<p>Wildest flight experience: in 1978 I took Laker Airways from NYC to Gatwick. To fly Freddie Laker all you had to do was pay the $100 or so the day before the flight for a one way ticket and buy the return ticket on the way home. It was wildly popular and all the other airlines offered a similar deal and as it turned out did not provide enough return flights.
After working all summer in France I returned to Victoria station to buy my return ticket. I was told to go to the end of the line. Not aware that I had cut into a line I began to walk toward what now appeared to my eyes as a long line snaking through the station and outside it. I began to walk, and walk, and walk - four blocks later I got to the end of the line! To make a long story shorter I ended up with all the other people in line, families included, sleeping on the sidewalks for 2 nights. By the time we were on our plane home it was one wild party all the way across the Atlantic - the flight attendants didn’t even attempt to keep order - people singing, playing guitars, running up and down the aisles, throwing things to each other, shouting to their new found friends bonded by our nights and days on the streets - just a great time had by all.</p>
<p>A friend linked me to this earlier </p>
<p>[Penguins</a>, flying first class, delight passengers on Delta flight](<a href=“Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines”>Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines)</p>
<p>Kind of jealous because well its penguins.</p>
<p>Last year H and I were flying, and for some reason we were separated in different rows. When we got off the plane H told me the guy sitting next to him was chewing tobacco and spitting into a plastic cup. He was also drunk, and proceeded to treat H as his personal psychologist for the 2 hour flight. Somehow the subject of religion came up, and the guy said, “I’m a sinner.” My infinitely patient H replied, “We’re all sinners.” The guy said, “Yeah, but I’m a REAL sinner. I have a wife in Alabama and a girlfriend in Connecticut!” At that point H pulled out his iPod, put in his earbuds and turned up the volume.</p>
<p>H used to fly really small planes to see clients in Maine. Sometimes they asked him how much he weighed so they knew how many sandbags to put in the nose of the plane. Once he was the only passenger on the plane, and they lost his luggage!</p>
<p>I had a good friend who worked for a few years as a flight attendant. She had a passenger who asked where to put her infant seat, and she pointed at an overhead bin. A minute later she turned to see the woman putting the seat WITH THE BABY IN IT into the overhead bin. So apparently that’s not so unusual.</p>
<p>She also had a woman who pushed the call button an hour or so into a redeye cross-country flight. The woman told my friend, “We’re not moving.” My friend assured her they were moving and the woman insisted they weren’t. FA asked, “How do you know we’re not moving?” The woman replied, “See that street light out there? It hasn’t moved in the last 10 minutes.” FA replied, “I hope not. Let me know if it does. That’s the light on the end of the wing.”</p>
<p>lafalum84, I’ m sitting here laughing to myself so much the dog just got up and looked at me. Those stories are hiLARious!</p>
<p>For all that people complain about kids, I’ve seen the worst behavior in adults. Once upon a time I took a charter flight to Brazil. It had snowed that day and most flights were cancelled, but our flight (scheduled to leave at midnight) was not. So many long, hideous lines that people started getting crazy and one man, not a native English speaker, grabbed the microphone from the airline staff and started yelling, “sheet, son of beeeetch, etc.” into the PA system.</p>
<p>We finally board around 3 AM. The cabin is packed and rowdy (as it can only be in NY) and the guys in front of me are taking flash photographs so I look out the window to give my eyes a rest. Bad idea. There’s an ominous group of 6 or 7 men standing and staring up at one of the engines. It turns out that one of the food trucks had clipped it when backing out and there was some damage. A piece needs to be welded on, but even worse, FAA rules go into effect that say the crew needs to go home and get at least 6 hours of sleep before takeoff. We’re ordered off the plane. The non-English man walks into the waiting area, marches over to the seats, and starts ripping the armrests off the chairs and throwing them across the room. Police are called and he’s dragged off. </p>
<p>The crowd is restless, since all taxis are gone and public transportation is shut down because of the snow and the late hour. All food closed too. The airline people roll out the food carts from the plane, takes one look the crazed crowd and they actually RAN, ran away! My friend and I ended up serving the food to people. We weren’t so upset, maybe too exhausted, maybe just too amused to get caught up in the mob mentality. We were calm. “No ma’am, you can only have one tray. Chicken or fish?” Got to Brazil the next day, hallelujah!!! </p>
<p>P.S. Never take a charter flight!</p>
<p>On my recent flight from LAX to DCA, they stole the lime green foam handle covers I had on my suitcase handles so I could tell which of the blue suitcases is mine. I was VERY disappointed and surprised about that–does that count as weird behavior–by TSA?</p>
<p>On my recent flight to HI, they were handing out Dept. of Agriculture forms. The person sitting next to me is from Panama & couldn’t understand or speak English. EVERYONE is supposed to fill out the form, with possible penalties including being found guilty of a misdemeanor. I asked the flight attendants for forms in Spanish. They provided one in Tagalog. The poor woman couldn’t understand and had a hard time with my broken Spanish. Makes no sense to me that they have a form that people can’t even understand that they are supposed to complete.</p>
<p>I was on one flight to Bozeman MT–we had a stop in Billings. It started lightly snowing. We begged them to take off but they said, “No, they had to wait for the other flight to arrive & take in some of those passengers.” During the wait, the snow got heavier & heavier until it was a blizzard. We all had to deplane. They gave us all hotel vouchers but NO way of getting off the hill the airport was on to get to the hotel. I bribed the rental car person to take a carload of us with her to the hotel when she left the airport with a box of chocolate covered macademia candy. We had a nice, restful sleep in the hotel & got back to the airport the next morning to fly to Bozeman. Didn’t stick around the airport to see if any melee ensued, but don’t think it did–no broken armrests visible.</p>
<p>On my last flight, the man next to me and I had a brief conversation about hoping there were no kids behind us that were going to make noise and kick the backs of our seats the whole trip. He said that would be an improvement over the first leg of his trip where there were two little dogs behind him that yapped the entire flight. I didn’t know they let dogs inside the cabin. I have never seen it, but can only imagine how annoying a barking dog would be.</p>
<p>Worse than barking, some people are highly allergic to dogs, so that can be a problem. Pets ARE generally allowed to fly in the passenger compartment of airplanes these days, which while good for the animals can be tough on folks who are severely allergic. Not quite sure how folks are supposed to be accommodated.</p>
<p>You’ve never seen it? I’ve taken my toy poodle and our old cat on flights before, they were silent for the entire trip.</p>
<p>Did you see the article today about the American Airlines flight attendant who was escorted off of the plane in Chicago yesterday? Yikes!</p>
<p>Thumper- I did see that, and thought immediately of this thread! How scary for the passengers.</p>
<p>We lived in Germany for five years, on the flight where we finally left forever there was a German oom-pah-pah band. They gave the whole plane a little concert. What a great send-off for our time there!</p>
<p>In today’s news:[‘Turn</a> Off All Electronic Devices:’ And What Happens if You Don’t](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/news/-turn-off-all-electronic-devices---and-what-happens-if-you-don-t-.html]'Turn”>'Turn Off All Electronic Devices:' And What Happens if You Don't)
</p>
<p>The weirdest flight I was ever on was a small plane (4 passengers and a pilot) from Lake Tanganyika to Arusha, in Tanzania, in the fall of 2000. DH, me, DD, DS. I’m only a little terrified of flying, but I was exhausted and having hallucinations from the anti-malarial drugs, so I honestly didn’t care, I just wanted to get home. First off, the “runway” was a hand-dug grassy strip. We waited on the side while the pilot buzzed the strip to check for wild animals. As soon as he landed, a swarm of small children appeared; he gave them all pens and pencils. We climbed on the plane and he checked the gas (with a testtube, to make sure it was clear) and then opened a cooler and checked to make sure his pistol was loaded. “For wild animals, in case we have an emergency landing.”</p>
<p>We took off, and we flew two-and-a-half hours across remote forests, spotting small forest fires along the way. We landed at a deserted airport and the pilot sent us to use the bathrooms in the “terminal”. We saw no people at all, other than the pilot, who was refueling the plane himself. Back in the plane, he re-checked the fuel and re-checked his pistol. </p>
<p>We flew another two-and-a-half hours, surfing the updrafts over the mountains, until we got to Arusha. At the airport, the pilot points down and says “hmm, the runway is closed.” We look down, and there’s an enormous bulldozer parked in the middle of the runway (this is not the international airport, but a small municpal airport). He does a low flight over the runway to check it out. Then he comes around, says “I think I have enough room” and lands anyway, then puts the brakes on hard, and comes to a stop just a few feet (I expect my memory is exaggerating here) from the bulldozer, taxis around the bulldozer, and delivers us to the terminal building. </p>
<p>For some reason, this flight completely cured me of my fear of flying.</p>
<p>Cool, DMD, that you were cured of fear of flying. Sounds like the pilot you had was very competent and self-assured. Glad you lived to write about it all! You’ve done some travel!</p>
<p>Wow, dmd, what a great story and what a great pilot! Someone who can fly without instruments or a control tower is clearly quite experienced, that must have reassured you.</p>
<p>I flew with a toddler with a cold. she cried and cried and cried. When she finally fell asleep, the flight attendant did all she could to make sure the baby was not going to wake up.</p>
<p>I felt horrible for my fellow passengers but there was nothing I could do. after that flight I am a bit more patient when kids cry during the flight.</p>
<p>I’m flying on Thursday…I can’t wait!!</p>
<p>Greenwitch, I’ll be honest, until this moment, it didn’t occur to me that he was an exceptional pilot. He was very calm, a man of very few words, and very comfortable with his plane. He flew as I’ve seen race car drivers drive–with complete concentration and incredible efficiency of movement.</p>