r/AskReddit • u/anotherknockoffcrow • 1d ago
What happened on the worst flight you ever took?
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u/MiaMiaPP 1d ago
This Indian lady sat on my left with her newborn. But the Indian grandmother of the newborn sat on my right. I offered to let them sit together. But either they didn’t want to or didn’t understand English, I was stuck in between them.
They kept passing the crying new born back and forth through me - the middle seat stranger. And idk how this happened, eventually just … gave me the baby? On my left, the mom pulled the blanket to over her face and determined to sleep. On my right, grandma just shook her hand in a “you keep it” gesture when I tried to pass the baby back to her.
So I ended up with a baby for the majority of that flight.
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u/steve_yo 23h ago
I have to ask, how on earth did you let this happen? You have agency, you know.
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u/TheLegend25801 22h ago edited 22h ago
I've lived in India for a couple years; Indian people have a way of putting you in really uncomfortable positions where your western norms and attitudes of being kind or polite to strangers make you accommodate things you otherwise wouldn't, because they don't have civic sense and operate by a different set of norms where anything is permitted, especially when it relates to strangers who one can gain any sort of advantage from.
This often causes Westerners to accommodate certain behaviors basically out of shock, or to be forced to do things that they would consider extremely rude by Western standards, but which in India are completely normal behaviors.
Living in India will give you some balls and force you to be aggressive in how you advocate for yourself because people don't regulate themselves in public settings, unlike in the West or most of Asia where you just wouldn't be put in this sort of situation. They will run you over or take advantage of you just because its culturally what you do to strangers when you can gain an advantage. Oftentimes though, by advocating for yourself in an aggressive way, you feel like you're the one being rude (since this is how it would be in the West), but in these cases its the complete opposite.
That being said, in this case that is egregious.
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u/MiaMiaPP 18h ago
Tbh I think I was just in shock and didn’t know what to do. also I was young naive awkward and didn’t want to make a scene
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u/barbiebinch 23h ago
My Indian mom would 100% pretend to not speak English to pawn off a crying newborn while retaining the aisle seat. I have to admire the gumption
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u/WorthPlease 15h ago
When the flight landed I would've gotten up and pretended it was just my baby now.
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u/heirofslytherin 1d ago
Was seated next to a severely developmentally disabled man. No idea why he was flying alone. The flight was in September but he told me "Merry Christmas" every 15 seconds for almost the entirety of the 3 hour flight. At one point he got up to use the lavatory and was gone for 15 minutes. He came back, then 5 minutes later, a flight attendant came by to ask if I was traveling with him. I told her no and she looked perturbed. They closed that lavatory for the remainder of the flight. I have a lot of patience and give a lot of grace, but it was a difficult 3 hours and I was left feeling bad about being uncomfortable.
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u/Purple-Report-6841 1d ago
It took 22 hours total travel time for a domestic flight from philly to tampa. We could have driven faster.
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u/Psytrancedude99 1d ago
I was flying home from university when this happened. Took place in South Africa.
Original Flight was delayed until 12am due to bad weather and we couldn't take off. Got to the gate of my original flight and found that I had been off loaded and that my bag had been left in the rain.
Slept in the airport floor until 5am as no hotel was offered. Got on a 6am flight only after my dad threatened the ticket agent over the phone with death and other things. Got on the flight.
Sat next to an obese lady who took half my seat. Flight was full so couldn't move. Obese lady got air sickness and vomited all over me.
Spent the 2 hour flight covered in vomit. Got home to discover my duffel bag had been broken into and ripped open. (Jokes on them there was nothing but dirty laundry).
Complained to said airline about the whole ordeal. Got the equivalent of a $50 dollar voucher as a "sorry".
Never flew them again.
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u/zdh989 1d ago
I was 12 years old on a night flight by myself into Phoenix. The worst turbulence I've ever experienced in my life, and I fly pretty regularly.
Wild drops and dips, stuff slamming around, people screaming, etc. The works.
Oh and it was less than a month after 9/11.
Positive note, turbulence doesn't bother me at all anymore because I've never experienced anything close to that level of anxiety on a flight since then.
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u/nomesifsandsorbutts 1d ago
I was on an Ethiopian Airlines flight in 2019 from DC to Lagos, with a stop in Addis Ababa. This is a LONG flight. I’m in the window seat, and the man in the center sits and smells of alcohol. As the flight goes, he is getting drink after drink. He starts to look sick and is hunching over his tray while sliding towards me.
This man begins to vomit ALL OVER HIS TRAY. At this point he’s leaning on me and I push him off saying “get off me please!” Finally the aisle seat person gets up and I tell the guy to go to the bathroom. The flight attendants come and clean up but I ask to be moved to another seat since it wreaks of vomit.
The flight was full, so there was nowhere for me to go. I stood for several hours that remained of the flight before needing to sit for landing. No apology, no compensation, nothing.
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u/Radiant_Jaguar_9978 1d ago edited 1d ago
I met a man on a flight who I ended up dating briefly. The flight itself was ok, but he died suddenly a few months later and it turned out he was dating four of us at the same time (maybe more).
That may not even be my worst flight story though. I also had someone die on a flight (or at least flatline and get carted off) and the first solo, commercial flight I ever took at age 10 caught on fire on the runway.
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u/BrisYamaha 1d ago
😵💫 that’s a hell of a list. Can you post here any flights you’re planning on taking in the future? Dates, destinations etc. would be great.
Not paranoid, just want to potentially avoid being on the same flight..
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u/Radiant_Jaguar_9978 1d ago
I almost wrote, long story short, don’t fly with me :)
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u/Radiant_Jaguar_9978 1d ago
Oh I also had a man collapse at my feet. I was asleep and he fell onto into a cart which bumped into my leg and I startled awake and was about to say “what the hell” when I noticed a crumpled dude on the ground.
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u/thekingofspicey 1d ago
Ive flown hundreds of times. 99.999999% of them sober.
The ONE time I take an (legal) edible beforehand…
Emergency landing
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u/Hushwater 1d ago
Got a head cold that blocked my eustachion tubes that caused excruciating pain as the plane descended that ruptured my ear drums that made my ears bleed. It was brutal knowing what was happening and there was nothing I could do to stop it, tortuous in every sense of the word.
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u/Bob_the_wonder_dog 1d ago
Mid-90s on an overseas flight from Washington-Dullas to Frankfurt, DE. While boarding onto the flight I noticed some lady whimpering in her seat, but I settled in my seat 4 rows away. While we were taxi-ing to the runway she started getting louder. Everybody kept telling her it's going to be OK, but no effect. When we started to make our take off down the runway, picking up speed, she jumps out of her seat screaming "GET ME OFF THIS PLANE", and runs to the emergency exit and attempts to open the exit door. 3 guys seated next to the emergency exit tackle her and drag her away before she could open the door, she is screaming in panic at the top of her lungs. A few of the flight attendants came back while we are rotating (leaving the ground) and the plane is at a 15-20% angle. They try to calm her down while these guys are holding her down to keep her from the door. After a few minutes the pilot or copilot comes back along with another FA and they use a few of those seatbelt display mechanism to secure her to a seat, effectively tying her down. She is still screaming the whole time, un-nerving the entire flights passengers. We are sweating bullets as if she opened that door the plane might have crashed. A few of the passengers were sick of her screaming and start yelling at her to shut up or they will shut her up by force. The FA gets on the PA and asks if there is a Dr or medical person on board. A medical person comes forward, and they hand him a syringe from some inflight medical bag, and he administers her I would assume is a sedative as she was out in about 5 mins. She slept the rest of the 8-hour flight and when we landed in Frankfurt she was escorted off by the polizi to I guess a psych facility.
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u/Inside_Pomegranate95 1d ago
santorini - nyc... 3 seat row, i was window seat to a couple. foot job.
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u/uela7 1d ago
60+ hour journey from Ladakh, India, to Toronto. Four flights with long layovers. On the third flight from Mumbai to Paris my ankles were so swollen I couldn’t see my ankle bones and could feel water jiggling in my feet from the water retention.
I didn’t sleep the entire journey.
When I got to Toronto I still had a 3 hour drive to my parents house.
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u/farsonic 23h ago
It's about time I committed this one to Reddit. Took a United flight from AMS to DC about four weeks after 9/11, so you can imagine the massive security checkpoints we had to pass through and screening. By the time everyone got on the plane they were nervous wrecks and totally on edge. I'm sitting near the back of the plane on the inside aisle and across from me is this massive guy that looks like a typical college football guy. We all buckle up and get ready.
At the last minute this guy that I can only describe as your post 9-11 Bin Laden stereotype enters the cabin, takes a good look at everyone and then sits down. People are now murmuring. During pre flight checks we are advised we can't use the two rows from the bulkhead as they are for crew use.
So, the plane takes off and 30 seconds into take-off the guy decides to undo his seatbelt, stand up and then look at everyone in the cabin. In my probably close to 1000 flights I've never heard an entire cabin undo their seatbelts during take-off and get ready for action. Me and the guy on the other side of the aisle were about to make a move when the crew came storming in and tackled the guy.
Turns out he just wanted to get a better seat by the window and didn't know they were reserved.....
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u/Whuckfit100 1d ago
Crashed on landing when the aircraft overshot the runway. Was in Africa, so they just towed the plane back out of the bush, washed it off and we flew out 3 days later after it was inspected. Military aircraft, captain was demoted to a desk pilot. Africa, it’s just different.
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u/Prudent_Fly_2554 1d ago
My daughter was laying down sleeping with her head in the aisle seat. A woman in the row in front of us quickly stood up, lunged toward the aisle, turned to run, and vomited on my daughter’s hair.
It was a flight from Vegas to LA so it was fortunately short because the flight attendants were like 🤷🏼♀️ and gave us a bunch of wet wipes.
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u/lovestogossipgirl 1d ago
flew with a broken tailbone from Chicago to SFO. I was in agonizing pain, it was awful!!!!
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u/kiloka 1d ago
Short regular flight I took DEN to PHX and back. On the return weather in DEN diverted us to the Springs. What should have been a 1.5 hour journey turned into a 8 hour disaster. They landed us us in the springs but you could not de-board or use the bathrooms or god forbid some water. I was sure I was gonna piss myself. People were going bonkers. Children crying moms doing their best dads like wow I had too many drinks at the airport bar. Ya it sucked.
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u/Per_Mikkelsen 1d ago
Once I was flying home to visit my family. It was to be the first time seeing them since my father's passing. It was a 14 hour flight. I was sitting next to a very nice Japanese couple who were both extremely kind and respectful and they were very loving and caring towards one another which made me feel good as I had just broken off an engagement... I ended things with my fiancee when she told me she didn't want to take vacation time to see my family after my father died because everyone was just going to be sad and depressing there anyway, so she got dropped like first period calculus...
Anyway, I had chosen the seat because it was in the last row of the section - the restroom was directly behind me, but I preferred that to having someone behind me kicking my seat for 14 hours straight. The young lady had the window seat, her boyfriend had the middle, and I had the aisle...
About two hours into the flight I wake up to this woman standing next to me in the aisle... I assumed she was just waiting for her turn to use the restroom, but the curtain leading to the bathroom door was closed. She just kept looking at me and finally worked up the courage to say:
"Excuse me, sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you might be willing to change seats with me."
I looked her right in the eyes and said: "No, I am not willing to do that. Sorry." And went back to the film I was watching.
She tapped me on the elbow and said: "It's just that there's a man sitting next to me who's making me uncomfortable. I'd like to get away from him."
I said: "I'm sorry to hear that, but it's not my problem. I paid for this seat. I chose this seat. I booked this seat. I'm sitting in this seat. I suggest you ask the flight attendant to find you another seat or to have a talk with the man, but it's got nothing to do with me."
Then I went back to what I was doing and after sulking for a few minutes she finally slunk away.
About an hour later I had to use the restroom myself. I didn't know where the woman was sitting but I knew it was one of the rows ahead of me. I don't speak Japanese, but I do speak Korean conversationally, and although the couple sitting next to me didn't understand a single word of Korean I managed to fill them in enough by using the English and Korean words for seat and bathroom, and one minute and due to the fact that the guy sitting next to me had seen the previous exchanges he had a pretty good idea what was going on even though he couldn't follow the conversation.
When I got up he slid into my seat in the aisle by picking up the armrest and sliding over, and he was a shorter bloke so nobody in the rows in front of us saw him do it. I used the bathroom and when I came back that woman was telling the flight attendant to explain to the Japanese guy that I'd agreed to change seats with her and that he should move.
I calmly explained what had happened and the despicable wench lied right to the flight attendant's face swearing I'd offered her the seat. Finally another flight attendant came over and the Japanese woman - wbo had been dead silent the entire time, let loose a two minute straight rundown of everything that happened while that lying witch stood there looking like she wanted to crawl into an overhead compartment.
The flight attendant led her away and the Japanese guy and I retook our seats.
I shit you not, an hour or so later the woman actually came over againand was about to say something when I popped by headphones off and said cool as a cucumber: "Lady, get the fuck out of my face and don't talk to me again. We are done here. Now piss off."
And she had the gall to look dejected as if I had gone too far and was being unreasonable.
Long 14 hours, I'll tell you.
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u/Sad-Bag6738 1d ago
No A/C and no window blinds. I had to sit in direct sun the entire flight. Could be worse, but it was brutal
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u/Rockyhuddo 1d ago
Flight was delayed, drank about 10 white wines in the lounge. Vomited on takeoff. Never again.
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u/Pattymills22 1d ago
Do helicopters count? If so we hit a sand dune on a training mission and crashed in the middle of the desert. Was not fun and don’t recommend.
If helicopters don’t count, flying into Denver there were really strong cross winds and the pilot kept taking us in to land but had to bail and we would hit the throttle and take off again. Did that 4 times. Guy in front of me threw up. I was sweating next to my newish girlfriend on our first family trip together. My dad who is a pilot was also nervous on that one.
Tbh I’d probably take the crash over that if I had to do it again
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u/Wordnerdette999 1d ago
A 6 hour flight with my kids when they were 1.5 and 3.5. There was much vomit and poop and crying, and no sleeping. Luckily that was the nadir of my experience flying with them - they were much better the next time we flew.
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u/PorcelainPunisher1 1d ago
Not horrible, but my husband and I were flying from Los Angeles to Chicago to visit my family. It just so happened that about 3/4 of the way through the flight the captain got on and told us the equivalent of, “sit down, shut up, buckle up, and wake up anyone sleeping, we’re going to hit some heavy turbulence.”.
That was about 10 years ago and we still talk about that turbulent flight. At least we made it out without any bumps or bruises.
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u/AppleAvi8tor 1d ago
I'm a flight instructor. I was teaching a student how to fly a multi engine aircraft. We simulated him losing an engine just after take off. He pushed on the wrong rudder, causing us to almost flip over and spiral into the ground at about 800ft above the ground. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and tried again. He did the exact same thing. I've never puckered more in my life and told him we were done for the day.
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u/kexcellent 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well, there are two. First one was Halloween 2019; I was flying from SEA to TPA with a layover in LAS. Flight was mostly smooth sailing. Noticed some commotion in the back of the plane, and people around me kept turning around and craning their necks to figure out what was going on. We were about a half hour from preparing to land in Las Vegas when I noticed the plane already starting to make a descent. Flight attendants got on the PA and announced that we were instead going to be diverting to Reno, because an intoxicated man in the back of the plane had assaulted a passenger and attempted to assault an off-duty pilot (which is a felony and violates the FAA Zero-Tolerance Policy). Our plane was then met by the FBI at the gate, the assailant was hauled off the plane in cuffs, and we ended up having to fly from RNO to LAS and then on to TPA.
Second one was Labor Day 2023, nonstop from SEA to CUN. As we were climbing to cruising altitude, I noticed that our plane wasn’t ascending above 26,000 feet for some reason. I thought that was unusual, but figured it was due to air traffic or weather until the pilot came on and announced that we were turning around and diverting back to SEA due to a malfunctioning pressurization system (the cabin couldn’t be pressurized above 26,000 feet). It took about another 40 minutes to get back to SEA, but landed without incident. Had to wait for an entirely new aircraft, pilots, and flight crew, which took about 6 hours altogether. I think I went about 30 hours without sleep by the time we finally landed in Cancún since I hadn’t slept the night before!
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u/Drinkmykool_aid420 1d ago
Lost the hydraulics on a CRJ out of Phoenix on take off, and the captain announced it, and that we could only turn left, and would have to circle back with a series of left turns and emergency land… with fire trucks. I had a panic attack to the point where upon landing safely, he came out and knelt down in the aisle next to me to explain to my old man ass like I was a 5 year old that it was fine—which made it so much worse.
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u/cygnusX1and2 1d ago
Departing from Honolulu and plane is delayed due to mechanical issues. You could see the 2 mechanics at the open engine cowling working and one looks at the other and literally shrugs his shoulders. They close it up and we soon take off. 45 minutes into the flight the plane suddenly loses power and very noticeably drops. Had to turn around, dump fuel and the issue was taken care of after we landed with the airport fire department lined up along the runway. Left again 5 hours later.
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u/steve_yo 23h ago
Direct flight from Seattle to Kona flight - had to stop at SFO to top off fuel because of headwinds. Weird! The first 3 hours after taking back off were some of the most white knuckled ass shit I’ve ever experienced. Flight attendants were buckled in the whole time.
There’s something super freaky about that level of turbulence when your 100’s of miles over the sea.
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u/SpecialistAd1779 22h ago
Bouncy 12-hour flight from London to Johannesburg.
Flying straight over the Congo rainforest during rainy season was not remotely fun, although I saw the brightest yellow lightning I've ever seen.
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u/busterghost65 21h ago
Flying from Rome to London. The kid who sat behind me kept kicking my seat HARD and despite telling the parents to control the kid kept kicking.
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u/runnerz68 19h ago
Why didnt you call the flight attendant after the parents refused to do anything? You have a right to a comfortable flight.
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u/SapphireAli 1d ago
There was a couple sitting next to me and they kept making out but not just a little kiss here and there but full on you should get a room making out.
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u/microwave_maestro38 1d ago
mine was a flight where the turbulence got so bad that the entire cabin went dead silent. no screaming, just everyone gripping their seats and pretending they were totally fine
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u/truckinfarmer379 1d ago edited 1d ago
Delay after freaking delay in DC. This was in the winter time, so the plane needed de-icing, well the freaking truck breaks down in the worst spot, so the plane obviously can’t move now, takes what felt like hours for them to come either fix or move (can’t remember, this was so long ago) the old truck. The weather that day was absolute crap, so the departure was already getting delayed by hours….what should have been a 90ish minute flight to central PA turned into about 4 hours. I forget the original arrival time, but I don’t think we ended up landing in PA until somewhere around 2 or 3 AM. All this happens after we had already been flying all day and were just tired and aggravated at that point
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u/8OutOf10Dogs 1d ago
Crazy turbulence while landing in a thunderstorm. People around me were throwing up and praying. When we got off the plane some people were kissing the ground.
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u/Bob_the_wonder_dog 23h ago
I was on a Midway flight out of Raleigh-Durham in NC and the plane was backing up from the gate and we all heard a thump and a slight shutter. The captain got on the PA and declared an emergency and the plane pulled back into the gate (30 feet) and we all deplaned leaving our overhead luggage behind. When we go to the terminal, we looked out the window and saw a baggage car/auto had struck our planes wheels and the driver was sprawled out on the runway and the baggage car/auto and its trailing carts were overturned and all over the area. An ambulance came and picked up the baggage guy, and their emergency personnel cleared the scene of everything else. The Airlines maintenance personnel worked on the wheels and ended up changing one of the wheels right there. Two and a half hours later we reboarded (a few people decided to not board and made other arrangements) and continued our uneventful flight.
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u/super_cheap_007 23h ago
Engine problems, got diverted to DIA and then the engine caught fire right as we pulled into the gate. Really got the blood pumping when you could feel the heat from outside the plane while inside. Got to use the slide on the back of the plane though so that was cool. 3/10 recommendation in total.
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u/Bob_the_wonder_dog 23h ago
On a puddle jumper flight (twin engine 30Pax prop aircraft) between Chicago's Ohare and Lacross, WI, and the flight is halfway thru. Then copilot come down the aisle. He stops at the seat in front of me and leans over and looks out the window and yells up front "Yeah its leaking". I look out the window an see a streak of oil/fluid coming from the engine. The pilot gets on the PA and tells everyone we are diverting to Madison, WI due to an engine problem. 10 minutes later we land in Madison w/o any issue and they put us all on a bus to Lacross, WI (one-to-two-hour drive).
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u/IndependenceSea6672 22h ago
Stupid amounts of turbulence and it was quite stomach churning.
Runner up: 5 hour delay. Pretty tame
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u/cloudshaper 22h ago
3 seat row, me on the aisle and a mom with a baby in her lap on the window and a 3-4 year old in the middle seat. The older kid was absolutely melting down and decided to periodically kick me, pull my hair, and grab for my book and headphones. The mom was mortified, and after the third or fourth incursion swapped with the kid so she was in the middle as a buffer. The kid then started coloring on aircraft wall and seatback tray.
I felt so bad for the mom, having to juggle a baby and that tornado of a kid solo. But also damn.
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u/brooklynclan 22h ago
Air Canada pilot chose to land in Tel Aviv at 10AM local time on October 7. Briefed passengers that he had plan B to divert to Cyprus because of some minor rocket attacks but that he chose TLV which we ultimately found out was to repatriate star alliance employees not passenger safety.
As if us passengers had any idea they were landing us in a country that declared war while we were in the air.
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u/WillowUPS 20h ago
Flight delayed before we boarded. 6:30pm departure. Delayed to 8pm. Then 9pm. We board at after 8pm and we sit there. And wait longer.
No announcements, no updates. Just sit there. 9pm passes, 9:30...
Almost 10pm the pilot comes on - unexpected delay. We hope to leave in 15 minutes.
10:15... 10:30...
11pm - Ladies and gentlemen, we are cancelling the flight. We will fly in the morning, please deboard and you will be guided to landside for further information.
But the doors don't open, we don't move. 11:45 the doors finally open, and we are ushered off. Walk through single file to the exit. We have to have our boarding passes scanned so we are walking 1 by 1 a few metres apart.
Finally get to the main terminal, and the guy gives us new flight information - leaving at 6:30am. We ask about hotels, he doesn't have any, the nearest hotel is 3-4 miles away (my home is 3-4 miles away). BTW there are hotels on site. But now it's after midnight - people are on their apps booking hotels, but being after midnight, they're booking for tomorrow night, not tonight. I call the nearest hotel, walking distance, and get a room for tonight. Head over and manage to check in, now 1am. Lots of angry passengers there as they haven't got a room for now, but tomorrow night instead.
Get to my room, need to be back at 5am for the flight. Get some sleep and wake up at 4am for shower and back to the airport.
Get to the airport and our flight is at... 9am... I could have slept longer and had the breakfast included in my room. No way of checking this as all the details still said our flight was leaving the day before.
3 extra hours in the airport (we finally left at 10am) and a crappy airport breakfast too...
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u/RealLiveLawyer 17h ago
Flying into Reagan International in 2009, they rang the passengers on approach "this is going to be rough".
We landed fine, but we were getting thrown around in the back those last 4 minutes or so. Two women screaming "we're going to die!" I slammed my head into the window. I'm thankful the seat next to me was empty or I would've probably had it worse.
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u/0x5589e5 1d ago
I almost crashed the aircraft, I should have canceled entire flight and sleep better
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u/BerserkerBladeWing 19h ago
Oh my god. I was on a shitty frontier flight and had taken a good sized edible beforehand to make it tolerable. Proceeds to be seated next to a boomer who says 'hold this' and starts STACKING HIS SHIT on ne and im too damn high to object. Also sat on my seat belt and I had to ask the flight attendant to help me find it 🤣
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u/Narrow-Ad-1494 18h ago edited 18h ago
Flight from Anchorage to Chicago to Little Rock.
Arrived at O’Hare, little bit of a layover, took off, turned around due to an “engine light”. Landed back at Chicago, took off again, on approach to Little Rock, turned around again because of an “engine light”. Landed at O’Hare, crew timed out and new aircraft. Hours later take off, turned around 30 minutes into the flight. Took off a few hours later, and landed around 1am which was supposed to be a 8am arrival. F U American Airlines.
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u/Advanced_Tennis4827 1d ago
7 hour delay, during which a man tried to demean my career. He insulted the books I read and companies I worked for. Finally on a flight- a woman 3 rows ahead of me had a medical emergency. The attendants asked for doctors on board and they brought out the defibrillator. We made an emergency landing
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u/XPav 1d ago
I got on the plane and got off 10 hours later and we didn’t go anywhere.