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<p>Me too! I hate flying but love to travel. It’s rough. Take-off and the half-hour or so afterwards is the worst – oh, and also turbulence. I’ve been one of those people quietly crying. Now I take a Xanax twenty minutes or so before take-off and that makes everything much better.</p>
<p>One time when our kids were like 14 and 12 we were flying from London to Chicago, my husband and the boys tickets were all booked together and I had booked my ticket a couple weeks later. When we got to check in, the three of them had been bumped to first class and I was back in economy. My husband said “Oh one of the boys can sit in economy and you can sit with me in First Class” I said in a very load voice “ARE YOU INSANE???” All the ticket agents cracked up laughing. The guys went ahead and boarded, I waited my turn and when I got to the door of the plane, the agent said “Oh, you’ve been bumped to First Class – we call it the Good Mom bump.” We had those little beds and lots of wine.</p>
<p>On a 5 1/2 hour flight to Hawaii once I had to sit next to an “old” woman who had apparently chosen to pack moth balls in her carry on bag. She absolutely reeked of moth balls! It was awful.
I was in the middle of a five seat row and spent the entire flight sitting on my side facing my daughter and husband (Mr. “I absolutely need the aisle seat or I will have a tantrum”).</p>
<p>This was only slightly more tolerable than the clearly anti-bathing passenger on a flight from Frankfurt to Venice. In Silence of the Lambs they smear something like Vicks under their noses before examining a dead body. I always say I need to travel with that stuff just in case!</p>
<p>I was on a flight to Bermuda, about half way there over water, when a woman decided she wanted to get off the plane. She tried to open the door but was quickly stopped by a flight attendant. It’s good to read above that the door would not have opened but none of us knew that then. The flight attendants put her in handcuffs, while the woman’s daughter protested that this was inhumane treatment. There wasn’t a lot of support for the daughter at the time. When we landed, Bermuda police came on board and escorted the woman and her daughter off the plane.</p>
<p>Once my flight had to divert because of a problem with the plane. The captain made the announcement, and then the flight attendant came on the PA with instructions. Her voice was shaking. That’s when I got really scared.</p>
<p>When we landed, I thought very seriously about renting a car and driving the rest of the way. The only thing that stopped me was that I knew if I didn’t get onto the replacement plane, I’d never get on a plane again.</p>
<p>Weird behavior I Personally Do: For taking off and landing I saw an Our Father and 3 Hail Marys because that is what my mom always does. It just has become a ritual. It’s not particularly weird but just something I only ever do on the plane. </p>
<p>When I flew to London over the summer I was in Economy and it was a red eye so nothing worse. The guy in front of me happened to have back issues so he had to lean his seat as far as he could to be comfortable. I am 5’8" and the leg space is already difficult anyway. It was a long flight.</p>
<p>Flying with twin babies, such an adventure! They wouldn’t let H and I have both babies in the same row (as lap babies) since only 4 oxygen masks come down for each set of three seats, so we were separated by one row.</p>
<p>D1 and 2 were about 15 months old, a terrible age to fly (hey, it wasn’t my idea), and D2 got cranky and just started screaming. Nothing I could do would help and I tried for at least 1/2 an hour, while our whole section of the airplane cleared out with people taking refuge as far away as they could. Finally, I just let go, mentally and physically. She climbed off my lap, crawled under the seat in front of me and slept in that tiny space for the next 2 hours! I think the rumbling of the plane’s belly was soothing for her.</p>
<p>Another time, a few months later, I tried to feed her yogurt on the plane. What an idiotic idea! She stuck her whole hand into the container of yogurt and started flailing. In desperation, I stuck her whole hand into my mouth and started punching the call button. I’m sure I was barely understandable with that chubby hand in my mouth, but I kept saying “napkins! napkins!” until the stewardess understood me and delivered some. Luckily, with H and D1 in a different row again, my only seatmate was the young girlfriend of my BIL who was quite amused!</p>
<p>^^ I’m sorry, but that yogurt scene made me laugh, especially the part about sticking her hand in your mouth. We moms are nothing if not resourceful!</p>
<p>That’s fine, it was meant to be funny! It reminds me of the time I tried to breastfeed her on a flight. There’s just not enough elbow room in coach to do that, especially with an older baby that keeps trying to rip your shirt off! Thank God the person next to me was an understanding (and curious) Swedish au pair and not a business person trying to stay neat and tidy.</p>
<p>Yes, flying with little ones is quite interesting. When my D was 6 months old, she was having a “difficult” flight. After beverage service, a flight attendant came and scooped her out of my arms, without even asking me. She spent the next 10 or 15 minutes walking D up and down the aisle, introducing her to other passengers. D has been very social since birth, so the diversion worked; she was perfectly happy when she was returned to me.</p>
<p>Thumper, I had a similar trip. Moving to another state with a 1 & 3 yr. old. (H already there). I purposely held off boarding until last possible minute–to let 1 yr. old wildchild run…and we had business class seats (due to H’s frequent travel).
Get on plane…to find they had split us ALL up! Huh??? Crew found us two seats and wanted to put 3 yr. old a row behind on other side of plane, between two large businessmen. Well, 3 yr. old just blew a gasket—and she has lungs. Startled 1 yr. old, who started wailing, and then domino effect with 3 other kids nearby. Got quite noisy! Snotty FA made comment about “another one of those flights”. 3 yr. old is still screaming, now standing on seat and kicking seat in front of her. Two business men then hopped up and “volunteered” to move so that we could sit together. In an instant, D turned all smiles, said “bye” and “Hi Mommy!”</p>
<p>My mother flew from NYC to Chicago with Abbie Hoffman and the rest of the Chicago Seven on the way to their trial. They were walking up and down the aisles with sparklers. Abbie Hoffman himself gave my other a small red felt penant on a stick. It is illustrated with one of those round cartoon bombs with a fuse, and the words “Chicago Seven.”</p>
<p>H, DS and I were on a red-eye from Maui to LA. I never can sleep on planes, but I was determined, so I took a Benadryl soon after boarding. My plan was to put a travel pillow on the tray and try to nap while leaning forward. I was wearing beautiful silk capri pants that were so comfortable. The silk pants had no grip at all so my butt kept sliding off the seat. I tried everything, but I could not stay on the seat. Finally, I took off my silk pants while under the travel blanket and wrapped the blanket around myself. So, I flew from Maui to LA in my underwear! My H was cracking up and has never let me live it down!</p>
<p>I was also on a plane from London to LAX when a passenger died. We had to make an ‘emergency’ landing in Canada. His wife and he were heading home to New Zealand after visiting their adult children. I saw the flight attendant trying to get the wife to sign paperwork, and I kept hoping she wouldn’t without someone to read the document(s) with her. There was no stretcher, but instead they asked for male volunteers and they did a hand over head chain down the isle to the galley, where he was laid out on the floor. </p>
<p>At the time my Mom’s BF was a senor flight attendant for United (who I was flying with) and she said the oxygen tank the plane was flying with was empty. :0</p>
<p>I didn’t see this - but there was a news item last summer about a stewardess and pilot having sex on our flight.</p>
<p>My daughter and I boarded and took our seats when our flight was about three-fourths full. Storage in the overhead bins was mostly taken, but we managed to fit my daughter’s bag in the bin that was above our seats and the row in front of us. One of the last people to board was a woman in the row in front of us. She saw that the overhead bin was now full but reached up, removed a bag that was directly over her seat, and placed her bag in its spot. Then she tried to remove my daughter’s bag to make room for her second bag. We immediately said whoa, that’s our bag. She insisted that any space in the bins in the vicinity of her seat belonged to her. At this point the flight attendants came. The woman kept yelling for the owner of the first bag to come claim it. The flight attendant ended up moving the first bag to another spot on the plane. Don’t know whether the owner was seated in another section of the plane or was in one of the seats near us but just not paying attention and then had to search for the bag later. The flight attendant allowed the woman to smoosh my daughter’s bag into the corner of the bin (luckily not any breakables in it) and the pushy woman was able to claim all the space she demanded. I guess being a jerk can pay off.</p>
<p>I never noticed anything too unusual. But, a most memorable flight was when S1 was 2 1/2 and we flew from NYC to LA. He talked (and I engaged) the entire time and I was exhausted by the end of the flight. Only minutes before landing did he finally fall asleep only to bounce up with a cheer once the plane stopped. I was dead tired and I’ll never forget that flight.</p>
<p>Ok, I admit that I’m very afraid to fly, though that never keeps me from doing so, as I love to travel. For me the absolute WORST is take off. Do any of you remember that horrible flight out of Chicago in 1979 where the engine fell off upon take off, causing the plane to plummet immediately into the ground, killing all on board and some on the ground? That event was the catalyst for my fear of flying. Now, when we take off, my heart is pounding, blood pressure is through the roof, and then I often hear loud noises as cargo shifts below me, which is quite disconcerting (my loving and fearless husband, knowing this, loves to take this opportunity to gasp loudly and say “What was that noise?!” :mad:).</p>
<p>Once we survive the takeoff, I always relax and do just fine…unless we have really bad turbulence. Again with the pounding heart and now, sweaty palms. I watch the flight attendants to see if they look fearful…(sick, I know). Right as the plane does another somersault and I think I am going to have a heart attack, this is usually when the young children on board begin to squeal with delight. They LOVE IT. Every bump, every heart stopping drop in altitude elicits more laughter and joy from the little ones. This is actually better for me than xanax. I realize that hey, they are clueless and for all they know, the plane is about to rip apart, sending us all screaming to our deaths, but something about their naive and jubilant appreciation for the dips and swells of this piece of metal gives me some comfort, and I try fervently to soak up some of their enthusiasm. I am never completely successful, but often it helps me make it to landing without having a total shrieking nervous breakdown.</p>
<p>Finally we land, and I know that I’m safe; now I just want to get the hell away from all of them. :D</p>
<p>Oy.</p>
<p>I love takeoff and landing, and I even like turbulence since it breaks up the tedium a bit. I figure, if you’re gonna go, you’re gonna go - might as well enjoy the rollercoaster ride! </p>
<p>But turbulence AS you’re landing… well, I can understand it making people a bit nervous. My last flight was like that but we were fine. Only ONCE have I experienced a perfect “3 point landing”, where all three wheels touch down at once. Like landing on a cloud, so sweet and easy you hardly know it happened. It was a Southwest flight so of course the FA got on the mike and had everyone applaud the flight crew for their fabulous job!</p>
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I think it’s much more likely you are hearing the landing gear going up.</p>
<p>Don’t know if that makes it any better or not.</p>