Air travel stories?

[Eddi]

I am currently stuck at an airport

Can't put my luggage through until in one and a half hour's time

Was wondering, does anyone have any interesting or amusing anecdotes about air travel that they'd like to share?

Currently there is a man hanging about departures who is obviously a homeless person

He clearly thinks he can blend into the environment simply by having a tatty rucksack and some plastic supermarket bags

He is no master of disguise but seems harmless

Am pretty sure he is or has been on something

 

[Revoltingest]

I can state from experience that if one is known
for wearing Hawaiian shirts, & wears them at
airports, one will be recognized in crowds & at
a distance by acquaintances.

 

[Revoltingest]

Munich Germany to Detroit MI....3 days travel
(including a stopover in beautiful Newark NJ).
Ugh.
But the Munich airport was a nice place to be stuck.

 

[Eddi]

The homeless airport guy is now loitering around the cafe he looks very shifty he is sat at a table but has no drink or food the staff don't seem bothered at all

 

[Eddi]

Sounds like good timing so I'll share my recent story, only a few days back (last Friday, overnight). We were on a red-eye flight from Hawaii to Vancouver. I took a couple of drugs to help sleep, but after about 2 hours into it, an announcement woke me. "If there is a medical person on board, please push the call button." Groggy, I looked across the aisle to see that Boss wasn't in her seat there. I turned to see a commotion at the back of the plane where the washrooms are, and immediately figured it could be her, as she is prone to fainting. So I wobble back there, to be met by a stewardess, who informs me they've temporarily shut down those washrooms. But after I informed her the person with the medical emergency might be Boss, I was let into the foray. Sure enough, there she was, accompanied by a nice nurse and a stewardess in the process of cleaning up vomit from the floor. So the next 3 hours was spent assisting in her recovery. Somehow the others around didn't enjoy my comments such as, "She has always been an attention seeker," and the like. (I'm used to her fainting)
Upon arrival, they hold up the disembarking, and paramedics come on to grab her in an airplane gurney. Inside the airport we settle into a spot where an ambulance will meet us. Canada Customs send s up an agent to check us through. Ambulance arrives and we're off to the nearest hospital. Ten hours later, from a very crowded emergency room (I witnessed a violent offender, a guy with a gunshot wound, and more, with unbelievable patient staff,) Doc signs a 'safe to fly' form, and we call a cab to get us back to the airport. Obviously we've missed our connecting flight. The stupid airline, although telling me verbally they would put us on the next flight, now informs me they have nothing until tomorrow, but that will cost us $1800 additional. But the counter lady sort of suggests to try other airlines. I get on the direct booking line to Air Canada, and lo and behold, they have something for $400 later that night. I jump at it, and 6 hours later we're finally home. I calculated 40 hours without sleep, as we got up around 6 Hawaii time Friday morning, and arrived home at 2 AM Sunday morning.
So that's my little story. We're both still recovering.

Sounds like a very memorable experience!

 

[ChristineM]

I have a few.

A birthday party at 30,000 feet thrown by the cabin staff for my seventh birthday.

Called into security because it was thought that the two bottles wrapped up in my case were binary explosive.

But the one to beat all, the flight in, before the party flight. I'd recently smashed my arm and had (its dissolved now) a silver pin holding my arm together. This particular airport was over the iron curtain, part public and part military patrolled by armed guards in groups of 6. They had only recently had metal detector body scanners installed. Then i walked through the scanner all hell broke loose. The sound and sight of 6 kalashnikovs being cocked and aimed at you s a receipt for rubber panties.

Edit... The last time i flew to England, the plane had boarded, on starting the engines trouble. Shut down, two airport fire engines pulled up. An engineer was called who spent an hour tinkering only to say "all clear". One fire engine left, the other crew were still in a state of readiness just in case. The engines started and away we went, over an hour late and absolutely no confidence about the flight

 

[Eddi]

All countries have poverty and deprivation but seldom does it ever spill out into an airport

 

[Soandso]

No interesting airport or flight stories, but greyhound? Absolutely

I learned why it was bad to sit in the back of the bus on a 3 hour trip from Pheonix to Flagstaff when 15 minutes into the trip someone destroyed thd bathroom in the back. See, the problem was that it was 115 degrees outside, and the airconditioning in the bus didn't work. No air circulation or anything, so not only was the air we breathed toxic, but it was so hot we were just sitting around in our own sweat, too. The smell stuck around the entire 3 hour trip, and people couldn't stop gagging the entire time

Thankfully, that was a uniquely awful experience and the others I had were positive and comfortable for the most part. Yikes, Though