I’m 6’5″ so nearly EVERY flight is my worst. Last time I flew we waited on the tarmac for an hour waiting for permission to TAXI. I’m in a cramped position, knees practically in my face and no way to stretch because the seats are so close, when the guy in front of me decides he wants to lean back. He does and I’m able to look down into his face from my normal sitting position. I must have had a look of (desperation? frustration? pleading? general unhappiness?) because he sighed and put his seat back up.
That’s when I decided I HAD to stand and stretch. Big mistake. Not only can those stewardesses recite the safety features of the plane by heart, they can also spout regulations and pilot warnings in one long breathless string of just-under-obscenity laced wretchings.

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I do NOT like to fly, especially after hearing my husband, Alan, explain to me just how it is planes stay in the air, so I am always make all kinds of bargains with God when we’re in the air (and I intend to keep them, I really do, God). But the funniest experience was when we experienced turbulence coming into the always-windy atmosphere of Las Vegas. The plane was shaking worse than any other time I’d experienced but I had two gigantic football players on either side of me–and I’m barely five feet–who were so terrified they were clenching MY hands and whimpering like children. So I spent the time comforting them instead of the other way around. These guys were built like refrigerators–and trembling like infants, poor guys.

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Sam

I am also 6’5 so I know what you mean, I always try and choose my airlines, so instead of 28 inches I have 33 just by choosing a different airline, use websites like seatgru to help. Of course it helps that British airlines (excluding no frills) are giving more leg room now.

Best flight experience, checking for a Continental flight and find the only check-in staff member almost in tears. The flight had been canceled due to fog and she seemed almost scared to tell me (not surprising way other passengers had been). I told her not to worry, and if she wanted go get a drink (I was last in the queue) ..I was in no rush and she could sort it out in her own time. She placed me on another flight the next day. When I checked in the next day I was over weight and the supervisor turned up to tell me I needed to pay 426.00 dollars, the staff member from the day before suddenly appeared from further down the line of desks and said to the supervisor “this was the gentleman that was so nice to me yesterday”, the supervisor went “oh” leaned forward and start to tap on the keyboard, sent my bag off without charge and handed me the boarding card with a smile and said have a nice flight, did not notice till I got to the gate that she had put me in first class and also told the crew to look after me…..I now want to be a VIP . It can pay to be nice.

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Think my worst was a 26 hour delay on a flight with Air Canada flying from Manchester to New York. I was travelling with my son and all the passengers ended up being herded off to in a hotel near the airport in Manchester so they could keep is together in case the flight was called, and the hotel was only about 8 miles from where I lived!

The flight ended up being scheduled for the next day at the time it would have flown had it flown, er, on time – and then it was delayed by another hour. And when we go to NYC, our bags had gone missing.

Virtually no sleep for over two days and no luggage, missing a full day from our trip, my son and I were tetchy to say to say the least.

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Only one bad experience. 12 hour delay, then cancellation. The airline (AA) took us to an airport in Chicago. To be woke up in the early hours telling us to get dressed and go on to a coach that was going to take us to the airport for our flight.

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5 hour flight delay with Monarch was our worst nightmare. The airline did not do anything to help us in our plight. No communication whatsoever. We also lost our bags on a BA flight seven years ago.

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KLM flight from Amsterdam to Manchester. Terrible landing. People were sick with turbulence. My Wife was violently sick. Not the pilots fault but the cabin crew were not very helpful.

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U.S. Airways earned my ire. Phoenix -> Madrid flight with a layover in Philadelphia in December of 08. I’m 6’4 so I don’t fit to begin with. The flight over though was brutal. At one point, I had to have the person in front of me straighten their seat so i can get my tray down for dinner. Food service on the Phili-Madrid leg served burned food (rice no less). On the Phili-Phx leg despite the duration of the flight, water was only available for purchase – something that really didn’t sit well with me. Especially as I tried to hydrate/re-hydrate as I worked to counter-act jetlag. All around the planes were dirty, run down and a general disaster. The Phili-Madrid and Madrid-Phili leg was on old US airways aircraft that had bulkhead mounted, poor quality monitors. The bulkhead/exitrow seats lacked small 2ndary screens for those unable to see the main monitor.

Won’t fly US Airways ever again if i have any choice in the matter.

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Lufthansa flight from Vancouver to Frankfurt. I was kind enough to switch places with a girl because she wanted to sit next to her boyfriend (who was seated next to me) – her seat was somewhere in the back. Turned out, it was the very last row, next to the window, wall behind. The wall was so close, I couldn’t recline my seat. Then came along an uhum.. overweight lady (my head was spinning…please, no, please no, please no but alas..) and she took the seat next to me. During the flight, I felt increasingly uncomfortable as she was taking up a lot of space and I couldn’t recline my seat. When the person in front of me reclined his, that was it! I asked the steward if I could get another seat but the flight was full. I tried getting some sleep (it was an 11 hour flight) but woke up with a cold sweat, totally out of breath and I was soon hyperventilating. I spent most of the flight walking up and down the aisle and hanging out around the galleys and sitting on one of the crew seats. It was awful. I arrived in Frankfurt a total wreck and had a connecting flight to catch to Amsterdam. The lady sitting next to me felt really bad about my discomfort – upon arrival, she accompanied me to a café in the terminal and bought me a coffee before she continued to immigrations.
That was the last time I switched seats!

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I would have to be close to Sam Jones Height 6’3, so after a flight from Japan to the UK on BA which I was pushed and squashed into those tiny BA ECY seats, I was finding it very frustrating trying to eat rice with chop sticks, it was not helping having the guy behind slamming his knees in my back. In fact the guy behind was really starting to p me off with those knees. It was not untill we arrived at HRW I noticed the guy behind was about 6’6 so I let him off with a smile. The poor dude must of been in more pain then I was feeling.

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My worst flight was a Christmas day flight from Tokyo to Detroit. Everything was fine at first, but a few hours into the flight, I was awoken by a large noise and shaking. A few moments later, I looked out the window and noticed a red glow from the engine.
It was on fire.
To make a long story short, the crew came back and ascertained that the plane was in fact, on fire.
They apparently then decided to not alert the passengers that the plane was on fire, but the in-flight map seemed to indicate that the plan had made a hard left, and was now heading due north to Alaska.
Sure enough, an hour or so later the pilot announced that we had to make an emergency landing in Anchorage, and that since the airport was closed, it being Christmas and all, we were going to have to wait in the hotel for a day or so until they could bring in a new plane to take us all home.
Happy Christmas from Northwest Airlines!

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My worst flight was Bali to London. I caught tonsillitus in Bali and in trying to drown out the pain, spent the last night indulging in a few drinks-all night-I didn’t actually get more than 30 minutes sleep. I got to check in at 9am and threw up, I got on the plane and continued to vomit for the next nine hours. It seems that in addition to the tonsillitus and a hangover, I’d also got food poisoning. The poor man sitting next to me let me swap for an aisle seat to facilitate my frequent sprints to the bathroom and the hostesses kept a loo free for me. I managed to drift off at some point for half an hours’ exhausted sleep and accidently poured a cup of water over the crotch of the poor man next to me as I slumbered.

I can without a shadow of a doubt admit I was a nightmare and the gorgeous man who put up with my vomit stinking, hungover self was a saint.

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Nick
My wife had the same experience being nice to the person behind the desk. Sometimes it does pay to be nice.
As for more room, if you’re flying in the States try JetBlue. Comfortable leather seating, plenty of leg room, tv at every seat, and actual hospitality. Only problem is, limited destinations – but they’re working on that.

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They lost my son! Just after Northwest started their child escort service for children travelling alone, I signed up and paid a fee to have one of their escorts meet his incoming flight. After the one hour layover the escort was supposed to see him to his connecting flight. They also gave them a tour of the cockpit, let them meet the captain and gave them a “wings pin” as a travel gift. He was on his way to the same summer camp he had been to the year before.

When he arrived at the connecting airport they let him call me to let me know that he had arrived. I talked with the escort as well. A short time later she called me back to tell me that the designated driver who was to pick him up and take him to camp had actually come to their airport to pick him up. I questioned them about the change, and they said they had ID’d the driver and wanted to know if it was OK to release him. They put the driver on the phone, a nice older gentleman who said he had been doing these airport pickups for years. The escort turned over my son with his luggage to the driver.

As soon as I hung up, I had a sick feeling in my stomach and I called the Camp to ask if they had a driver by that name. They did not! After hours of calling back and forth, it turned out that the driver was there to pick up another boy about the same age who flew up from Florida. When I called back they put him on the phone with me and I realized that they must have switched the boys by mistake. A quick call to the “other” camp confirmed the driver was legit and they paged him to bring my son back to the airport. It ended well, but those hours when I did not know what ws happening were the scariest that I think I have ever been through. The airline reimbursed the cost of his ticket.

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I recently flew a short flight within the Middle East and was struck with food poisoning the night before we were due to fly home. There was a 4 hour drive to the airport with one toilet stop and limited toilets in the small airport. We flew in a small plane (seat configuration was 2-2) and experienced the worst turbulence in my short history of international travel!. There were no sickness bags!! Luckily, my overdose of anti-vomiting and anti-diarrhoeal medication had paid off!!

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When I go to Aruba there is no straight through flight and it usually takes a day to get there. One time I got stuck in once city because of weather and the engine which pushed our flight back. Because of that my transfer flight left without me so I had to stay in a hotel (that had roaches;flying) for 5 hours then go back to the airport to try to catch an early flight. I could not get on the first one because it was booked. I just wanted to shower by the time I reached home. It was one of the worst airport experiences ever.

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