re: Worst flight experience for you

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Then encountered gut wrenching turbulence on the way down. Glad I survived that one

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When I worked at that airport I would climb up to the roof of our building and watch the planes stair step down then suddenly abort the landing. Loved seeing the 747s abort.

Back in November, I was in a wreck in a taxi en route to DCA. Had to switch cabs in the middle of the highway. I get there in time for my DCA - BHM direct on BHM. We board the bus, get to the plane and are told there is a maintenance issue. We proceed to have flight time pushed back in 30 minute increments. We actually switched flights and left 7.5hrs late. Our original flight ultimately boarded, but the crew timed out before takeoff.

Not a good day.

1)Dulles to Casablanca. It was mid March and weather wasn’t great. Got in my seat, got comfy, put on my blackout eye mask, noise canceling headphones, took a melatonin and knocked out for 4 hours. When I woke up we were still on the tarmac because they had to de-Ice the plane 3 times and each time we went to the end of the line to take off. Couldn’t get back to sleep after that.

2) JFK to Reykjavík. Last Monday night when LSU was playing in the natty. Was taking my in laws and my parents on vacation so I couldn’t get out of it. I knew there weren’t going to be TVs on the plane to watch the game so I bought a SiriusXM subscription and had the sites pulled up to listen to the Chris Blair radio stream. Try to connect to the internet to listen...and the WiFi is broken. It was my personal hell, the flight felt like it was 24 hours and there was nothing I could do.


3) My wife’s worst was from Auckland to Houston. Their three food options were beef, curry, and fish. By the time we were served the only option was curry. It STANK! She was so hangry and disgusted that someone would serve curry on an airplane.

Springfield MO to ORD.

Boarded the regional jet, flight attendant comes on and states that due to the warm temps (it was about 95 degrees) they would be unable to fly with the plane full and would need 4 people to exit the plane. That was a new one, never heard that one before.

First they asked for volunteers and got no one. Then they said they would remove people in the inverse order of when you purchased the ticket. I knew I was screwed as this was a work trip and I bought the ticket the day before. I unbuckled my seatbelt and my name was first called. Of course, this was before you threw a tantrum over this stuff and post it on social media and get a bunch of sympathy like that doctor a few years back. I just exited quietly.

They book me for the next flight, which is 6 hours later. I sample every craft beer at the one bar in the airport and kill all this time. I see that my plane has landed, I finish my beer, go to the bathroom, walk to my gate, only to see the words CANCELED up on the screen. No one at the desk. No explanation.

I walk back, exit security, and see a line of 40-50 people at the United desk, which has 2 people working. I stand in line for over an hour to get rebooked for the following day.

Get a hotel, get in a cab, get a hotel, get back to the airport for a 8 am flight and get back home.

That was worse than having an actual emergency landing on an ORD to Knoxville flight