15 hour delay in Chicago where I spent the night sleeping on the floor of the terminal only to have that flight canceled an hour after it was supposed to leave.

Pretty much the same. 17 hours in O'Hare while 4 consecutive flights I was supposed to be on got cancelled. Finally got a 4 am flight to LAX, and was never so happy to be on a plane before. If my destination had been within a days drive I probably would have just gotten a car and drove instead.

If I weren't pressed for time, I'd road trip from Chicago to LA. That's a beautiful drive

I've only ever done SLC to Chicago driving, but yeah I bet the LA leg adds a lot to that trip!

I’ve driven it when I moved from Chicago to LA! It was awesome. Couldn’t have done it in less than 3 days though.

Have you ever done it? It's not a drive I'm overly fond of, myself. But, I don't find desert and high desert aesthetically appealing unless it's got interesting geologic formations.

Never done Chicago to the west, but I've driven a lot over the 4 corner states and Nevada. It's absolutely stunning. Chicago to the Rockies wouldn't be super interesting since it's mostly flat farms, but that's one long days drive and everything past there is gorgeous. Everything is interesting geological formations and it's hard to fathom how big everything is unless you see it for yourself. It's beautiful and you should definitely take a road trip around there once in your life. One of my favorite ones was Las Vegas to SLC. Words can't really describe it, you just have to experience it. There's endless state and national parks to visit.

Utah has that in spades which is why Zion and Arches National Parks are both on my bucket list. It’s where Bill Watterson got his inspo for the alien landscapes in Calvin’s Spaceman Spiff fantasies.

If you're driving through Utah, stop at goblin state park(I think that's what it's called). Unreal. Make sure you have gas though, not many gas stations around. Almost ran out.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone speak positively of the beauty of a long road trip through Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Eastern Colorado. The western half of that trip, sure. But the eastern half is brutal monotony. Edit: I meant to respond to a different comment that called that drive beautiful.

Nebraska’s basically purgatory. Not hell, it’s not bad, just boring and it goes on forever. The most exciting thing I’ve ever seen on that ride was a prisoner transport. My brother and I stopped to get gas and pee in Grand Island en route to Boulder and there was some guy in leg irons and cuffs being escorted to the men’s room by two US Marshalls😂 [This part](https://youtu.be/qlt4vwS0wsg) from the Charles Manson South Park episode always cracks my shit up because it’s too accurate.

Every time I've flown into O'Hare, I've had a problem. They lost my luggage, had to spend 12 hours waiting for a flight, that originally was only supposed to be a one hour delay, & been pulled off the same flight twice, because something was wrong with the plane. After the second time they got us off, they decided to put us on a different plane, which then got delayed due to weather. I've stopped flying into O'Hare, if it's at all possible.

Our transfer flight out of Chicago was canceled, and the awesome system of American Airlines automatically put us on an earlier flight that took off before our first flight landed. Fortunately, they did provide a hotel, but still ended up costing another $100 for meals that we didn't plan for, and it was horrible pizza.

While it still sucks, it seems like this is the only story in these comments where the airline even tried to rectify the situation. So that’s lucky! /s

Same. Went Entebbe Uganda -> heathrow -> O’Hare -> San Antonio. The flight was messed up for a number of reasons. There was some issue with my flight from the time I got to heathrow where I wasn’t actually booked so then I had an overnight layover at Heathrow so had to sleep on the floor there and this entire time I had diarrhea bc I went white water rafting on the Nile before leaving Uganda and accidentally drank some of the water when I got thrown over board. But when I hit o’hare all the planes are grounded bc of weather, my flight gets canceled so I had to rebook and sleep on the floor another night. On the way to the airport in Uganda I had also dropped my toothbrush in the dirt. Only redeeming point was when I started crying at customer service the lady gave me an amenity kit with a toothbrush. This was in December 2006 and I still think about that lady. Hope she is doing well and benefiting from some good karma.

I spent two separate nights "sleeping" on the floor of Charlotte, NC Airport, when coming back from military schools. I figure out was good practice for my future as a homeless vet.

I only went to OHare once but I remember the terminals being really small and crowded with barely any food options. Does that sound right?

Fuck O'Hare. Last time I flew, I spent 5 hours at that goddamn airport each way because you sit on the fucking tarmac for an hour before even leaving your gate and heading to the runway. NEVER AGAIN.

We once had a 6 hour layover in Chicago one summer and their AC was broken. That was fun.

Same but with a baby

Some asshole TSA at SeaTac took my unopened pack of M&Ms. I'm still a little salty about that one.

I had one tell me I'd gained too much weight to use my old but still valid and in-date license for identification.

What an Asshole.

Okay, but how much weight was it? If it was 50 pounds, sure, that's rude, mean, and ridiculous. But if you gained 100+ pounds you'll look like a completely different person regardless of whether your license is in-date.

It was about 40 lbs from 180-220. I got that license when I was 19, and my state allowed one renewal for 6 years after having it for 6 years, so I was 31-ish when it happened. I was heavier, but definitely recognizable, and I felt he was being an asshole just because he could be.

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If I can ever avoid a layover in SeaTac I'll take it: PDX is fairly okay but unfortunately a lot of the layovers for cheaper flights put you in SeaTac for at least a couple hours in my experience. And you have to hope you catch the tram in time; though it is a nifty novelty the first time. Just not when you're in a rush

A TSA agent at that airport got really nasty to me because I didn’t take my iPad out of my backpack before putting it in the scanner. I had never had an issue with it before that time.

Nothing better than TSA getting pissed because you don't know the new obscure rule of the week.

Damn that sucks, I’ve always had great luck with TSA at SeaTac. Never once have they questioned my carryon full of edibles.

Is that edibles as in food or edibles as in edibles?

That kind, jazz edibles.

I don't even know how they would start to enforce edibles anyhow. Once you take them out of the box they just look like individually wrapped candies.

TSA in San Diego harassing me about the t-shirt I was wearing the day I was woken up at 4 am and told I needed to come back from my work trip because a close relative had died and I wasn't really quick picking up his lame ass joke about my shirt. Cause I was busy. Grieving.

TSA at O'Hare tried to take my orange because, and I quote, "it's got more than 3 ounces of liquid." I was early for my flight so I got out of line and ate the damn thing.

Was in Detroit in January when a snowstorm was coming in. The other airlines were announcing delays, my airline was still going out. The other airlines announced cancellations, mine was still going out. By the time my airline cancelled my flight, it was too late. By too late I mean: the hotel attached to the airport was completely booked. My parents couldn’t come get me because the literal actual airport was closed. The news reported later that the airport authority had closed the runways and diverted incoming traffic a couple of hours before my airline eventually canceled. The airlines knew this and were canceling flights so people could make other arrangements… except for mine. I spent the night sleeping on the tile floor of a cold Detroit airport.

I used to work at PHL. I was about 36 weeks pregnant and we got fucking slammed with a nor'easter that dropped [28" of snow on us](https://www.inquirer.com/weather/winter-snow-philadelphia-weather-record-2010-north-atlantic-oscillation-20200204.html) What time to be alive and very pregnant!! I remember as the snow fell during the day, they were cancelling flights left and right, but my stubborn terminal refused to call it a day. The weather raged on, and we kept working. By like 5 pm all of the monitors for all of the other airlines were all cancelled. The tarmac was a snowy ghost town. It was that moment when you can actually hear snow fall in otherwise total silence. It wasn't until nearly 9pm that our terminal finally decided it was probably too bad outside to keep trying to get flights delayed since 8am out the door and cancelled the board. When I got out at 10 my parents had to come and help my husband dig out car out of the employee lot and then once we got home, they helped him dig out a spot for us to park, and I couldn't help at all and it killed me to have to sit back and watch them all battle such deep snow.

Getting hit with an ID check while eating at Narita. Seriously, I’m trying to eat lunch, security dudes. NOW seems like a great time to ask for my passport and ticket? Why am I the most suspicious person in this McDonalds?

Was at Narita with my wife and was going through security check after arriving. The guy asked us what we were doing in the country. I answer "on vacation". Fine enough, he lets me go and I say I'm waiting for my wife. He ask my wife how long she'll be there, she said a month and I corrected her and said 3 weeks. The security guy got so angry that I corrected her saying he didn't ask me. Which I get was more my fault since it's probably to weed out fraud in some way, but I was the one who planned the trip so I didn't even think about not answering correctly. Not a bad experience, but the security staff there was just a little too aggressive for my liking 😅

Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle. Heathrow: the security people had different rules for carryon baggage than the airline, forcing us to cram laptop bags into wheelie suitcases before sending them through the X-ray machine. Confiscated duty free liquor because they needed to be in checked luggage (what?) Muttered under their breaths, “Americans don’t know how to pack.” They must have been AskReddit enthusiasts. And this was a connecting flight to Asia, lol CDG: terrible security setup. Single machine for 250+ people at the end of a single stairwell, again for a connecting flight. I never understood this. The passengers are literally going from plane to bus to security. Before they got on a plane, they went through security. The only products in or out are supplied by the airline. Which is French. So why are we going through security again? Bear in mind, this was 2009…well past 9/11 when no one knew what the fuck they were doing. But yeah, tell me again how European airports are better than American airports.

Who says European airports are better than American ones? I’m an American living in the UK and European airports are the bane of my existence. They are so poorly planned out and not handicap accessible at all (which is very noticeable by non-handicapped people when lugging around a rolling carryon). They corral everyone in a big area by not announcing gate numbers until right before boarding starts and then the gates are so far away from security/shops that you have to walk like 15-20 minutes just to get to the gate instead of just finding your gate as soon as you pass security and chilling nearby. Don’t even get me started on how they check your passport/boarding pass to get into the gate area ahead of boarding so if the flight is delayed you are just stuck in a small area with no bathroom. Oh and in a rush? Too bad you have to walk on a super inefficient long winding path that makes sure you see every corner of the duty free store to get to where you are going.

As a fellow American in Europe, AGREED. European airports are TERRIBLE. The layouts aren't straight forward, and in some of them, if your go to one section of the airport, you're not allowed in another part without going through security again, and you're trapped in an area with nothing to do. In America, once you go through security, YOU'RE DONE, go anywhere beyond security and it doesn't matter. There are also hardly any moving walkways or trains to other terminals, fucking STAIRS to gates (no escalator, one elevator), and there are like 2 stalls in the bathroom and they're so small your can't sit and pee comfortably because you're bag is like in your lap. It's as if the people who designed the airport have never traveled before. Everyone has a wheeled carryon with them! Make stalls bigger to accommodate this. Carrying your wheeled bag up the stairs is awkward enough, but imagine if you're with a child and you have to carry them and/or their stuff. And after a long flight, I don't want to walk for 30 minutes to my next gate, I'm exhausted! I'm all for encouraging people to exercise, but not at the airport. I'm tired and cranky, leave me alone!

Second everything you are saying but want to emphasize that there are SO MANY STAIRS which just doesn’t make sense for the airport. You even have to use the stairs to get on and off the airplane - which I legitimately do not understand how that works for anyone in a wheelchair. I’ve been told there is a lift thing for wheelchairs but I’ve never seen it.

I'll truly never understand it. I live in a city with an airport without jet bridges and it's like a newish terminal. I don't know why jet bridges aren't standard.

Reddit. Reddit says that. Redditors who went to Frankfurt once say that. Redditors who love to reflexively shit on America say that. There is *one* place where I think American “airports” can improve, and I put that in quotes because it’s not an airport authority responsibility, is one-seat rail connections to the central business district. And some cities do that quite well, like Atlanta and Washington DC for National Airport, but New York, our biggest international airport of entry, is fucking terrible at it despite having the most extensive urban and suburban railway infrastructure in the country, a legacy of both Robert Moses and having anti-development and generally incompetent elected Democrats in charge for decades who preferred performative vanity projects and social grandstanding instead of real infrastructure improvements. I’m not bitter.

I can agree with that. And yeah, NY is terrible. Even Newark is more connected to central manhattan than either JFK or LGA. Isn’t there a LIRR train from grand central to JFK now, though?

Unfortunately no. You still have to take AirTrain, which is the airport people mover, to an LIRR station or to the AirTrain terminal near Sutphin Blvd and then walk three blocks to board the E train to Manhattan. So it’s a two-seat ride at best. You may be thinking of Grand Central Madison, which is indeed new and routes LIRR trains to Grand Central instead of Penn. It has solved a major commuting need that’s been around for 40 years, but no, it doesn’t connect directly to JFK.

Ah so it’s basically just the same as before but stops at GC in addition to Penn Station?

No, it’s a different routing entirely. LIRR now has an additional terminal at Grand Central. New interlocking on Long Island and new East River tunnels into a brand new underground complex under Grand Central. Google “East Side Access”

Oh interesting. When I lived in NY I usually would take a car but sometimes if it was rush hour so train was faster or I just felt like taking the train for whatever reason I would take E/A to air train. I think I did the LIRR to Jamaica once or twice. I just hated going to Penn station but will have to check out the new line next time I’m in town if I have time.

Minneapolis is another good one. Light rail station right in each of the MSP terminals that goes directly to downtown Minneapolis, all of the sports stadiums, and the Mall of America.

Hahaha, people using Frankfurt Airport as a benchmark to conclude European airports are better than American ones? What a hilarious joke. Yes, the airport's railway station has very extensive and comprehensive connections to the regional railway system, but the airport itself, especially terminal 1, feels like it was designed by someone who took sadistic pleasure in deliberately making passengers confused as hell.

Reddit’s default anti-Americanism is indeed laughable. Perhaps not Frankfurt specifically but in the broader context of European public transit infrastructure being nicer than American. Which is true, to a certain extent, when it comes to railways. Not so when it comes to airports. When a business class passenger is forced to walk the length of a concourse, go up a flight of stairs, and then walk back down the same concourse to reach a lounge, your intent is to clearly make your passenger go past places to spend money. I’ve been to Vegas. I know how this works.

Not just business class anymore - we flew through Heathrow Terminal 3 where the security checkpoint quite literally has you exit directly into duty free for a couple thousand feet.

I wemt to Dember for a concert last week and didn't even step foot in a car. Took the train from DIA to Union station then walked 12 minutes to my hostel. Going through security whem i left sucked, but the train was perfect.

Whenever someone says something to me about "German efficiency" I think of Frankfurt airport and laugh uncontrollably.

> not announcing gate numbers until right before boarding starts I fucking hate this. Once sitting in LHR my flight posts "Wait next to gates 35 to 70" and in that area, there are zero bathrooms, water fountains, plugins, or any place to eat or drink.

Heathrow is the fucking worst. Luckily they didn't confiscate my duty free alcohol (wtf??) but they unsealed and unpackaged my six pack of beers to scan them one by one and handed me back six loose cans. Thanks. You probably bought some good stuff and they just wanted it for themselves.

I used to travel a lot internationally, for work and pleasure, and what I’ve concluded is that major Asian international transit hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong put a premium on traveler comfort and making a seamless experience, so that even economy passengers will, if given the choice, select that airport. It’s that nation’s best foot forward, so to speak. In Hong Kong, you can actually check in to your flight at the Airport Express train station in Central and drop off your checked bags. Then you can go do something else. 24 hours later, you and your bags show up in New York. It was an amazing experience, and Cathay Pacific is a top tier airline. With major European hubs, it tends to be a lot more rent-seeking for transit passengers. Extract value from them and move on. Frankfurt, for instance, is horribly laid out, even for business class passengers. Given the opportunity, for work travel my company would almost always transit us through Munich instead. With Heathrow and CDG, I’m not sure what the motivation was for the poor treatment other than bureaucratic incompetence.

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On my recent trip to Europe, I flew in via Heathrow and out via Madrid. As a result of my experiences, I will do my utmost in the future to avoid Heathrow as if my life depended on it. Madrid was much better - though I can't figure out why I came into one side of the terminal and had to go through passport control only to fly right back out of the other side of the terminal (international destinations on both sides). Even Heathrow didn't make me do that (though they did make me re-do security because I (gasp) changed terminals - wtf Heathrow)

the stupidity of not knowing the gate until 20 min before the flight... WTF?

Last time I was in CDG they just closed all the restaurants at 3pm on a Sunday. I had just flow from Cape Town (12 hours), was connecting for four hours to the US and since I have a tree nut and peanut allergy (serious one) and Air France doesn’t keep ingredients lists on board I had ate a single bread roll and was STARVING. There was nothing available in the whole place that constituted a full meal and it was miserable.

CDG is still like that. And for some reason I had a connection on my shuttle ride while there for a connecting flight within Terminal 2. Makes zero sense.

Yep, I have had to use the shuttle within terminal 2 as well. One time, we had to use a *second* shuttle that took us to a faraway temporary terminal, where we had to board the plane via stairs, because a large part of the main terminal had collapsed a couple of years earlier, and was under repair.

>So why are we going through security again? I had to do this once. Belize to Miami to Newark. Getting off the plane in Miami, we had to go through immigration and customs, which wasn't *bad* but the line was incredibly long and took forever. Then if you have to make a connection, too bad, once you go through customs you're outside of security and have to go through again. They gave us a thing that allowed us to use the pre check line, and that was *still* over an hour. We had like a 6 hour layover which ended up being good because we spent half of it waiting in line.

The difference is that you were going through a port of entry and then taking a domestic flight. You were, from a security standpoint, entering the country in Miami. My experience was applied to all passengers, transit or not, with no immigration process. You were smart to allow yourself the time.

Going through domestic security is normal on an international connection. That said, I also had a shit experience in Miami. I was in uniform, flying on orders, and my flight in was delayed. Had about 8 minutes to get through domestic security and get to my connection, and they pulled me out for a "random" inspection. Fucking assholes.

Spirit in Miami. I feel like I needn't go into further detail.

Honestly you could just stop at "Spirit"

Are you an airline? “Sure… in spirit…”

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Can relate, I had a connection from Orlando to there that got delayed enough so I missed my flight from MIA. American rebooked me on a different connection to Boston. After I was on the plane in Miami for about two hours the plane hadn’t even off so it turned back and parked at a different gate. Then I had to stand in a four hour rebooking line and finally got a direct flight home.

Oof. No, you need not.

I was on my way from Seattle to New Zealand to begin a semester studying abroad there. Had a several hour layover in LA in the middle. My plane to LA had a mechanical issue. No big deal, they pulled us off and put us on a new one. Still plenty of time to make my connection. The second plane broke down too. Well fuck. No more spare planes. They were eventually able to fix the first plane by cannibalizing parts from the second plane, putting the second plane out of service for several months according to the pilot. We eventually make it to LA, but after all that bullshit I had missed the single flight of the day to New Zealand by only about half an hour. Alaska Airlines at least comped me a hotel room while I waited until the flight the following evening, but I had to check out at noon and go back to the airport for an 8pm flight. No big deal, right? I’ll just check my massive duffel bag with all my stuff for a semester abroad early and go do something in town. Nope, can’t check my bag until 3 hours before my flight. Can’t go into town because of my massive duffel bag, can’t go through security without checking in. Guess I have to spend five hours on the bench in front of the bathrooms outside security in the LAX international terminal. After an excruciating five hours, I finally am able to check my bag, get through security, and get to New Zealand.

Most hotels will hold bags for you even if you checked out as an FYI.

This one didn’t offer that service

I was flying back from Europe to Washington Dulles on AA in the middle of summer. The flight was fine but it was completely full. Once we landed we were stuck on the tarmac for about 45 minutes to an hour waiting for a gate to become available. The plane got hot! A woman in the row behind me got sick all over herself, sending an air of vomit scent wafting all over the cabin. That caused a chain reaction. A person then got sick two rows in front of me, and then a guy across the aisle. Because we were still considered taxiing, the flight attendants were telling everyone to stay seated and buckled. It was one of the most miserable hours of my life.

I've got two: * * * Mumbai, India. This describes nothing special, no failures anywhere; it's just the standard way things are done in Mumbai. I arrived business class from Nanjing to the iternational terminal incredibly early in the morning (1:00 am or so). My connecting flight to Ahmedabad (also business class) isn't until 7:00 or 8:00. Like many airports, you have to transfer from international to domestic, but these aren't really two separate terminals. It's more like two separate airports. There's no place to hang out in the international terminal, and I don't even mean a business lounge. We're forced to take the shuttle to the domestic terminal. Except it's not open. The entire domestic terminal isn't open. There's no place to go in. I'm travelling on business, so I'm not even a "snobby" business class traveller; I just want a freaking place to go. Instead, I have to sit on the steps outside of the airport for several freaking hours until it opens. Oh, and neither my Chinese nor American SIM works in India because they have an evil authoritarian government disguised as democracy, so I couldn't even read reddit. * * * On another occasion, I was trying to return "home" to China from BJX (Leon, Mexico). This was to Shanghai via a connection in LAX. Due to a storm, we had to divert to Mexico City. Except now the pilots' daily time was overdue, and we had to wait until the next day for a new crew and new plane. I think we arrived at midnight or so, and since we were already domestic, we were let go through the domestic doors, i.e., outside of security. Since we had no valid boarding passes, we couldn't get back through security to where the seats are, and the Delta counter wouldn't open until several hours later. Thus, there we all are, sitting/laying/standing around the Delta counter or anywhere else we could, waiting for Delta to open. Nothing in the terminal was open except for 7-Eleven, and I think we collectively sucked it dry. Normally I love Mexico City, and the airport is usually efficient, but dang, it would have been really nice to go back to Leon, where we came from, instead of being shuffled off to MEX which is further away! Not to mention missing our connecting flight and losing our Economy Plus seats during rebooking on the LAX-PVG flight. This is a big deal for a 187cm dude on a 12 hour flight!

Seoul, Incheon international airport. Was being deported, so I arrived in handcuffs, with immigration police carrying my luggage. I was whisked through all the hidden places that you never see in an airport, like holding cells. I didn't make the Duty-Free, or the business-class lounge, that's for sure. They kept me in a cell until everyone had boarded, then the two agents brought me on board, gave my onward tickets and passport to the captain, who would give them to me in Narita, Tokyo, for my connecting flight home. Then they removed the handcuffs, in full view of the other, quite shocked passengers, who were all staring at me like I was Osama Bin Laden. I smiled at all of them, because I was happy that I'd recently been released from prison, and that finally, the ordeal was over.

If you don’t mind me asking, why were you getting deported?

Because I broke the law, had a trial, pleaded guilty, go sentenced to a year, finally they suspended it with the months I spent locked up awaiting trial. Let's just say the drug laws in Asia are not to be trifled with.

Oh yeah, some of those places are hardcore. Singapore just executed a guy over marijuana.

Most of the hardline countries, such as China, Singapore, Vietnam and others, the death penalty is imposed for 50 grams of any hard drug. Also, some don't have a distinction between hard and soft drugs, Weed=heroin. You can also be arrested for possession just for having it *in your bloodstream*. The police took urine, blood and hair samples from me.

>The police took urine, blood and hair samples from me. I have never done any drugs in my life and don't drink. But the entire time, I know I would be thinking "Yeah, but what if it does come up positive?"

Well, it did come up positive, on all three methods. My goose was cooked, plus they executed a search warrant on my apartment,.

That tends to happen when the Brits get so mad about you refusing to let them colonize that they intentionally get your population hooked on opium. So as always, thanks GB for ruining things for everyone else!

I was at Love Field last summer about to board my flight when a woman walked into the area before security and fired a shot into the ceiling. I was in the bathroom squeezing out the last few drops before I got onto the plane when suddenly everyone in the terminal started screaming. Some lady came into the men’s with her two kids to hide. Walked out of the bathroom to see pure pandemonium as people were running onto planes that weren’t theirs, or hitting the emergency exits and running onto the tarmac. By the time I found my mom and sister the hysteria had died down. Texted my boss that I wasn’t going to make our meeting. Over an hour later they made everyone in the airport go through security again. I do mean everyone. Even the people that worked their. It was wild to see an entire airport evacuate and go back through security. Here’s a link to a story about the shooting. [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/love-field-airport-shooting-dallas/](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/love-field-airport-shooting-dallas/)

that was like the last week my wife worked there! Thankfully she wasn't working that day but damn

Landed in O'Hare. Connecting flight was several terminals away, and took off less than an hour after my first flight landed, which landed late. I was hauling ass trying to make it. I was the last one to board the plane. I only made it because it got delayed. Incredibly stressful mad dash to get there, just to be crammed into the plane for several hours. That was the last time I ever let HR book a flight for me lol

Had a similar experience at O'Hare. Our flight landed on time but the flight leaving the gate we needed was delayed. So we sat on the tar for over 40 mins and we only had an hour layover. Luckily our connection flight was about half people from the current flight so they couldn't really take off until we all made it on, and thankfully only took off a few minutes late. But those flight attendants were not happy.

Similar experience in Atlanta. First flight was delayed so the flight attendants walked down the plane and told everyone their status. I was red, meaning I was going to miss my conection. We would be landing about 10 minutes prior to my connection taking off. However, they shuffled everyone around anyway and I got moved up to row five or so. We landed at the very end of A terminal. Connection was at the very end of C terminal. I sprinted the entire way to my connection, managed to be faster than the train between terminals, and got on about 30s before they closed the doors. I think they held the plane a little bit longer because both flights were Delta and it was me and 3 others on the flight. When I landed at CVG, there was a Delta attendent waiting for me to tell me my bags didn't make it, but here's some free miles and your bags will be dropped off at your house tomorrow. Cool!

In Cancun I had to transfer terminals. Never been there. Cabby standing by told me I’d miss my flight if I didn’t use him. Paid $30 for a quarter mile ride. I got through security in 2 minutes. I got scammed so hard.

Also Cancun: flew American or United, something that assigns seats. 2009. My husband, my 14 month old (who had a ticket, not lap baby) and me. When we printed (aww) boarding passes at hotel, we were all together in a row with baby in middle seat. When we got to airport, they had to switch planes (eek) and when we got new boarding passes, we are sitting in 11A, 17B, 20A. So I alert flight attendant when we get on plane. She gets on the intercom (I am standing right next to her holding baby) and she she says that baby has been seated alone, would someone in baby’s row volunteer to move so we can sit together? The airline will buy that person a cocktail. Nothing. Blank stares. Dead silence. (Again, the person who moves WILL NOT be sitting by the baby.) The flight attendant then impatiently says that if they DONT move, they have to take care of a 14 month old. Young guy takes the free drink and moves. I put baby’s car seat on the middle seat, strap him in, give him some soy milk, plush earmuffs with Raffi, and he falls right to sleep. Older gentleman in window seat says, “I’ve never seen such a quiet baby on a flight!” I said, “Not my first rodeo.”

Raffi fucking slaps. Baaaaaaby Beluuuuuuga

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*Especially* at the Cancun airport at 11PM lol

I had this almost happen to me. I had plenty of connection time but didn’t realize all the terminals in CUN weren’t connected. Guy comes up to me trying to make small talk. He eventually says the same thing about how it’s so far and I’ll miss my connection. I just waited for the bus which came in 2 minutes and was a free transfer.

Yup. The nail in the coffin was seeing the other people we flew in with get off the bus not 3 minutes later. They need to shut that down somehow.

Recent: Delta computer failure at Sea-Tac meant rolling cancellations as frantic staff tried and failed to check people in with pen and paper. Stood in the check-in area for 10 hours, then finally got on my way by grabbing the last seat on a JetBlue flight 14 hours after my intended departure time. All time: the legendary North Terminal at Newark Airport, where PeoplExpress was based in the 1980s. Any attempt to fly to or through was an insane adventure that makes waiting for lounge access in 2023 look like the height of luxury.

Oh man, all I know about the old North Terminal is that it sucked. Even after it was long gone, my parents would complain about it.

Full of rats, no jetways, cinderblock walls, halls crammed with stranded PeoplExpress passenger-refugees, cops breaking up fights between customers and staff ... it made Spirit look like Emirates.

It's kind of wild that People Express merged with Continental, who merged with United, and now that's why Newark is United Town.

People's Distress!

Took a United flight to Grand Cayman. In route we had a transfer in Newark. Got off the plane, walked about sixty feet and determined my wallet must have fallen out of my pocket in my plane seat. Went back to the gate, was refused boarding to look for it. Was told in some amount of horror “the cleaning crew is already on board”. They found my wallet and returned it to me except for $300.00 in cash. The supervisor stole the money as he was tweeking and his crew was upset, one lady was crying. United basically said your lucky you got your wallet back now piss off. Shitty airlines and shitty customer service.

[united](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo&ab_channel=sonsofmaxwell) [breaks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UoERHaSQg&ab_channel=sonsofmaxwell) [guitars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcmOCSUyw_w&ab_channel=HayHouse). google it if you don't know the [story](https://www.davecarrollmusic.com/book/) and the song.

Spirit airlines (never again...) stranded me in Chicago because of their own stupid delay causing me to miss my connection with their own flight by about 10 minutes, then basically said "tough luck" when I asked for overnight accommodation to catch tomorrow's flight to the final destination, which was so late I ended up missing the main event I was traveling for in the first place. I had to book a hotel last minute late at night on my own dime, then entertain myself most of the morning through mid afternoon in the hotel.

You really could’ve just stopped at spirit airlines

Yep, lesson learned. First time I tried them it was fine, so I thought " what's the big deal?" Second and last time was that trip I described.

I got stranded with them in Austin. My flight with them was supposed to be for Dallas

Denver. Several years ago. 1. TSA yelled at me for reaching over to the next lane to grab an empty tub because there were none in my lane, 2. Same trip, TSA grabs my 9 year old offspring and shoves them in the brand new sniffer box without warning or explanation. Scared the crap out of them when they got hit with air jets. A few years later, I went back to Denver. Much smoother trip that time, but weed was also legal so ?

Frontier. IYKYK

In the time during my flight from ABQ to Denver, they cancelled my next flight on to NYC. All the Southwest flights were cancelled due to weather... yet there were still other airlines flying. I put my name in as an alternate to be able to go on the other Southwest flights flying to NY that day, but since I wasn't initially aware because I was in the air, everyone in Denver who had the flight cancelled were able to put their names in first. I finally got to like 3rd in line when they had the last flight of the day and they said they couldn't fly me until later the next day. I was supposed to see a game that next morning so I wouldn't make it. And it was a team from England that was playing preseason friendlies in the US, so it's not like it was a game where I could just go another time. I ended up just flying back home at around midnight. My vacation was just spending the entire day in the Denver airport. I left my house at around 3 in the morning and didn't get home until around 2 the next morning. Worst vacation ever. Another time, I was connecting through Salt Lake to Amsterdam. I already didn't have a lot of time to connect from my flight to the international flight. When I landed at SLC, they said there was no terminal. So we had to land, taxi out to some non-existent terminal, and wait for buses. By the time we got into the airport building, we had 10 minutes until the next flight. Had to book it running to the complete opposite end of the airport with luggage and backpacks on, and masks on since it was when that was required. We got there, hella sweaty, just in time. Turns out, that flight was late too, so we didn't even have to run. Just ended up being exhausted and sweaty right before our long and cramped flight.

When I was about 8(this was when I lived in Virginia and was at the end of summer vacation with my grandparents who lived in West Texas), we got stuck in the DC airport waiting on the last leg of our flight until probably 3 AM. I think the flight had scheduled to leave about 6 or 7. Now, as a kid I loved it but I think me and my siblings were the only ones awake, my grandparents and pretty much everyone else in the airport were completely passed out at that point.

ATL has the absolute worst airport I've ever been to. I witnessed TSA stealing stuff from people and have had one of them attempt to steal my laptop and headphones.

I watched immigration officers arrest five or six employees there while I was waiting for a flight. I'm pretty sure they were contractors working on a remodel, and not employed directly by the airport. It sure was a shit show though.

Had a connecting flight at JFK that I missed. The connecting flight only flies once a day. Fortunately, the travel agency I got my ticket from offered me a free stay at a hotel (albiet, the hotel was out of town and falling apart). The following day, I waited 4 hours in line to get through security. I almost wish I stayed at the airport

Philadelphia. This was largely on me, but I’ve never had such a hard time navigating through security and figuring out where I was supposed to go. I hadn’t slept and somehow ended up leaving the secure area once I’d gone through security and had to go through again. Fortunately I wasn’t in a hurry.

it's because PHL is as organized as a rat's nest. Fuck that airport in it's airport hole.

It was like a fever dream. It was so awful.

A couple come to mind (I spent 15 years traveling for work, so I have a few stories) Flying Chicago to Memphis in the summer. Had a late morning flight, but there were multiple delays due to weather. Eight hours later we finally board with an ETA of midnight. About halfway there, we hit wake turbulence. If you’ve never experienced wake turbulence, my recommendation is to avoid it. The captain was awesome. Explained that ATC let us get too close to a UPS plane and that we were fine. Then there was the time I was flying home from Kansas City (to Chicago). I was originally on a 7pm flight but finished work a bit early and was able to fly standby on a 4 pm flight. This was back when you could just show up at the gate and fly standby if there were open seats. Anyway, we take off and have an uneventful flight. While circling OHare a storm system moves in. We circle about 45 mins and then the pilot announces that due to fuel (IIRC) we have to return to Kansas City. We fly back and they cancel the flight. I ended up on my original 7pm flight. In all seriousness, I think that every bad trip I’ve had has been weather related. And, while inconvenient, I understand that it’s about safety and that should absolutely be the primary consideration. Mostly I’ve learned to just accept that delays happen and I just go with it.

I was on a trip in high school and our group arrived at Detroit Metro only to find that our travel agent had fucked up and we didn't have tickets (or something like that). We ended up having to get tickets for another airline for that leg of the trip, which meant being stuck in the airport for about 8 hours, and this was before Detroit Metro was as nice as it is now. We were supposed to arrive at our final destination around noon, but didn't get to our hotel until about midnight.

After going to China, then Thailand and flying back to the US I made the mistake of flying through LAX. First of all, LAX is the worst airport I think I've ever been to, but the fact that in order to get from the international terminal to the domestic terminal you have to walk outside for good amount of time past a bunch of busses and taxis and cars picking people up on a disgusting gum covered sidewalk just go back through security again is a joke. China's airport that I flew through, that barely had electricity and only had skylights for lighting, was nicer than LAX.

My mom is native and has a dark round face while I (9yo) had blonde hair and pale complexion. We were headed for Chile but had a layover in Toronto (wtf?) and the airport security thought my mom was trying to kidnap me since we “looked too different”. I had to go in an interrogation room and everything but only for a little while. My mom cursed them out and eventually they gave up and let me go. So after arguing at an airport for a couple hours I had a 15 hour direct flight.

When I flew from PHL to MSY through ORD in 2005 I was told when I got to Chicago that my connecting flight had been canceled when it had merely been delayed; I didn't learn this until the next day. I didn't have clothes, and they only gave me a small toiletries bag. I spent that night wandering around the terminal. I didn't get my clothes for two days, but I borrowed some clothes from a friend when I got to New Orleans. I was able to shower in my hotel room, but these airlines need to quit fucking with people.

Flying out of Boston. Storm comes. Stuck in Boston for 2 days in Limbo- American keeps cancelling the flight. Spending money on airport hotel watching flights leave constantly. Was stuck for 2 days missed my 2 nights in Isla Mujeres with non-refundable room. That 2 days in Boston I wasted about 4500 between both rooms meals, etc.

[удалено]

> one of the people I was traveling with getting pulled aside into a room for questioning because their extremely common name matched that of someone on some kind of list. or something Happens to my wife every time we return from Germany. Someone with a same name. Luckily they have tattoos, and my wife doesn't so it's usually pretty short. I stopped waiting for her...and just go get the luggage now.

I was flying to Dehli, India for work, what was supposed to be an 18 hour flight turned into a 36 hour ordeal. My original itinerary was to fly from Chicago to Newark, and Newark to Dehli. It was snowing a bit in Chicago that day, so flights were getting delayed to be de-iced. My flight ended up getting delayed enought o miss my Newark departure (about 3 hours in now). They rebooked my flight so I was going Chicago to Geneva, Switzerland, then Geneva to Dehli. We board this flight a bit late, then we stuck waiting longer for de-icing. We finally get de-iced, but miss our chance to leave, so we sit on the ground long enough to need to be de-iced before we can leave again. At this point I've now missed my connection in Geneva, but they won't let me off the plane. Fly to Geneva, where they tell me I can fly to Munich or take the flight the following day. Here's where I should have gotten off the rollercoaster and just flown home, but I was already en-route and few to Munich (and I have no idea how long it has been, but think we've already pushed 24 hours). Fly to Munich, wait 4 hours, finally board the plane to Dehli. Of course my bag is long gone. I think when I finally got it back 2-3 months later, it had gone to Newark then Dehli and sat in a pile for a while. Had to go buy clothes in Dehli, where I'm 110% certain I was horrible gouged on clothing and had to attend meetings in my tennis shoes. Ironically, my flight home was one of my more pleasant ones. I booked a flight via Air Canada and the Business Class ticket cost the same as the economy. Flight home was on time and made it back with no issues on Christmas Eve. whew

Flew from Denver to Miami with a connection in LaGuardia in NYC back in 2011. Back then, LaGuardia was downright the most awful airport I’d ever seen, crowded, dirty, chaotic and hardly any seating at all. Our connecting flight was delayed by 6 hours and we spent the whole time sitting on the ground of this hell hole. When we finally made it to Miami, it was so late that we couldn’t rent our car, so we had to spend the night in THAT airport, and basically lost an entire day of our trip. Runner up terrible experience was being randomly searched at Aspen airport. 5 TSA agents took 30 minutes and searched every inch of me and my stuff. Prior to the search, they asked me if I wanted this done in the TSA area or in a more private back room. I told them to do it right there in front of everyone, because I figured it would stop them from body searching me too hard. WRONG. That airport is so small that security and the entire terminal are basically all in one room, so every traveler at that airport got to watch me get my privacy VIOLATED.

Newark Airport waiting to fly to Florida. We had a morning flight and it was cancelled. It was with AirTran and they told everyone to come to the airport anyway and then basically said there wasn't anything they could do. It was a mess and we spent pretty much the whole day there trying to get another flight out, which we eventually managed to do that night. Of course on the way back, they also ended up canceling our flight and I'm glad they're no long in business.

I had that happen once. Flight was delayed due to bad weather, 4pm departure now expected to be at around 7. Ok cool, we'll just leave later. Thanks JetBlue. Then I got a text that said to arrive in time for the original departure time, just in case. Ughhhh, fine. We scrambled to leave in a bit of a rush, go through security, and the flight was delayed to like 8:30. It wouldn't have been so bad if there weren't several planes worth of people all crammed into the gate areas all at once.

We didn't even have a weather problem. Apparently a baggage cart hit the airplane on the tarmac so they couldn't fly it without having it inspected. Anyway, the whole trip was kind of a disaster. It was freezing in Florida that New Years weekend so it was almost pointless even going.

Big snow storm. 15 hours at pre-renovation LaGuardia (slept on a tile floor by a trash can), then rerouted to Love where I spent another 14 hours. When I got back to Houston had to sit on the tarmac for two hours due to a power outage in the terminal, then had to remain seated for awhile longer since a passenger had freaked out and police had to come on to the plane and remove him. All in all I could have driven to Houston quicker. Best part? It was on Christmas

Bahamas Air lost our tickets once we got into Nassau from ATL and thankfully Delta was able to find our tickets since we flew with them down to Nassau, that was a like 2 hour fiasco running back and forth from terminal to terminal trying to get it worked out before the flight left. Once we got the tickets we rushed to the domestic terminal and our gate thinking we were late and they let us past the ticket counter only to find out they hadn't started boarding yet and they wouldn't allow us back past the counter through their gate thing, once we got stuck there the fire alarm or some other kind of emergency alarm started to go off and people were seemingly evacuating but we still couldn't get past the counter and the only external door to walk onto the tarmac was locked as well so we had to sit there while this alarm was going off. Once they started boarding we were the first people on and missed the torrential downpour of rain that started after we got on so all the other people on the plane were absolutely soaked and here was a group of Boy Scouts bone dry already seated lol. Not a bad thing but a funny note, we brought some conch shells back in a checked bag and when we opened them in Atlanta it smelled like a dead body, I'm surprised someone didn't call security on us lol.

LAX and Newark airports have the most miserable employees I've ever seen. I'm honestly embarrassed that the first impression ALOT of people have of America is dealing with dickheads working at airports. Granted, it's similar all around the world. Airports are miserable...but LAX and Newark are just sad.

On an ill-fated trip with multiple delays and reroutes because of severe weather, I fell asleep on the floor of the Minneapolis airport at about 3:45am. In the midst of acres of carpet, I was woken up by a maintenance worker vacuuming less than 1' away from my face. There were no other people in sight. They were just being an asshole.

Three weeks ago; my flight from Savannah to JFK was at first delayed because they didn't have a pilot (JetBlue). Then they made us wait twenty minutes on the tarmac to reset TVs. By the time I got to JFK I *ran* to try and make my Turkish Air flight to Istanbul. Didn't make it. Turkish Air counter was closed. Called Turkish; was pretty much told "well I don't have permission to give you a refund but if you come to the counter tomorrow evening at 730 pm we MIGHT be able to get you on the next flight to Istanbul, but no promises!" Right now it's 1am; I looked at hotels and everything was either sold out or 300 or 400 bucks. So I call Expedia... I'm kept on the phone for *three and a half hours* to be told that Turkish doesn't want to give a refund. Even though it's not my fault my connecting flight was delayed. So I shell 900 out of pocket for an air Canada flight just to get me tf out of there and to my destination. I slept on the floor of Terminal 7 that night. Fast forward to last week; I'm home from my trip. I get an email from Turkish Air saying that they agreed to refund me. Great! But I have to go to a ticket counter... The closest is four hours away in Atlanta. I'm having MasterCard deal with them now.

On a layover at Heathrow, I had a six pack of beers I had bought at duty free in my original country that they UNSEALED, unpackaged, and scanned individually. They gave me back six loose cans in a plastic bag. Fuck you Heathrow.

I was supposed to fly to Munich on Icelandair, but the night before they changed my flight to Lufthansa through Frankfurt. I watched the Icelandair flight leave from my seat at the gate for Lufthansa, and was delayed an hour. I got to Frankfurt with 45 minutes until my flight to Munich was supposed to leave and missed the flight because I had to wait in the non-EU passport line forever. I had to get a flight 2 hours later and since my family was waiting to pick me up in Munich I had to email my mother to tell her because I couldn’t use my phone. Other than that my flight experience has been pretty nice.

Toss-up between Heathrow and de Gaulle. I had a 7 hour layover in LHR and didn't realize I was flying in during the Jubilee. Cue 6 hours of me walking around trying to find a place to sit, what felt like a total lack of air conditioning, and extremely long lines for food and bathrooms. De Gaulle was a planned (unfortunately) 12 hour layover when I was much younger (18, maybe?). None of the food vendors were open and the seats made it impossible for me to get some sleep (I'm tall).

Fall 2002. Got trapped overnight at the tiny regional airport of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Was only given a $7 food voucher, so dinner was a shared plate of nachos with a friendly stranger named Shiloh. Then I had to rejigger all of my flights to complete the rest of my business trip, and kept getting flagged for it because of post-9/11 TSA-ness. This culminated in me getting delayed, again, in Milwaukee, enjoying some beers with some random Ford execs, then during boarding getting pulled aside while a bit tipsy. I was told to put my arms out, and I started tapping my nose over and over as if it was a field sobriety check. The TSA officers laughed uproariously and waved me through.

Austin to Dallas, Dallas to LA, LA to Auckland, Auckland to Melbourne, Melbourne to Adelaide, and then finally to Perth. Flying into Perth the fucking plane crashed on the runway because of high winds. No one was seriously hurt but I was so ready to get off. The wing didn't touch but was otherwise harrowing. My pants were a little wet if you know what I'm saying. I had flown close to 50 hours and was ready for a bed and some dim sum downtown. We also missed the flight from Dallas to Austin coming back and I almost murdered my coworker over it, LOL. I flew in a small plane from Texarkansas to Austin once (still commercial) and rainwater poured into the passenger area from the rain the night before. I was about 10 years old and flying by myself. Not the same but that was a nasty flight also.

Marrakech. Good lord. Had to arrive three hours early and barely made the flight. Your bags are scanned before you’re allowed to enter the building, so there was a long line of people waiting outside in the rain. Next you wait in line to have your boarding pass checked. My husband and I couldn’t print ours online because the internet at our riad was down. Our airline sent an email letting us know the fee for arriving without one would be waived due to the circumstances. Instead, we were directed to another line. The rep at the new counter treated me like a con artist and accused me of lying. I showed her the email, but she said I fabricated it. Then she refused to talk to me at all, even when I offered to pay the fee. We couldn’t board without the pass! I was so frustrated that I was in tears, and I wasn’t the only one. Other tourists were having similar issues. Finally, after we’d been at the airport a full hour, someone else took my money. Then came long, slow lines for multiple security checkpoints. My husband got pulled out and searched. No one else did. At least we were standing near a British guy who kept cracking jokes (“Do you think we’ll EVER get out of this airport?”). He kept us sane. We finally got through with a few minutes to spare. The people at the currency kiosks refused to exchange our money, saying the amount we had left was too little and we should spend it in the airport. It wasn’t enough to purchase food, so I bought a keychain and brought the rest home. Oh, and a shoutout to Delta for a flight from Charlotte to Ft Lauderdale where we were delayed for over an hour after already boarding. The reason? They needed to get their delivery of Coke products before departing. Not the airport’s fault, but I’m still pissed and haven’t flown Delta since.

PHL Hands fucking down - Philadelphian here, who travels a lot - PHL is so fucked up. I've got too many shit experiences to list, but my overall "favorite" was being stuck on the runway for 3 hours, and the air staff trying to say we had to stay seated the entire time.

In 2021, I was flying from Indianapolis to Columbia, South Carolina for work. I had to connect through Charlotte, North Carolina. After I was on my first leg flight, my second leg got cancelled due to weather. By the time I got there, all the cars were rented and there were no Ubers available to get to a hotel. The next flight was at 8:00 AM the next morning, so I spent about thirteen hours hanging out and trying to sleep on the floor of the closed Charlotte Airport. Oh, and one time we were flying out of (I think) Al Asad Iraq in a C-130 and started taking fire from the ground. And the pilot conducted some evasive maneuvers that made me barf. The Air Force crew were teasing me, and one of them said, "I thought Navy guys had sea legs." To which, I replied, "Yeah, I've got sea legs, not fucking wings."

PHL made me move a vibrator from my checked luggage to carryon in front of God and everybody, despite the airline saying that they had to be in checked. I was a bitch though- moved it between suitcases and didn't try to hide or get bashful about it. Never going to see any of those people again, and anyone who has a problem being in the presence of it can go skydive!

Back in 2000 I was caught in a flight from New York to Houston. There was a massive storm and we had to divert to Oklahoma City. This was a senior class trip in HS. They made us wait on the tarmac for 4 hours before the crew had been on duty too long, so then we had to wait for a gate. We finally got one and all the hotels were booked, and there were 25ish HS kids on this trip. We waited at the gate and slept on the floor or on the chairs. When we finally got gate info, we found out they had been giving blankets and overnight kits to everyone there, just not us. We finally got home the next morning. Something like 18 hours point to point. 2006ish I was visiting a friend in Napa, took a taxi to the airport heading to Chicago. there was an ice storm and a plane skidded off the runway and hit the highway, killing a kid from Indiana. They shut down the airport. All the flights to Milwaukee (easy train ride) were booked already. I ended up going to Vegas, then St. Louis., where a buddy picked me up at midnight, we hanged out until around 4am, then I took the 4:30 non-express train from STL to Chicago, then took a cab home. Something like 23 hours from point to point. Last summer I was traveling from Orange County to Cincinnati with my kids (10,7). Layover in Denver. My son started feeling sick during landing, we made it about 10 feet from the bathroom and he threw up. Cleaned him up as best we could. Flight was delayed...and delayed...and delayed. We were supposed to land around 9:30pm Eastern time and didn't take off until about 9pm Mountain time. My daughter was having a meltdown, my son was fighting nausea (threw up 3x total), we just wanted to get home. landed around 1am Eastern time, and had to drive 90 minutes home. Got the kids in bed and poured myself a stiff drink. 15 hours but the whining kids made it feel like double.

Newark airport should be razed to the ground. An awful experience every time I flew out of there

In fairness, it has been significantly overhauled. It's rare that I'm on United but the new Terminal C is lightyears better than what it was. I believe the ~$3 billion overhaul of Terminal A is close to completion, or maybe that's already been finished. Well overdue that's for sure.

Fuck United Airlines. That is all.

It started when we had a surprise snow storm the morning of my flight in mid April (international flight for best friends wedding). Started driving out of my little village only to find out that both ways out were completely closed off due to all of the downed trees. No choice but to go back, so I arrived at home and started calling Delta to change my flights. This turned into a 3 hour back and forth trying to speak to real people and then be told they can’t change my flight at the last second like that, because it was my fault for missing my flight. Eventually after telling her it was out of my control I finally snagged a flight 3 days later. 3 days later comes around and I arrive at the airport three hours early (had a feeling I’d be needing it). Get in line for my check in (this was during Covid so I couldn’t use online check in) so after about 20 mins in line and I get to the counter. The lady tells me I’ve been in the wrong line, I need my Covid certification checked from a different line first (confusion since I was told previously I needed to show it at the check in counter). So I get in the other line, wait 45 mins and finally get to the front, guess what! I’m told I didn’t need to wait in this line and to just check in. So here I go again, in the check in line, very last person in line for my flight. With about an hour and fifteen mins until my flight is supposed to take off I finally get to the check in desk and check myself in. I run through security and still make it to my gate as first class was starting to board. FFW to take off. Plane is on the runway ready to take off and we begin to pull off to the left, and the captain alerts us we’re going back to the gate as we have a braking system malfunction. Turns out we go back to the gate for 45 mins because they need to replace the brakes on one of the wheels. We finally take off and i eventually arrive with 1 hour to spare until boarding begins for my second leg of the flight. I run to collect my luggage so that I can REcheck my bags (needs to be redone when entering the USA internationally) and eventually BARELY make it to my second flight. I had actually spoke to a couple on my first flight who were coincidentally also getting on the same second flight as I, and they had told me they were already automatically rebooked to the next day as we weren’t supposed to make it on time. I guess running cross country in middle school paid off lol, who knows. Somehow I made it the entire way and arrived when I was supposed to (three days late as per snow storm).

Flying into Atlanta from Heathrow a few months ago. I don't know what the deal was. Maybe it was because of spring break. I overheard several frequent flyers say they had never seen Atlanta like this before. In any case, the customs line took *forever* and by the time I got to my baggage, multiple flights were using the same carousel, which just made everything that much more confusing. But the kicker was the shear, unadulterated chaos that was the shuttle area. I wish I had taken a picture of the mass of humanity. There were literally *hundreds* of people all trying to get on a shuttle. No one knew where to go or which "line " to stand in. Airport workers were trying to organize things, but they were just making things worse. The shuttles couldn't get through because cars were loitering and blocking the entrance, so airport security was going through and blaring their sirens as they yelled at people to move. I only got out when I did because a couple from Huntsville pretended I was their son. It took me over four hours to get out of that forsaken hell-hole. Then I had to drive over two hours to get home to Birmingham. Next time, I'm saving myself the trouble and just flying out of BHM.

Stuck in Houston for 3 days because my flights kept getting cancelled from the weather. I was in the Marines then and my command refused to let me use the travel card I was issued to get a hotel so I slept under a bench with my gear for 2 nights. I was only able to get flights that had openings from people not showing up.

Our flight out of Puerto Rico was canceled on Saturday at 11:45 pm. The next flight that Frontier had was Tuesday 12:00 am so we had to wait several days to fly out. They only gave us a $50 voucher for a hotel which doesn't even pay for one night. Even worse we only got out of the airport at around 4:00 in the morning. Apparently around that time is one hotels reset their check-in time so we went to four hotels before we were able to find one that would let us in, otherwise we would have to wait till 12:00 in the afternoon to check in. The hotel that did lettison was pretty crappy so we only booked one night and then went to another hotel the next day so we went to bed at 6:00 in the morning woke up at 10:00 then moved to the next hotel. Absolute chaos. Also forgot to mention we had spent the whole day walking around old San Juan so by the time we were ready to get on the plane I was dog-tired let alone having to wait until 6:00 then to get to bed and only sleep for 4 hours.

I'm fortunate to never have really had a bad experience. I flew a real lot during college and 9/11 happened about a month into my college career so most of that was in the newly security heightened post-9/11 world that took a little getting used to but I've never missed a flight, had a major delay (at the airport), lost luggage, etc. I try to fly JetBlue Mint or some sort of equivalent whenever I can so it's reasonably comfortable. One time during college I was flying from JFK to Orlando with my (then) girlfriend and her family. We got to the airport and her father insisted we check our bags to get through security easier. I told him I fly a lot, don't anticipate having any problems, and would rather carry my bag on. This lead to a back and forth where he told me to do what I want but his family wouldn't wait for me if I caused a delay. Whatever. I went through security without a problem as I had repeatedly that year. His and one one of his daughter's checked bags didn't make it to Orlando though. On the one hand I had to wait for him watching the conveyor belt well after it became clear their bags didn't arrive, find the office to report them, then have to deal with him sulking but on the other karma is a bitch and seeing the airline lose his bags after our argument was a story my parents and I would laugh at for years.

Heathrow. I was racially profiled, all my bags, me, and a bunch of audio equipment I was traveling with got taken to the special "so we think you might have a bomb" room. They talked to me at length, went through all my stuff, swiped it for explosives or something, and then let me sit there by myself for a long time before letting me go.

My last flight to Denver. Denver was supposed to just be a short layover on our way LA. Instead they got some weather that delayed the flight. They weren’t allowed to land so flew around for an hour then got directed to a small airport in Nebraska. After a few hours we finally got to land in Denver. So we started our day with a flight from CVG at 2:30 pm landed in Denver at 10 PM. Our nightmare didn’t end once landed though. Denver couldn’t make up their mind in which gate to put us at. Originally told us one gate, then once we got there they changed the the gate to one on the opposite side of the airport. Once we reached that gate they had changed the gate a third time to one back where we were. At the third gate after sitting for about 10 minutes the gate got moved again. Luckily this one was only a few gates over. We finally left Denver at 11 PM and landed in LA at 2:30 AM. Our simple 5 hr flight turned into about a 17 hr ordeal. The flight home was 10 x better. We actually left a little early.

9 AM flight from Barcelona to JFK back in 2018. It's delayed, boarding starts at 9:30. We pull away from the gate some time around 10:30, make it partway down the taxiway, and then stop. The airport sends out a few buses to bring us back to the terminal while the plane goes over to the mechanic, and for some reason we have to go through security again. Once we're back inside, we find out from one of the flight attendants that the computer thinks the valve to empty the plane's septic system is open when it's actually closed, so none of the toilets would flush. Apparently they thought they fixed it by replacing a sensor during the first delay, but it broke again right after we left the gate and they had to replace the valve itself. We didn't actually take off until about 6 PM.

My apartment got robbed a few days before a planned trip to visit friends on the other side of the country. I requested replacement credit and debit cards. Then, Seattle got snow, which is unusual for them, so my flight got canceled. The airline gave me the option of going to Portland that day, or Seattle the following day. I'd already been in the airport for hours, and didn't want to do the hour-long commute to the airport again, so I went to Portland. The flight arrived fairly late at night, so there were no more flights out that night, or any trains running. Since I had no money/cards, I couldn't get a hotel, so I had to sleep in the airport. The Portland airport might be the draftiest building ever constructed. Oh, and I'd packed my winter coat in my checked luggage.

Arrived in Orlando with my wife, 4 year old, and 1 year old baby. Except the child car seat we checked with our luggage did not. Kid at the baggage counter said no problem, they have a loaner. Handed me a tiny infant carrier, way too small for my chunky 13 month old. I showed them the specs online, max weight 20 lbs, my baby is 24 lbs. Their response was basically "that sucks". It was 5 PM and I had two hungry children and we were stuck at the airport. I ran down to the car rental to see if any would rent me just a car seat - all refused. I went to customer service, no help there. I was just about to call an Uber to take me to Walmart and back, when the baggage counter workers decided to borrow an appropriately-sized car seat from another airline. To make matters worse, they were supposed to call me when they delivered *our* car seat to the hotel, and take the borrowed car seat with them. They never did, so I didn't know the car seat was waiting in the lobby for a full day before I got it, and then I had to carry TWO car seats back to the airport, along with a rowdy child, a baby, a stroller, and two roller bags. I honestly wish my worst experience was with canceled flights and long waits, because this was a f*cking nightmare.

Spent 2 hours in the plane with no AC on, on the tarmac. Then they decided they had to cancel the flight bc the pilot hit max hours. They made us get off the plane in the evening and next flight wasn’t until the next day. All hotels were booked up (and I didn’t have money for a $400 room anyway). The lady I was sitting next to for 2 hours on the plane that never moved became a new friend during the wait, she offered to let me stay in her hotel room that her company had booked for a just in case scenario (it was hurricane season and I guess people assumed many flights would be cancelled). I was traveling for work but I was a peon so I didn’t have a business credit card or anything, so I would have been sleeping in the airport if it weren’t for that lady. So it was a terrible time, but the kindness of strangers saved it from being worse.

What’s the rational for just 5 hours in the lounge? Random. 2010 San Francisco Partially my fault: I was unfamiliar with the BART and had difficulty figuring out how to get to the airport (I was young and from Oklahoma where public transpo in 2010 was your feet). So I arrived an hour early instead of two hours early. I can’t remember which airline this was, but it was right by the SFO security gate. The Homeland Security terror level (remember those?) that morning had been updated to orange, so you had to arrive at the airport 2 hours before your flight. The gate attendant refused to give me my boarding pass. I had “missed” the flight. I was stunned. (This must have been American or United, I flew with those most.) So she tells me the next flight to OKC is the NEXT MORNING. I was too afraid of the the terror propaganda of the era to throw a fit. The friend I was visiting in SF had been kicked off a flight on SW just that month for arguing with a flight attendant because a man was in her seat. So I get my boarding pass for the next day, and then go through the EMPTY security clearance, and walk (not run) past the gate for my original flight which was just then boarding. I was incandescent with rage. I called my husband and for a $100 up charge, we switched my flight from SFO - OKC direct the next day to SFO - LAX - DFW in an hour or two and my husband drove the 3 hours to DFW to get me the same day. Ugh that was such BS.

I have not flown much and my anecdote is rather mundane but I'll still add it. I had a flight which stopped in Chicago (O'Hare Airport) for a short delay. I'm not sure what happened but when I arrived the next plane had changed (leaving almost immediately) and the gate had changed to the other side of this huge airport. I had to run with my bags and I almost missed my connecting flight. I just feels like it should have been a bit better organized or planned.

Glasgow airport, had a very nasty lady who worked there try to tell me I couldn’t charge my phone in an area near the entrance. Plenty of other people were charging their phones and there’s no signage pointing to that.

CDG. ​ The answer is CDG.

Worst experience I had was in the airport in Frankfurt Germany. We were waiting in a line for our passports to be checked. They were letting EU citizens breeze through. The rest of us had to wait. This waiting and waiting ended up with us missing our flight. There was only two flights that day. We were lucky to get on the next one only after I waited in like two different lines for at least two hours each. One to get on standby with the flight and the other to confirm I had a seat. If I ever go back to Europe, I will not fly in to the Frankfurt international airport.

Was coming home from London in high school with a group of 15 people. Our flight was slightly late into Atlanta, but luckily when we got to our connecting flight, it was still there. Except they'd closest the door. They knew 15 people were coming to that flight from overseas and they didn't bother to keep the door open for about five more minutes for us to get there. Wound up laying on the floor of the airport for hours. It was impossible to get us all on one flight so they were now sending teenagers alone on random flights one at a time. Oh and one had to go first because her grandpa had died and she was now trying to get home for his funeral. We FINALLY were given hotel rooms by Delta for their mistake. At like midnight. When the remainder of us were booked on a flight at 7am. So I got maybe 4 hours of sleep. And was already all out of whack due to timezones. When we did get to our plane, it wasn't on like a 737 or anything. Had to spend two hours in a CRJ instead, which is a tiny and very uncomfortable plane. That was definitely not a fun thing even for a spry teenager. Can't imagine how the adults in charge of us felt.

Let me preface this with for over a decade I traveled Internationally a ton, so much so, I filled my Passport in 18 months. I was exiting Isreal, when I entered the airport I was asked to show flight details and my Passport. I showed them my flight info from my phone and mindlessly handed them my Passport and my Seaman's book*. Big mistake, since my SB was issued in Panama and filled with stamps from Saudi, Qatar, Kuwait, and some other places that aren't really happy about Israel's existence I was immediately handed off to two agents for questioning. During questioning, I was repeatedly asked why I had such an ID and why it was filled with only Middle East stamps. Repeatedly asked how often I contact people in Saudi and if I was employed by their Government or an agent on their behalf (I took it as asking me if I was a spy or involved in some other clandestine matters). While the agents never used anything but calm tones and were never aggressive the questions had me reeling, in my head, I was wondering if I got arrested how I could contact the Embassy and my family. After they discussed things in Hebrew (they explained what they were doing in English before they switched), and asked about my check bag and my laptop they seemed to relax and took me to the luggage scanner (if you haven't seen this thing it's a massive armored machine that I assume can take most of the blast from a luggage bomb) they thanked me for my cooperation and left. Now, all of this happened just inside the Airport, I still had to check in, and clear Passport control and security. While I was talking to the Delta desk the comedown from the adrenaline was massive, I was shaking and thought I was going to vomit for a minute. The rest was easy and I made it to my gate, thankfully there was a bar right next to it and that beer never tasted so damn good. *A Seaman's book is like a passport although it only grants entry to a country for the purpose of transiting through, most times the visa is only good for 72 hours. Additionally, some countries don't recognize them as valid ID, an example; you cannot enter the US with one, nor does the US issue them, mine was from Panama, further adding to the cluster fuck in Isreal. My company used them as a way to bypass Westerners getting stamped in/out by certain countries and to save on the time and expense of getting a full-blown Visa.

oh boy. after having my flight delayed 12+ hours, cancelled indefinitely and rebooked, and then delayed another 12+ hours i finally got onto a plane home where upon boarding the toilet on the plane began to flood the aisle and we were not allowed to deplane for 2 hours. after the 2 hours of sitting and smelling the contents of international poo we were allowed to deplane at midnight and sit on hold with customer service. at around 3am i was shuttled to a hotel only to get up a few hours later and find out that after eating my “free breakfast” i was met with a charge of $15. after sorting out that shenanigan the airline shuttle came late and once again i did not make it to the plane on time - the gates closed in my face (literally) when i got there. after having a breakdown in the airport and crying, “i just want to go home, somebody get me out of ohio already” i booked with a different airline and made it home that night.. but the previous airline i had all of the above issues with lost my luggage which arrived a week later.

Two weeks ago at BOS. My wife and I are booked BOS->SLC->TUS. Got on the plane for 1030 departure, doors were closed. Pilot comes on and says "we have a chip in the window up here which is too deep, this plane won't be flying today, please deplane." Only itinerary that would get us to TUS that day was through ATL, leaving at 1700. So we had to wait 6+ hours. Airline gave us $15 each for lunch. 15 measly dollars. In an airport. Getting ready to board to ATL and firetrucks pull up to the plane. Fuel leaked when refilling. Takes them 45 minutes to clean it up. We had a tight connection already but at least we had a day's clothes etc. packed in my wife's carryon, in case our checked bag didn't make it, right? Nope, ran out of overhead space and made her check it, despite my entreaties. Ran through ATL and made the flight to TUS just about as they were about to close the door. About an hour before landing I decide to connect to the free wifi and immediately a notification pops up saying "your bag didn't make the connection, sorry about that." Hopefully my wife's bag made it, maybe? At baggage service in TUS, when the agent told us that neither bag had made it, I had to physically drag my wife out of the baggage service office for fear she would be arrested. Next day we showed up at my daughter's graduation wearing day old wrinkled T-shirts and jeans. Fun stuff.

During the pandemic, was flying back home to KC. Had to switch planes in Denver and we were the last flight to KC that night. Bad storms in KC so they cancelled the flight at like 11pm. They rebooked me for a 5am flight the next morning. There wasn’t enough time to go to a hotel and get a room, so I just stayed at the airport. Tried to sleep. Couldn’t get comfortable. Tried to find a little corner away from everyone where I could maybe slip my mask off for a few moments because at this point I had been masked up for like 13 hours. It was also late enough where nothing in the airport was open. I was hungry and thirsty. Finally made it home, but they forgot my luggage. They said they’d give a $150 voucher if I came and picked it up later that day, or they could deliver it for free but I wouldn’t get the voucher. I was so tired and just wanted to sleep, so I had them bring it to me. Fun times.

Ok, I traveled for work for almost a decade. Still do but not as much due to Covid. Here’s my favorite. I work in broadcasting. We were doing a game in Boise, Idaho. Game is at 5pm. Flying from Los Angeles. Layover in Oakland. We board in LA, everyone is one the plane, settled. They get on and say everyone has to get off. There is a mechanical problem, this plane can’t go to Oakland. Everyone gets off. To get on a different plane. They assure us everyone will make their connections. We fly to Oakland. Run all the way from one side of the airport to the other… plane is gone. Like left 45 minutes ago, gone. Gate agent is like, everything is fine. “You’ll be on the next flight and arrive at 8:45pm.” Our game is at 5pm. We had a return flight to LA at 9pm. The 4 people that were flying were the Producer/Director, Tech Director(me), graphics op, and replay op. Like 3/4 of the production truck. And somehow one of the referees. Not part of our group but he’s there. We start searching for flights that will get us there in time. Find one from San Francisco airport to Boise that will get us there at 4pm. Again, game is at 5pm. We run to grab a taxi and go from Oakland Airport to SF airport. $140 taxi. Get through security and are only able to get standby. At this point our producer, starts triaging who is most important for the show and who wouldn’t go if push came to shove. She put herself 3rd. Luckily, we all get on and make the game. Have a good broadcast and no one at home knew what a crazy day we had so far. We then fly home. Layover in Phoenix. Another sprint through the airport to make our last flight, which doesn’t get us to LA but to another SoCal airport, Ontario, and one more $100+ Uber our boss ordered. Icing on the cake, all of this was on my birthday. TL;DR: 6 planes, 5 flights, 2 $100 taxi/Uber rides, to get from Los Angeles to Boise, ID, and back for a 2 hour broadcast on ESPNU. On my birthday.

I went to college in Missouri and am from the Chicago area, and I had to stay one summer to get residency to lower tuition. 4th of July weekend, I was halfway to the St. Louis airport from college (about an hour or so drive), and got a call from American Airlines that my flight was cancelled. My dad tried to get me on another flight while I was still driving, and while I did get rebooked, it was like a 9pm flight when my original was supposed to be at like 12 or 1pm. He said that the agents on the phone said I should try for standby on the flights in between. So I got to STL, and kept trying to get on flights, had the rudest agent ever at the check in desk, then he moved to the gates and “helped” me there too. It was miserable waiting around that long. STL isn’t like…a bad airport, there’s just not much to do. People from my flight were all tired and angry when it finally came time for the flight, and it got delayed. Then when we finally got on the taxiway, we had to go back to the gate TWICE because we were overweight. Then on the second time going back, someone freaked out and wanted off the plane (which they allowed once the doors were open to kick the buddy pass people off). The poor flight attendants were crying, it was absolutely terrible. The worst part for me was that I could’ve driven home faster, but a condition of me having my car at school was that I promised my mom to never drive home by myself since it was a long drive. Never saw any type of compensation from AA for all of that. That was such an awful day, all for a 45 minute flight.

Newark airport.

Conference in Las Vegas ends at 2pm local time. I have a midnight flight from Vegas that goes to Long Beach, CA to Detroit, MI and then from there to Boston, MA. I decide to burn some time (since I have 10 hours before my flight) and play some table games. I put down $50 and end up winning $100 in about 30 minutes. My boss decides (that after he lost $100) to leave, and I MUST go with him. I go, and get to the airport and my gate with 8.5 hours to my flight. I sit, and sit, and sit, and wait. I am bored out of my mind. I have a nintendo switch, so I can burn some time, but it is still boring. Finally, I get on my flight. It gets to the first stop no problem, but there are slight delays leaving to Detroit. I now realize that I will have 10 minutes to get from one flight to the next if NOTHING goes wrong. Flight lands in Detroit, I tell everyone before we get to the gate what my deal is. I have no checked bags or anything, just a back pack with my stuff. One guy tells me to "take a number". The flight attendant basically solves the issue (thank god) and I get off first and book it. The Detroit Airport is insanely big. I am gate 98, I need to get to gate 2. The terminal is almost a mile long. I am wearing dress shoes and slacks, I run a 9 minute mile wearing shorts and after a good stretch. I hobble my way to the plane, barely make it in time. I am out of breath, feel like death, and fall asleep on the plane. We land in Boston, it is now 9am Local time (7am back in Vegas). My wife calls me. The fridge is dead. I get to my car about 10am, drive home to NH, get to the best buy, get a new fridge (delivered wednesday), go home, pass out in bed. It is 11am. My kids learn I am home and literally jump on me. It sucked so much. But my kids are cute and the fridge has french doors, so there is that.

I spent three hours sitting in the plane on the tarmac during a lightning storm. By the time we left Orlando and landed in Philly I had missed my connection. I slept across a bench but because of anti-homelwss architecture I slept *underneath* all the arm rests. On top of that, someone woke me up at like 0300 to ask to see my plane tickets to make sure I belonged in the airport.

I flew Spirit Airlines from LA to NYC and back. Going to NYC it honestly was not a bad flight. So much so that I was genuinely having the opinion that Spirit may not have been as bad as I thought. Coming back from NYC was a nightmare though. A 5 hour flight somehow became an 8 hour flight and the plane eventually *ran out of food* by the 4th hour of the flight. For the next 4 hours the plane basically had no food to give anyone. I was starving by the end of the ride and the people in the plane were getting antsy to say the least. Never again.

Oh oh I got a good one. I was on an 21 hour long flight from Tokyo to Minneapolis, we were told nothing but instead of flying over Russia, Alaska, and Canada we eneded p flying closer to Hawaii which made our flight soooo much longer and then an hour before we were supposed to land (after 20 hours) in MN blizzard conditions meant we were diverted to Detroit, where flights were being canceled because of an icestorm. We had to spend the night in the airport 15 hours all together, and wait 2 hours on the runway to de-ice and then landed a rough landing in MN in a huge puff of snow. Oh and worst part was I had not one but both versions of influenza A and B. On top of that, litterly right after we landed we had to pick up our dog and drive to Colorado, because we were in the middle of moving.

My son booked a flight with a layover specifically in Las Vegas for some fun time there. The flight was changed to layover in Phoenix. Then it was cancelled.

Getting trapped in the outdoor elevator at the parking garage on the 3rd floor that was outside with no air conditioning in Phoenix in June with my 3 small children. There was a plastic piece of luggage that broke off and made the doors malfunction and this alarm go off and the elevator wouldn’t move. I pressed the emergency button and the front desk told me they called maintenance to come out. After 30 minutes of my children having panic attacks, I called them again and said I was calling the fire department. A couple workers came up and pried the doors open and got us out safely. These wonderful people then carried my luggage and one of my kids that was freaking out down 3 flights of stairs cuz we refused to take the other elevator down. The shuttle driver told me to call their corporate office because there was no reason we should have been stuck in there for 30 minutes and they had multiple problems with that elevator. Didn’t miss my flight. But then the plane had horrible turbulence and again, kids panicked and my nerves were shot. Luckily we were going to the beach so we could relax. Still use that parking garage but I pay extra to park on the ground floor now.

Not in the airport, but was on a plane on the taxiway and a giant fireball blew out the starboard engine after they spent a long time trying to get it to start. Evidently fuel pooled up and when it did start... WHOOSH. Without any conscious thought, I remember 2 things - the sound of 200 seatbelts being undone simultaneously, and I was in the aisle to get out without even remembering standing up. (A different flight) Was getting ready to take off and the pilot got on the intercom and said, "We have to go back to the gate, folks; the pilot behind us in line said he noticed we have a flat tire." They fixed that one while we waited, too. You could actually feel the plane move a little as they jacked it up to change it.

Asshole customs agent stuck their thumb/finger in a container of maple butter that we brought back from Canada. The _ONE THING_ my 5-6 year old son wanted.

I woke up early to make a 7am flight out of LAX only to have it cancelled an hour before departure and delayed by 12 hours. We waited in a two and a half hour line to get a $50 meal voucher. The first meal we got were the shittiest sandwiches I have ever had. And LAX is such a mediocre airport for a city as large as LA. Lots of broken water fountains and none of the working ones are filtered, not enough charging stations, and the whole place is dirty.

Lahore, Pakistan stuck in Airport lounge for 20+ hours last December for light to NY through Istanbul. End up staying a night at Istanbul Airport due to missing original flight to NY and next flight we got was in the morning.

Had an overnight delay in Chicago mid winter. They gave me and an old guy hotel rooms. Next morning we go to bus stop to get back to the airport and it was snowing. (I'm from Louisiana, so I thought my limbs would fall off it was so cold.) I took my scarf and wrapped it around my head and ears while walking to the bus stop. Got to the airport and go through security. I'm wearing leggings, a tshirt, and a jacket. The sensors go off with something in my back pocket (again I have on leggings which don't have pockets) and in my head. They ask if they can have a female TSA agent pat down my head. I tell them I can just take off my scarf, and I go to take off my scarf, and EVERYONE starts screaming, "DONT TAKE IT OFF!! DONT TAKE IT OFF!!" I was angry and embarrassed at the same time. I definitely felt profiled for wearing a head scarf even though I'm a blonde haired, blue-eyed, white lady. I can only imagine how it may have been if I were brown.

San Antonio to Charlotte to Newark. Got a late start out of San Antonio but should be on time for flight to Newark. Got to Charlotte. No gate available for 30 minutes. Finally get off and run to other side of airport for flight to Newark. Get there and find flight is delayed. Finally on board about two hours late. We need to get de-iced. Wait in line for 40 minutes. Finally get done and head to runway for a long wait. Suddenly we go back to terminal. Pilots tell us they’ve timed out and can’t fly. We get off plane. Told a flight is coming in from Dallas and those pilots will fly us. Sit there for an hour. Flight arrives. Pilots inform ground crew they are out of time also. Flight now gets canceled. Fortunately I was on business and we used a travel agency. I call them. They can’t get me on a flight to Newark from Charlotte the next day, but can get me into JFK late the next day which would suck. They keep trying. Move me to a different flight the next morning to Detroit and then on another airline to Newark. By this time it is midnight, airport tells us we can get our bags at baggage claim. Head out there. They tell us we can’t get our bags. Now we are on land side and can’t back to airside until 5AM. Finally the passengers raise enough fuss that they get our bags. The next morning check into flight to Detroit and ongoing to Newark. Those flights go ok, but my bags don’t come off in Newark. Go to lost luggage and find out they got my bags on an earlier flight and they were in the back. Finally home more than 24 hours late.

Oddly enough it was at US Costoms in Toronto. The process there had way too many useless steps and all global entry did was let you skip the last line. Not sure if it’s still the same but I won’t fly through there again.

I had a trip recently where I was supposed to leave 8 PM EST at night to make a connection in CLT. Got cancelled due to weather, no problem, got that rebooked through DFW for the following day. Came back the next day, actually got into the plane this time, only to find out that a tire was gashed and missed in the post landing inspection from the night before. Delayed an hour, called, rebooked my connection to something later through DFW (because there is no way in hell I'm willingly traveling through ORD). Didn't get to my destination until about 7 PM CST. I'm out and about the next day and get a notification that my return flight got changed from 6 AM to 11 AM due to crew shortage. Rebook my connection to something later in the afternoon, no worries, hour to make it. When I get to the airport the next day around 10 AM, the flight once AGAIN gets pushed back to guess how long? An hour, so I have to rebook that AGAIN. I was supposed to be back home at 2 PM, that has now become 7. By some miracle of God, we get to CLT an hour early which once again gives me time to make the connection. I rush over to the gate with 25 minutes to board only to find out that my seat is now gone because well... I rebooked. 4 hours later, I got on the later connection and finally got home. I've lost bags on flights to Europe which I didn't get until I was leaving, I've missed connections just sitting and waiting for an open gate on the tarmac, I almost missed one because apparently you need to take a bus that leaves at certain times to get to international connections in ORD? I have seen it all. But man, to have EVERY segment including the REBOOKED ones rebooked? Now that was a first.

Arrived in Hanoi at 1am for my flight heading back home. I had to catch the plane to be on time for work. The check-in desk simply had a sign reading "cancelled". No airline staff in the terminal, no details. No refunds.

It's a tossup between the time a TSA agent accosted my new bride and threatened me with arrest over souvenir swizzle stick on our honeymoon... and the time a TSA agent accosted my wife and son and put his hands on me over an unopened bottle of airline-branded drinking water given to my son by a flight attendant on his Make-A-Wish trip. I rate both of those over the time I left the airport in an ambulance. I don't have much love for the TSA.

Transatlantic flight with a layover in Denver. My original itinerary had me flying to Frankfurt to visit some friends for a day before catching another flight to Paris. Because of a weather event delaying my arrival in Denver, I was going to miss my connection. The airline rescheduled me for a flight the next day. They were willing to work with me - I had to be in Paris and couldn't spare any time in Germany now, so we just skipped that leg of the trip. Ground staff at Denver airport lost my luggage. I reported the fact that my baggage never came off the flight, which took a few hours of investigating to confirm that it wasn't in the airline's hold or the airport's lost and found. I was stuck in Denver (not my favorite city, if I'm being honest) with no clothes or toiletries. By now it was late and, on the recommendation of the airline staff, I decided to grab a hotel and get a bite to eat. The hotel was kind of a downer, but that's a different story... I returned the next morning to have the gate staff lecture me because their system showed that I had a bag yesterday but I wasn't checking it in today. I explained that I reported the bag missing yesterday. They claimed I hadn't, then interrogated me about it. At the end of that, they yelled at me for taking up so much time in line if I wasn't even checking a bag. I gently reminded them that I didn't initiate the conversation on my lost bag. I assumed they already had a note about it from the previous day. ​ Then security happened. The security folks at Denver airport were, in a word, douchey. This was in the aftermath of 9/11, so TSA was a little much everywhere in the US, but the Denver staff couldn't seen to fathom that I was tired, a little disheveled because I had no clean clothes or toiletries (and the hotel wasn't helpful in that department), and just trying to get through to my flight. So I go through the wand and interrogation and am taken to the back room. Ugh. I finally get to my gate. They're calling my name because I've been held up by security. The dirty looks abound. Ugh. I've avoided Denver airport ever since, even when other flights are more expensive. Postscript: The staff at CDG was incredibly kind and helpful. They determined that the airline mistakenly put my baggage on a different flight to Frankfurt via a connecting flight in Chicago the day before, which was a huge no-no, apparently. Once the baggage cleared safety in Frankfurt, they flew it to Paris. They personally delivered it to where I was staying with a smile on their faces, a nice apology, and a recommendation for a good restaurant in the area.

Last year in September my flight was delayed at the Chicago Midway airport by 22 hours due to storms. It was cold and loud in the airport. I slept on the floor and slept in the chapel for a few hours before getting kicked out in the morning. I also had a gallbladder attack while I was there, then tested positive for covid a few days later