At O’hare. Flights been delayed three hours for maintenance issue. I’ve actually never had a flight delayed before tonight, but that’s what happens when you book a United flight I guess. Tell me your worst airport experiences.
They brought out a decent snack selection. Mini bottles of water too. These guys are going above and beyond.
had to sleep in charlotte one night going home for christmas had to take a greyhound, also from charlotte, to get to a nonrefundable family trip in NOLA because flight got cancelled with ???? ability to rebook for a few days
First off, Delta or bust(unless Southwest is conveniently available, I can fucks with them). Got storm delayed a couple months ago and while we were waiting for the storm to pass, the plane got struck by lightning. They had to bring in a new one. I took as a sign and just rescheduled my flight for the next AM. Also, on my lone AA flight in the last year, I got rerouted from Dallas when that big tornado hit last year. Landed in Houston, the reroute had put the flight crew over their allotted flight hours, we didn’t have another crew, and all departing flights were booked for the next 48 hours. The vouchers AA tried to give for hotels were to trash airport hotels so I stayed in a dope AC Hotel downtown for 2 days and got to see Houston. Could have been worse, I guess.
dont think I ever traveled through O’hare without my flight delayed. I refuse to travel through there anymore
last year i was flying to chicago and was within 20 minutes of landing and got diverted to st louis. drank for a few hours and southwest gave me a $200 voucher
flew out of milan 2 hours late and missed my connection in heathrow due to wind or some shit no flights to philadelphia that day with seats available and I needed to be back before then decided to try and fly into newark and take amtrak down to philadelphia rushed through security to get to the gate, but had a minute to book the amtrack seat - should have plenty of time, the train would leave 2 hours after landing and the flight had arrived and was on time since this was the first year of trump the plane had to pull aside a randomly selected number of people to check their carry ons closely. i of course was one of them, and it took 90 minutes to do this finally grabbed my middle seat between two large men of similar size to me. sat on the runway for another hour. landed in newark and had to change my ticket to the midnight train wheels on suitcase were broken by the baggage people and apparently my wife snuck some parmesan to take home in the checked baggage, which was confiscated got home at at about 3am
Way too many such stories. One of my personal faves, however: About 4-5 years ago I had to travel to Iowa for a deposition and flew into Cedar Rapids. Not a ton of flights there, but I actually wrapped up early enough to grab an early flight home. On my way to the airport I get an alert that all flights are canceled until further notice. Turns out some disgruntled air traffic controller tried to kill himself by going to some tower near Chicago that basically directed air traffic for the entire Midwest and he set himself on fire there in an attempt to take the tower with him. No more flights out of Cedar Rapids for two days. My only feasible option was to rent a car and drive two hours to Des Moines to catch a flight the following morning. Horrible, boring drive. But I check into my hotel in downtown Des Moines and am informed that Des Moines is having its annual Oktoberfest street party a couple of blocks away. I had nothing better to do so I walked over and wound up getting pretty fucked up with a bunch of strangers all night. Still made my flight the next morning. Good times.
my favorite fucked up flight story was my fault. flew from dallas to orlando with my preggo wife and toddler to go to disney (so fucking dumb in first place). on way back didn't think we had to be at airport so early bc it was so quick getting thru security at love field. well a bunch of cruises apparently were coming in at same time and we missed our flight. flew from orlando to birmingham to new orleans to houston & finally back to dallas on what was supposed to be a direct flight
People yelling at United supervisors who just came to the gate now. Didn’t get an update from anybody for two hours besides texts that said the flight was being delayed further every 15 minutes or so. This is all very entertaining. These poor United employees lmao. My favorite part has been one guy sticking up for the employees and now everybody getting in arguments with him. Looks like plane is about to board now. About a four hour delay. This has been a good cultural experience.
Somewhat along this story line but here goes. I work in Russia and travel there every 5th week or so. My passport gets filled up fast so I got a new one with my Russian visa in the older one. Still valid visa but in my filled up passport. I fly Lufthansa business who has a nice perk of taking your passport in the lounge and handling all that shit. I gave them a heads up, as this happened a few years ago and the Russian border guards took me to the airport consulate and I simply had my visa transferred over. Long story short, this doesn’t work now and after 8 hours sitting in Moscow in a room with 2 chairs only and no electricity outlets for my phone, I’m getting pissed off as the smug Russian officials are easy to get pissed off at. Quick call from the US embassy indicates I need to shut up and get to Austria quickly because I have been fucking deported and if I’m quiet, I won’t be detained until I can get another visa. I got a second passport and new visa now.
One time I was waiting in line while a flight was cancelled trying to make other plans. Got my shit sorted out and turned around and almost bumped into the two guys behind me. Go to apologize and I realize it’s professional wrestlers Stevie Ray (of Harlem Heat, Booker T’s brother) and Shelton Benjamin. They were very polite about me having an “oh shit I know you” moment. Also one time I was flying to Nashville through Atlanta and the flight wasn’t delayed but the guy across the row from me looked incredibly familiar and was very sweaty. I realized once we deplaned it was Bruce Pearl (this was back when he was between coaching jobs and working as an analyst).
United delayed stories are the best. Had a flight get delayed hours then cancelled because flight crew was over hours (which they would have been able to predict hours before since it was 10pm on a Friday njght). Get rebooked for next morning. Lady at the desk has the balls to tell myself and a few other passengers "imagine how hard of a time we are having right now" while giving us hotel vouchers, like she can't go home and sleep in her bed that night while we get sent to a Microtel in fucking Jacksonville. She was shamed pretty badly
Was flying into Calgary last summer for a wedding. My flight out of Buffalo was delayed, twice, then sat on the tarmac for an hour before lading in Minneapolis 2 minutes after my connection took off. There were a massive amount of things happening in Minneapolis that weekend, so I could only get a 1 star hotel 45 minutes from the airport after 3 Uber rides, and after losing a room booked on Hotels.com that was "100% Guaranteed." Fell asleep at 2 am, got up at 5 and went back for my flight. Should have just slept in the airport.
Flying to my grandma's funeral my CLT connection to Scranton was diverted to Albany due to weather. My flight out of PHX was really early in the morning so I ended up staying up all night drinking until I had to go to the airport and then continued all the way through my layover at CLT. I got upgraded to first and finally crashed/pass out and completely missed our perpetual circling around trying to land in Scranton and the announcement about being diverted. So I walk off the flight and see a "Welcome to Albany" sign and I'm just confused as fuck. I was absolutely shitfaced when I left CLT but I figured there was no way I ended up being able to board the wrong flight. They put us up at a Best Western and I ate at the mediocre Italian restaurant in the hotel.
Good thread. Many stories but this one comes to mind first... Couple years back, after wrapping up a business trip in NYC boarded a plane headed to O'Hare trying to get home for Thanksgiving. Plane was diverted to Wichita due to a fucking blizzard in Chicago. Spent the night in Wichita in a dirty motel with a fat-ass slob who talked non-stop, almost got into a fight with the asshole. Got robbed during the night, all cash stolen. Next day tried to travel home on a train, but the damn train broke down and was fucking stranded in Missouri. Amazingly met up again with that same dude who ended up being pretty cool and was able to get me some bus tickets. Said bye and hopped on a bus to St. Louis. Not great, not horrible, at least it was some progress. Tried to rent a car at the St. Louis airport which was a disaster and I let out my anger with a profanity-laced tirade at the stupid rental car agent. I got punched by a taxi dispatcher and almost run over by a cab. After all that met up again with the same guy - I guess we were headed in the same direction and just kept meeting up by chance. Anyway he had a car and we drove for a while until the thing literally caught on fire while I was sleeping and he was driving, still not sure how that happened, almost got into a head-on collision at night as well. Made it to Chicago finally like 2 days later in the back of a freezing ass truck. Definitely the worst but most memorable trip of my life. Long story short, that annoying asshole I met on the way, ended up inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner and became a good friend.
Worst was getting stranded at LGA at like 18 and having to grab my checked bag and not being able to get back through security until morning. Got a room at the sketchiest hotel in Jamaica Queens and stayed for about 2 hours before heading back to LGA for a 6am flight. Now I just go sit in the lounge or change my flight to the next day if it’s that bad
Ah yes, United. My last trip with them my wife and I were headed to Phoenix. We were supposed to do the following: There: CantonAkron - Chicago - Phoenix Home: Phoenix- Newark - CantonAkron What we ended up doing: There: CantonAkron - Chicago - Denver - Phoenix Home: Phoenix - Houston - Pittsburgh - rent a car and drive 2 hrs home at midnight
Delayed in KCI at 6am and the bathrooms weren't open and they didn't have even a fucking vending machine to buy water
Had a flight from Sydney to LAX crash on an island. Spent several years there discovering who I really was. After many years I got off the island only to return and discover I had been dead all along. Long story short, using dogs is a cheap emotional trick for film but man it really does work.
Flying back home from Krakow on Lufthansa, the leg to Frankfurt was delayed because of thunderstorms. They knew there was going to continue to be a problem with storms throughout the day and there was limited airspace at Frankfurt as is, this flight was obviously never going to take off from Krakow. Instead we sit on the tarmac for 3-4 hours before it being obviously canceled and then there is a dearth of available agents to rebook everyone; ended up getting it done over the phone while waiting on line. I wouldn't have even cared if they just canceled it earlier, would've gladly spent another day touring instead of wasting it on the fucking tarmac. Chase's trip delay reimbursement is great. About a year later a flight home from New Orleans got canceled early in the morning (was supposed to depart in the evening). Spent another day there and it was great.
I was in Monroe LA and the same crew did security and loaded the plane. We were delayed 2 hours to Atlanta and the only food option was a vending machine chili dog. Leaving security wasn't an option cause the gate employee also ran security.
A lady fainted on the plane heading to the bathroom.. Can’t make this shit up. Only thought going through everybody’s head had to be they better not land this fucking plane. She seemed fine but had to wait for medics to come on board when we landed delaying everyone getting off the plane lol.
I once sat in the Charleston WV airport for 14 hours due to both of their de-icing rigs out of service. Of course we were delayed in 30 min increments. Originally scheduled to depart to HOU at 6am, finally got out of there at 8pm. There’s was one restaurant in the airport, Tudor’s Biscuit World. I finally broke down, ate a couple of those greasy biscuits, and then proceeded to diarrhea at least 12 times during this delay. Pretty sure I sat on the toilet for at least 40% of the duration.
Got stuck in an Uber for 4 hours last summer outside of Houston airport when there was some flooding and a submerged bus stuck blocking the road way. Uber driver had one lung and was kinda freaking out at times. I finally get there and through security and every flight pretty much gets cancelled. I get on one of the only flights out of Houston that’s delayed multiple times and plane change due to mechanical issues about 9 hours after getting to the airport. Flight is to San Diego and I got home about 2am after Ubering the hour plus from SD. 3 years ago I went to a bachelor party in New Orleans. After a long booze filled weekend, we all get to the airport only to have a storm roll through and shut everything down. After that, my flight got delayed for probably a total of 8 hours and they loaded and unloaded the plane at one point. They had to fly a part from Atlanta. I’m hung over and the shitty internet required a refresher every 15 minutes. Finally get out of there and land in LA after 12 after getting to the airport in NOLA at about 11 local time.
6am flight from BHM to DCA this morning. My dumbass got bombed and got home at 1am. Quickly packed and took a 3 hour nap. Hungover as fuck board our shitty American Airlines CRJ 30 seater. Sit on the runway till 6:45 with no explanation. Finally get to DC. Sit on the tarmac for 20 min while I’m trying not to vomit. Finally deplane to the runway and have to take a bus to the terminal. Bus is 100 degrees and the urge to vomit is killing me. Trying to keep a stoic face bc I can’t let my girlfriend know I’m affected by my drinking the previous night. Finally get to terminal and throw up in the bathroom.
June 1990 I was sitting on a bench too high for my feet to touch the floor in a Zaporizhe Airport waiting room in the Ukrainian SSR while a worker used a power saw to cut a hole in the corrugated metal roof that must have been about 34987dB. Once we filed out to the Yak 42 for boarding under the tail, the pilot decided to power up the engines right above us. I'd been in country for about 10 days by that time and I absolutely exploded. Fortunately my profane antigovernmental tirade was drowned out by the roar of the engines overhead or else my KGB tail might have felt the need to bring me in for a polite yet firm discussion on how to be a good guest in the Soviet Union
Flying Dublin to Nice, arrive at the airport, check in at the counter, get through security and post up in the AMEX lounge. 30 mins before the plane boards they cancel the flight. Tell us that the French went on strike 3 days prior and it won’t end until later in the week. When asked why they didn’t bother to tell us this at check-in, we were met with nothing but blank stares. They force us to return to ticketing to book an alternate flight, which in Ireland means going through customs. 3 hrs later and we barely make it on a RyanAir to Amsterdam, where they proceed to push scratch-offs on us. Land in the Netherlands and discover that due to a rugby tourney, EDM festival, and cervical cancer conference, every hotel in the city is booked. End up renting out a wing of a youth hostel and have one of the most unexpectedly fun 3 days of any trip I’ve taken.
I just flew to Charleston from ft Lauderdale. Inbound plane was coming from Nassau Bahamas. Delayed 1hr as CBP pulled off an arrested a passenger. was a crazy scene
Worst experience was flying i believe American from Montreal to KC after a week of drinking. Get to the airport at 6am for 7.30 am redeye flight. Go to check my bags in and am told my flight was cancelled bc they couldnt properly staff the flight. They rebook me for another flight in 45 mins even though I'm very worried about missing it. They refuse to help expedite me through security even though i asked them. There were only 3 people working so it takes over an hour to make it to the gate and I miss the plane. My "best" new option is to wait 2 hrs then fly to LaGuardia where i have a direct flight home. I say whatever and end up going to NY and having another 90 min delay on top of my scheduled hour wait before finally leaving. When i get back to KC i end up waiting an hour bc they lost my fucking bag. By the time i drove home the trip took +12 hours and i still didnt have my fucking suitcase yet. All in all I made it from KC to London in less time then it took from Montreal.
I was flying to Chicago that day. It was the air traffic control center in aurora. We had to fly into flint and rent a car.
I’d say my last trip from San Diego to Dayton Oh was probably one of my most annoying. Had a layover at O’Hare during July and the CRJ 30 seater auxiliary motors were not working so they couldn’t run the air on the tarmac and every 15 minutes they would fire up the main motors to try to give us some cool air...and everyone knows nothing flys on time at O’Hare. So here we are the middle of July, in Chicago, in a small cramped up place with no air, and sitting on the tarmac for a fucking hour. Everyone kept pretty calm which was surprising, I had come to the conclusion someone was going to go postal.
I got delayed 8 hours last year in Long Beach waiting for fog to clear up at sfo for the natty. There was also a medical conference in San Fran so the bar at LGB was full of medical sales reps from nyc and Boston, I know nothing about the medical industry but discovered they all have limitless budgets and quickly worked to become friends with the ones who were buying drinks for everyone. I obviously get hammered and don’t think this will be a big deal until our little plane hits turbulence and all of the alcohol that I have consumed decides that it needs to leave my body immediately. Since the plane was bouncing all over the place and I was trapped in a middle seat there was no hope of me getting to the bathroom. So, I reach for the barf bag in the seat only to find there isn’t one and end up settling for my empty Gatorade bottle. When I threw up in that little bottle it instantly filled the whole airplane with the grotesque smell of booze tainted vomit. The two guys next to me tried to play it off cool but I started a chain reaction of people vomiting in their seats. Thank god it was a short flight.
You’ll never hear me complain about de-icing or maintenance delays. Frankly, I’m amazed at the number of people that throw a fit over it. Hey idiots, they’re trying to keep you from dying.
The one and only time I brought some weed items back from Reno in a checked bag. Waiting at baggage claim my bag never comes around, thought I was fucked. Go to customer service, my flight had gotten changed so my bag didn’t get switched to my flight. Picked it up the next day with no issue and Southwest gave me a $300 voucher.
I don’t fly a ton so I’ve not had too many issues. Going to a wedding in CO a few years ago, the plane wouldn’t push from the gate cause only one of the bathrooms was working. The flight was like an hr and a half maybe. Sat there loaded at the gate for over an hour with mechanics on and finally the pilot says ok we’re going anyway. Get 10 min into the flight and he comes on a says “folks the rear bathroom is working now, we basically just turned it off and turned back on like you might do to reset your cable box,” or something to that effect. We speed walked to our next gate and it was delayed too. This was American Airlines. Was coming back from Denver after being gone a week for work. Was going DEN to ATL to CHA on a Friday afternoon. I forget what exactly happened but I ended up having to spend Friday night in Denver on Delta’s dime in a below average type hotel. Delta’s in person customer service throughout the entire thing was horrendous. I finally get home Saturday afternoon to see the last few minutes of the 4th quarter and Jennings catch the Hail Mary against UGA. Wife was out of town and I proceeded to get really drunk in celebration.
Did I ever tell the story of how my country was subject to a military coup while I was travelling, and I was rendered stateless at the airport? I couldn't go home, and I wasn't allowed entry to the US either. In all, it took 9 months of living in JFK before it was sorted and I could go home.
Always an experience flying into that airport and landing on top of a hill. I’ve eaten my fair share of those biscuits tho
Was supposed to be flying from Kathmandu to Bangkok. After sitting in the Kathmandu airport (shithole) for 4-5 hours, and after lining up to board, then sitting back down 3-4 times, they announce it's canceled. However, all the passengers had already been through Nepal customs and had their passports stamped for exit. Rather than have everyone go back through customs, they just open up an emergency exit and tell us all to get out. But everyone's checked bags were ready to go on the plane. Rather than have any sort of organization, they have us all walk into the storage area, behind the check-in counters, and grab their own bags. It was an absolute free-for-all, total chaos. Was able to get reimbursed by Chase for a decent hotel in Kathmandu, had one more night, flew to Bangkok 24 hours later.
I’m not a road warrior like some dudes on the site but three pro tips from being delayed. 1. Unless you’re broke never stay at an airline comp’d lodging. Nashville 2014. 2. Especially if you’re with your wife/gf. Nashville 2014 3. Going on vacation, when possible always get a direct shot. Arrived in Philadelphia early one morning to fly to Antigua via Miami. Go to counter and agent says our flight is delayed not going to check your bags through Miami. I asked why it was delayed, she says to me “Does it really matter?” Still angers me thinking about the response. The answer was safety, I would have been okay with that, crew rest. Get to Miami had to exit the fucking terminal, grab our luggage off the conveyor belt, and then go back through fucking security. Ran to the gate and missed the gate closing by 60 seconds at most. Spent 5 hours in San Juan PR, lost an entire day and night to travel as a result. Antigua 2010.
While home for winter break in college, I was flying out to help my dad with a work project. He flew out the day before but I, being young and dumb and in love, booked my flight for the morning of. My flight left at 8 a.m. No big deal. I set my alarm for 5, hit the shower and go. Alarm goes off at 5, I hit the snooze and get up five minutes later. I head to the shower and see the light in my younger sister's bathroom is on. She had school that morning, but she's not supposed to be awake at 5:05. Something isn't right. I go back to my room and see it's not 5:05, it's 6:45. I skip the shower, throw my stuff in a bag and race to the airport. I made what is usually a 45-minute drive in 30, but I still checked in too late to get on the 8 a.m. flight. They booked me on standby for the 9:30 flight. This being January, I text my dad and tell him there's ice on the wing so my flight is delayed. He buys it. 9:30 rolls around and there are four spots left. If the connection from Wichita doesn't make it, I'm good. But the Wichita connection makes it, and now there are six of us waiting for four seats. I strike up a conversation with an older gentlemen to my right. He tells me about his trip to visit his grandbabies in Kansas; I tell him about being a lying sack of shit. If I don't get on this flight, the next one is at noon and it doesn't take three hours to de-ice a wing. First name is called, no dice. Second name, nothing. Third name, nothing. Finally, they call out the fourth name, and it's not mine. It's Grandpa's. He looks at me and tells me to take it. I say thank you, hand in my ticket and run on the plane before he can change his mind.