight.

Oh.. and Chicago isn't called the windy city for nothing.. that place has seriously bad turbulance. I was flying into O'Hare on a trans-atlanctic flight and it was pretty bad, but on a big plane it never seems so bad. I then had a transfer flight to fly from Chicago up to Grand Rapids on the other side of the lake. And it was one of these tiny little planes that only holds about 20 people. But the turbulance was absolutely terrible on that little thing. Then when we got to Grand Rapids were stuck there circling and circling... It turned out the plane before us had skidded on the ice as it hit the run way and crashed off the side of it. So we had to turn around and head back to O'Hare.

They said they'd put us up for the night in a specific hotel, but they said there was a shuttle bus from the aiport to the hotel, but no such thing existed... so I ended up having to get a taxi and not having a clue where I was going... But I made it in the end and had lots and lots of american stlye pancakes for breakfast. And the airline sent me up to Grand Rapids on a bus later on that morning.

jaggeh

flying into new york at christmas 2000 during the massive near ice age.
there was huge turbulence as we were coming into land, and i mean omg weve just bounced a good 100 feet. then when the pilot was trying to land the runway was iced up and he had to make 2 passes....

Sleepy

Worst I've experienced to date were Monarch airlines on a cheap last minute holiday deal to Gran Canaria. I know that companies can't discriminate based on phyysique but you'd imagine that when hiring cabin crew a "no fatties" rule would be acceptable. It was a 3am flight so all anyone wanted to do was sleep. Between the stewardess's lard ass crashing against me every five minutes (I had the aisle seat) and the young skanger couple beside me with a young baby I didn't get a minute's kip the entire flight...

Our man in Havana

Worst flight I was on was a boeing 777 flight from Heathrow to Newark. Half way over the ocean the number 1 engine exploded and fuel was pissing out of the wing. Was forced to land in the arsehole of canada. Waited 7 hours in the most boring hole of a place for a replacement plane to continue the journey. The panic levels onboard were unreal.

I was glad to be off that wreck.

PaulMcG

Just remembered this... was flying back to Ireland from London with Aer Lingus a few years ago. We were on the descent into Dublin and were about a minute from touching down when the plane went straight back up again.

Apparently there was another plane on the runway.

gonker

That happened to me flying from Dublin to Cork to pick up passengers to fly to Majorca we were desending in cork when suddenly the plane shot back up in the sky. Scary stuff.
Flying to Menorca one year there was a very strong smell of burning just before we were due to land. It got stronger and stronger and the stewardess were running up and down the aisles. Then the pilot ran down the plane. Needless to say there was a bit of panic the woman in front of me started crying and praying.
Anyway it all calmed down and we landed I got up of my seat and went to get off the plane there was a delay so I sat down on the panicy womans seat and realized to my horror that she had wet herself and the seat and I had sat on it. YUCK I had to sit in someone elses wee on my clothes for 1 hour till we got to the apartment.

The Free Man

i was recently on a 11 hour flight home from thailand with a broken neck, without realising it was broken. damn that was uncomfortable...

Civilian_Target

BuffyBot wrote:

Charming. They do have them - next time hit the call bell and ask.

Yeah - but as I said - we had hit turbulence, so by the time the sickbags arrived, it was waaay too late...

teresasaunt

Going to New York Monday two-weeks ago. Plane due to leave Shannon at 11.10... left home @ 7.30 and arrive at Shannon at 8.30. Checked in at 8.45 and were nicely told the plane was leaving at 9.50 and not 11.10 as it said in our tickets. This then involved all 12 of us frantically trying to get all our bags checked and fill our those immigration forms. Got through immigration ok and arrived on the plane at 9.40... don't know how many times we heard could our party please come to the boarding gate.

It was the only Continental flight going to New York that day so we don't know how they got the times mixed up. And it only seemed to be on our tickets.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

i fly about twice a week at the moment. i think the more you fly the more nervous you get! biggest relief is the new ryanair planes - was pretty-nerve-wracking flying on the old planes (27 years old).

DEmeant0r

I was to fly from Zurich to Hong Kong two weeks ago, I arrived at the airport about 8 hours before the flight -_-;; so I decided to visit Zurich City. Anyways three hours before the flight I decided to go back to the airport, and took the train, but little did I know the train to the airport changed platform and the one I was in was headed towards the capital of Switzerland, which is an hour journey :eek:. Lol so as soon as the train reached the capital I raced towards a train headed to Zurich Airport, I barely made it back on time, but that gave me a little scare :v:

Fajitas!

Tire burst on landing there a few years ago...that was a bit interesting alright!

Other than that, on a flight to Canada from London, the airport we were supposed to land into got snowed over when we had just come off the atlantic, ended up going to Boston, staying in the airport for 14 hours, before being told that we'd be better off flying to some sh*te hole airport in the middle of nowhere, then bussing it from there. I was a very cranky 12 year old after that.