46 replies to this topic

[MtlJeff]

Which New York airport is it where you fly over a super rich area? Is it LaGuardia or JFK? I remember flying through New York last year on the way to Dallas i think it was. And i remember i counted like 10 golf courses and every house looked like a mansion. There was water and it looked like a lot of waterfront properties. I really can't remember which it was.

I've also been stuck in Newark for a 4-5 hour stopover. And that isn't a superfun airport, though they do have a heineken lounge in one of the terminals which has some comfortable seats

[Imp]

If the approach was over long island to JFK, then that may have been all the courses on long island and in particular the many  Bethpage courses.

--kC

[Myherobobhope]

One of my favorite travel stories is about my grandmother...

This was post 9/11.

My uncle flew my grandparents up to New York from Abilene, TX...

On the way home, my grandmother was asked for an ID. She didn't have one... this was a problem... they start giving her the fifth degree, and she explains she had flown up from Abilene and just wanted to get home...

The counter person stops, says, "Wait, how did you get on the airplane in Abilene if you didn't have an ID?"... to which my grandmother responded, "They know me in Abilene."... That was an acceptable answer and she got through security and everything else...

Oh small towns of Texas.

[chickenpotpie]

Is there any truth to the story that if you leave a bag unattended at Charles de Gaulle, security/police will take it and blow it up (presuming its a bomb by default).  Had a coworker tell me this one time, and I just couldn't buy it.

[swizbeatz]

I don't have too many good travel stories but I can second the Earl of Sandwhich recommendation.  First experience was in Vegas, there is one in the Planet Hollywood casino.  Soooo good after a long day/night on the strip.  I even saw them downtown London believe it or not, they must be growing like crazy.

[Imp]

Sitting on the plane yesterday waiting for my flight finish boarding. The woman behind me starts coughing lightly and then continuing into a continuous guttural phlegm filled coughing fit by the time they close the door. Full flight, too late to change my seat. :unamused:

Like 15-20 minutes of "is she going to kill us all with her communicable disease" coughing. The person I'm stuck next to has her thighs bleeding under the arm wrest by 3" into my seat, and her shoulders are wider than her seat too. She starts gagging, because of the woman behind us.

I turn around, and the woman behind has tears rolling down her face from the coughing.

At least it was only a 50 min flight home.

--kC

[chickenpotpie]

Can't believe I haven't told this one....there's only been one flight I've been on where I thought I was going to die.  My wife and two kids were heading to Florida in February 2011 for a Disney cruise.  We were supposed to leave Wednesday, to be there a day before the cruise left on Thursday.  Well as luck would have it, the annual snow deathstorm happened to be coming through Michigan starting Tuesday night.  Predictions were for 12-16 inches to fall between then and Wednesday night with blizzard conditions possible....meaning, our flight on Wednesday wasn't going to leave.

Luckily, I was able to rebook us to Tuesday, though this added a connection in Atlanta.  As we were waiting to board, you could see that snow was starting to fall.  Our plane ended up leaving on schedule, and we all breathed a sigh of relief.  Until we were getting ready to land.  This same deathstorm stretched from Michigan all the way down to Georgia, and was producing some serious thunderstorm action.  On approach our plane got tossed around, side to side, up and down, and you could hear the pilot throttling up the engines and pulling them back repeatedly.  He was definitely fighting conditions out there.  People were praying on the plane, and there were lots of mentions of Jesus.

Somehow he managed to land the plane.  When we got inside the terminal, I could see that he flew us directly through a "red pocket" on Doppler radar that was east of the airport, and there were reports of tornados in the area.  I was amazed they didn't halt arrivals.

I was impressed with my kids that they even boarded the next flight.  Thankfully, it was much smoother!

[Golfinwill]

I love reading all these. I don't have too many good stories.

As far as airports I fly through O'hare a lot and I find it quite easy never really have that many problems. Food isn't the greatest but I am not a fan of eating while I travel.
Worst airports: Atlanta or Dallas  
I really don't have a favorite airport since traveling isn't too much fun.
I flew from Phoenix to Chicago with Mike Tyson sitting across from me. That was pretty wild. He has major security with him as he boarded.

Worst trip. Flying to Phoenix with my dad for a golf weekend. We had to fly through DFW. Dallas was having bad storms and we had to circle cause they were not letting anyone come in or our. Finally landed after about an hour of circling. Our connection was delayed so ended up catching that. We had another storm roll through and our connection was delayed. Finally ended up boarding our flight. Going down the runway for takeoff front tire blows out as the nose was lifting off the ground.  Pilot slammed on the brakes and aborted the takeoff everyone flew forward and everyone was screaming.

I typically fly United exclusively since I have status with them but my favorite airline is called Ultimate Air Shuttle. The company is based out of Cincinnati and fly to very few places. Chicago-Cincinnati then Cinci to New York. It's basically a private plane.. no security. Your able to show up 15 minutes before boarding walk right on the plane and leave. Food and beer, wine served. It's a little expensive but it's an experience thats for sure.

[nfinch10]

I had one of the worst experiences in my life follwed by one of the coolest.  Was back in CO for a funeral (worst exp), incredibly sad time.  Flew home to CA after in an isle seat.  I quickly realized that the guy sitting across from me was Rod Smith (Denver Broncos legend and one of my favorite players).  I tried to not bug him much, but I let him know how big a fan I was, told him about how I was at his first game and thanked him for all he had done for the town.  He turned out to be one of the friendliest guys I have ever met, and talked to me most of the flight.  Without me even asking, he pulled his two Super Bowl rings out of his bag and passed them over to me to check out.  I swear one of those bright lights from heaven shinned down upon them and angels started singing.  Very cool for a Broncos fan.

[golf_bhoy]

chickenpotpie, on 01 March 2013 - 06:24 PM, said:

Is there any truth to the story that if you leave a bag unattended at Charles de Gaulle, security/police will take it and blow it up (presuming its a bomb by default).  Had a coworker tell me this one time, and I just couldn't buy it.

Not sure about CdG, but saw this happen in the Nice airport years ago. Someone had left a bag unattended, and after several announcments, they had everyone evacuate that section of the terminal. We were able to still see what was going on from across the road.

Then the swat team/security moved in and exploded the bag. It was pretty interesting.

Edited by golf_bhoy, 15 March 2013 - 01:53 PM.

[teejaywhy]

Boarding a flight from Atlanta to Huntsville AL, very short flight on a small MD80 or something like that.  My seat is in the very back but I wait to board last because I hate sitting around in a cramped plane waiting.  I arrive to find an 80 year old woman sitting in my aisle seat.  "Is this your seat ma'am?"  "Yes" she replies, smiling feebly. I look at my boarding pass and confirm it is actually my seat, look around and see no other empty seats but the window spot next to grandma. What the hell, I'm not going to make an old lady move, it's a 40 min flight, so I squeeze into the empty seat and settle in with my newspaper.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the old lady lean forward toward a bag she had with her. Something odd, but I couldn't figure it out.  But she kept doing it every few minutes or so.  Finally, curiosity gets the best of me so I watch next time she leans forward and suddenly the shock and horror floods over me as I witness her spitting a big old stream of brown tobacco juice into a plastic cup hidden just inside the bag.  ACK!!!  My gag reflex instantly takes effect and I pull the paper in front of my face and start breathing deeply trying to think of a crystal clear babbling brook or something to distract my mind from visualizing this nasty pool of tobacco stained saliva floating not three feet away. AND I'M TRAPPED IN THE WINDOW SEAT!!  There is no where to go. I spend the next 40 minutes nose against the window in a semi-fetal position, looking out into the dark night and praying for no turbulance.

When we finally disembarked and walked into the terminal, I see grandma's family rushing forward to greet her with hugs and I wanted to shout - DON'T KISS HER!!!

I told the story to my business colleague who I was there to visit.  He laughed and said "you're not a southern boy are you?"

[MtlJeff]

^^^ LOL

I've gotten some good luck travelling (knock on wood). My last trip to China i got a free row all to myself at the back of the airplane. Was awesome, 14 hour flight but i had first dibs on the drink tray (free beers on intercontinental trips with Air Canada) and was sitting right next to the bathroom. I also had the full row to sleep in so it was pretty comfortable. On the way home it was a 10 hour flight to Vancouver and the lady sitting next to me must have been 75lbs and 5 feet tall. I didn't even have to wake her to get up....got really lucky that trip

I've also sat next to 2 smoking hot babes in the past year on short domestic US flights. Both in the midwest so they had these awesome southern accents. Both were very chatty too. Nothing happened as i'm spoken for! But it always makes the flight go by quicker

[chickenpotpie]

teejaywhy, on 18 March 2013 - 05:50 PM, said:

Boarding a flight from Atlanta to Huntsville AL, very short flight on a small MD80 or something like that.  My seat is in the very back but I wait to board last because I hate sitting around in a cramped plane waiting.  I arrive to find an 80 year old woman sitting in my aisle seat.  "Is this your seat ma'am?"  "Yes" she replies, smiling feebly. I look at my boarding pass and confirm it is actually my seat, look around and see no other empty seats but the window spot next to grandma. What the hell, I'm not going to make an old lady move, it's a 40 min flight, so I squeeze into the empty seat and settle in with my newspaper.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the old lady lean forward toward a bag she had with her. Something odd, but I couldn't figure it out.  But she kept doing it every few minutes or so.  Finally, curiosity gets the best of me so I watch next time she leans forward and suddenly the shock and horror floods over me as I witness her spitting a big old stream of brown tobacco juice into a plastic cup hidden just inside the bag.  ACK!!!  My gag reflex instantly takes effect and I pull the paper in front of my face and start breathing deeply trying to think of a crystal clear babbling brook or something to distract my mind from visualizing this nasty pool of tobacco stained saliva floating not three feet away. AND I'M TRAPPED IN THE WINDOW SEAT!!  There is no where to go. I spend the next 40 minutes nose against the window in a semi-fetal position, looking out into the dark night and praying for no turbulance.

When we finally disembarked and walked into the terminal, I see grandma's family rushing forward to greet her with hugs and I wanted to shout - DON'T KISS HER!!!

I told the story to my business colleague who I was there to visit.  He laughed and said "you're not a southern boy are you?"

Awesome!

Reminds me of a trip my cousin took to go back home to San Diego from Detroit.  We are Polish, so fresh kielbasa is quite the delicacy, which you can't get out West.  Well, she decided to bring something like 5 lb of it home, in her carry-on.  It stunk the place up, and people were searching the overhead bins to find the source.  Once they found it, she had to play dumb that it wasn't hers.  Of course, at the end of the flight, she just grabbed it and ran!

[xabia]

I flew from Cleveland to Phoenix and back again last week and somehow ended up with 3 "touchers" out of my 4 flights. The first one was having a child next to me who kept grabbing and crawling on my foot and nudging me. As if that wasn't bad enough there was a toddler behind me as well and she kept reaching between the seat and the wall (I was in the window seat) and grabbing my hair and touching my ear. The worst part was I fell asleep for a brief moment and was awoken by the damn touching and almost slapped at whatever it was that was touching me out of reflex! After that I made myself stay awake (I was running on fumes) lest I end up on the news for child abuse!  Thankfully it was only CLE to nashville so I sucked it up and didn't add to the considerable trouble both "parents" seemed to be having. Then on the way home from Phx to BWI I had a teenager next to me but he seemed to think he was still an infant because he was trying to curl up in his seat and achieve the most comfortable sleeping position possible on a plane without regard for his fellow passengers  At one point when his head had been on my shoulder for a good 30 seconds I just said screw it and got up to use the bathroom as his head went trundling down. The look on his face was awesome.

[Imp]

I try to be as far away as possible from them if given the opportunity.  I have zero issue asking parents (usually the mother as the dad is no where near them usually) to restrain their children "You have a cute and curious son/daughter, however, their unwelcome and unappreciated touching is making me quite uncomfortable. Please do what you can to make them stop."

Just be nice, but direct and to the point. They usually get it. You have to share what little space is available, but the travel should be without any kind of groping.

Occasionally, you get the "Don't you have kids?" (I lie... "Yes, but yours are not mine and mine learned not to touch others without permission")  or "They're just kids" (as if it's justficiation to allow it) "would you mind if some stranger started pulling your hair or ear or drooling on your shoulder while sleeping?"

No reason to be mean... (travelling parents usually have a short fuse for anyone that's "mean" around their kids) but at the same time, drive the point home that it's not appreciated.

I do remember one time about 15 years ago that a kid flicked my ear once when the mom wasn't looking. I waited a bit, and then flicked his back. The kid didn't know what to do, whether to complain to his mom or do it again.  

--kC

[chickenpotpie]

It's funny....I used to be annoyed by kids on flights, before I had kids.  Now that I have young kids, I'm not annoyed as much by others, because I "get it".  That said, I think once my kids get a bit older, I will lose touch and get annoyed again.

One thing that I've found helps is to sit towards the front of the plane.  Seems like the cheaper seats are always towards the back, which is where families usually are.

Regarding "touchers", I'm actually a lot more annoyed by people who brush by me in the aisle, especially during boarding.  A lot of people are clueless as to where their bag is hanging on their shoulder, and end up hitting everyone all the way down the aisle with it.

[SilverBullets]

chickenpotpie, on 20 March 2013 - 08:46 AM, said:

It's funny....I used to be annoyed by kids on flights, before I had kids.  Now that I have young kids, I'm not annoyed as much by others, because I "get it".  That said, I think once my kids get a bit older, I will lose touch and get annoyed again.

One thing that I've found helps is to sit towards the front of the plane.  Seems like the cheaper seats are always towards the back, which is where families usually are.

Regarding "touchers", I'm actually a lot more annoyed by people who brush by me in the aisle, especially during boarding.  A lot of people are clueless as to where their bag is hanging on their shoulder, and end up hitting everyone all the way down the aisle with it.

Actually people bumping into me is one of the main reasons why I always pick Window over aisle.  I am also only 5'7 so I don't have a leg room issue.  It's funny, kids have never really bothered me on planes.  I generally see the kid and then observe the parent.  In many cases the parent is trying to quite the kid and do whatever necessary to ensure they are limiting the disturbance.  What drives me crazy is when you see a kid being loud/disruptive and a parent who basically doesn't care.  I realize it's largely out of the parents control, but at least try.  I mean hey, if your trying and the kid is still crying/misbehavng/etc than that's one thing.. but to sit there and not try to do anything is another.  I get annoyed with those parents.

One story I have was over the summer I was flying from DFW to Cbus.  This was in maybe July and it was HOT in Dallas.  By the time I go to the plane  I was already hot, frustrated and tried from working 12+ hour days for past week.  Anyways, I get on the plane and it's not blowing cold air.  I get it but it sucks. Im hot.  Once the plane gets fired up and the door closes they start pumping in cold air.  I immediately turn on my vent and direct it right at my face... I mean it was like a cold wet rag on forehead.   Once we take off this lady next to me starts to just straight up tweak.  She's fidgeting, shaking her hands (like they are wet and she has nothing to wipe them on) incessently, and vitually having a panic attack.  I ask her if everything is alright and she said yeah she's fine just a little antsy.  'Is there anything I do?'  'Oh no I'm fine'.... Ok... I fall asleep.  I wake up to the lady turning off my vent and the guy next her's vent (she was in the middle).  Like seriously???? My vent wasn't on you, I get it you are cold... why not ask us to turn it down or get a blanket or put the stupid coat on lap back on (why she had a coat in July in Dallas is beyond me).  After about 5 minutes of shock I turn it back on.

It was one of the weirdest people I have been sat next to on a flight in a long time.  Personally, I think she was on drugs and was tweaking hard.  The guy on the other side of her pulled me aside after the plane and was like 'WTFFFFF????' ahahaah  It was a long 3 hours.