Bad experiences with flights

[JodyLynC]

Please share any issues or bad experiences you have had regarding flights. Whether it is booking, checking in, onboarding/offboarding, the flight itself, or general service. What bad experiences can you share?

 

[tobikaye]

May I ask why? Many of us probably have had bad experiences of some type, but I am not going to just issue them out without knowing why.

 

[DebbieB]

I agree with tobikaye, what are you looking for? Specific airlines stories to give you info to avoid?

I used to travel frequently for work. I've had my share of flight delays, weather or mechanical, all different airlines.

 

[JodyLynC]

I think it is helpful to hear of other's experiences so we are aware of issues that can occur, and can maybe plan ahead on how to avoid such experiences. I personally don't like to be caught off guard. If I know that a specific action has the potential of occurring, I can better deal with the issue. I am sure there are others who feel the same and appreciate a "heads up."

 

[JodyLynC]

I saw a post earlier on this forum from someone who had their flight changed without their consent. Since I rarely fly, I found it to be good information. I am now aware that this could be an issue and can be on the lookout.

 

[charmed59]

Wander over to the flyer talk forums. You will get more than your fill of what can possibly go wrong on every single carrier. Warning, much of it is out of your control.

 

[Starshine]

Probably the worst experience we've ever had was when the woman in the row in front of us put a huge GLASS picture frame in the overhead bin. We heard the flight attendant telling her not to, but I'm not sure whether he gave in or she snuck it back up there. In any case, when DH opened the bin to get our suitcase out, sure enough it had broken and pieces fell everywhere. He got cut, but he didn't want to file a complaint with the airline because it was late and he just wanted to get home (we're 2 hours from the airport).

 

[Hopefully]

Personally, I don't care for negative threads. I don't find them helpful

Probably the worst experience we've ever had was when the woman in the row in front of us put a huge GLASS picture frame in the overhead bin. We heard the flight attendant telling her not to, but I'm not sure whether he gave in or she snuck it back up there. In any case, when DH opened the bin to get our suitcase out, sure enough it had broken and pieces fell everywhere. He got cut, but he didn't want to file a complaint with the airline because it was late and he just wanted to get home (we're 2 hours from the airport).

A one in a million occurrence. Unlikely to ever happen again.

 

[tobikaye]

I think it is helpful to hear of other's experiences so we are aware of issues that can occur, and can maybe plan ahead on how to avoid such experiences. I personally don't like to be caught off guard. If I know that a specific action has the potential of occurring, I can better deal with the issue. I am sure there are others who feel the same and appreciate a "heads up."

This helps because your original question was likely to get answers of things will rarely happen, such as the above with the broken glass. For me the biggest issues have been:

• Flight changes on return - They left a VMX on the answering machine at home so my cousin and I got to the airport and had to wait an additional 3 hours past our original flight.
  
• Canceled flight once at airport - Had to go back to the lobby to get everyone booked on other flights. Again, I was traveling with my cousin and we had family picking us up at a specific airport. (We lucked out and still got in just under an hour difference from original flight.)

Any other issues I had were not that big of a deal or where one-off issues.

 

[DebbieB]

One piece of advice I've learned. If you have a connecting flight and your first flight is running late, go to the counter and talk to the gate agent about backing you up on the next connection or possibly even rerouting you. If there's a long line, don't wait in it. Get out your phone and call reservations to see what they can do for you. One time I was connecting in the Philadelphia airport and my first flight was late, there were weather issues and it was a zoo. The agent at the gate I arrived at just told me my connection was cancelled, no help with getting another flight. He told me to go to Special Services. I went there and there were probably 50 people in line. I found a quiet spot (not easy), called reservations and they told me they had rebooked me on a different flight, gave me the gate number. I went to that gate, the agent gave me a boarding pass and I was set. Unfortunately, my luggage didn't make it, it was delivered to my home the next day.

 

[Starshine]

A one in a million occurrence. Unlikely to ever happen again.

True, but it did teach us a valuable lesson to pay attention and very carefully open the overhead bin. Not only might items "shift during flight" they might break too.

 

[Geoff_M]

I saw a post earlier on this forum from someone who had their flight changed without their consent. Since I rarely fly, I found it to be good information. I am now aware that this could be an issue and can be on the lookout.

Quite frankly, the possible answers to your questions represent a multitude of possibilities that can go one for pages and pages... In most cases there's little you can do to prepare for such problems in advance. For example, our biggest problem was an illegal sick-out that Delta pilots pulled on the airline when labor negotiations broke down.

Over the years, I've experienced:
- Missing luggage
- Lost reservation
- No record of payment for my ticket
- Lost seat assignments
- Weather delays
- Maintenance delays
- Crew delays
- No plane available
- Late flights
- Gate changes to the other end of the airport
- Schedule changes after I've purchased the tickets
- Delays due to an aborted take-off because something went "bump" in the cargo hold
- Having to wait on a taxi-way for a gate to open
- Damaged luggage
- Luggage mis-routed to the West Coast

And for the record I don't actually fly very often.

 

[bumbershoot]

Check your reservation often online. They might change "equipment" (the plane slated for your flight) which will mean shifts in seats. The earlier you catch it the better your chances of staying together. This also shows you changes in time. If the change is significant (an hour-ish or more) you can get that changed to different flights for no fee (at least on the major airlines).

If you book with a small airline like Spirit with limited flights per day to your location, watch like a hawk and have backup plans. If your flight is delayed or cancelled you might not get out until the next day or worse.

Watch for weather EVERYWHERE. The tornado warnings the other week in NYC caused 3000 delayed flights and 700 cancelled flights. DH and I weren't watching for weather, even though he was in NYC. We should have been watching the airPORT websites and airLINE websites. One of the airports in the area had warnings up something like 3 hours before he even got to the airport (and he got there early). If he had known he would ahve realized that his flight might have problems.

Don't rely on a TA to change it when weather happens. GEt into the physical line while calling the TA. That way if the TA can't help (and his corporate TA couldn't, and didn't even think to route him to a different state with a shorter drive to his destination, and they focused solely on Atlanta b/c he was going to Georgia) you're still in line. Once the TA call was done he could have called the airline while still standing in line, so that he's in two lines at the same time.

Always have snacks or budget for snacks available. Water, too. Make sure you have any medication you might need. NEVER put those into your checked luggage. If traveling internationally and you take odd medications, make sure they are allowed. DH was taking HCG for a few years to help mitigate the effects of a pituitary tumor; that's an odd one for men to take, and it's ONLY allowed in Australia (and Singapore) with a prescription. His bottles come in boxes with the Rx label on them, so that worked.

Put what you will need for a day or two into your carryon luggage, just in case.


If you're traveling for a cruise and there's no way to get you to the cruise if you miss that flight, KNOW THAT. Don't take the last flight out if there are no other flights that can get you there. If you're on a closed loop cruise and the islands the ship is going to cannot let you board there (Jones Act? PVSA? one of them is the right one to look at for passengers...the other is about freight, I believe), you might have to board very late in the cruise or you can't at all.


Just be watchful of everything. Don't rely on the airline to tell you anything; check check and check some more.

 

[KrazeeK120]

There are probably hundreds of things that could go wrong when traveling via any type of transportation. I've only flown 6 times in my entire life, and I'm fortunate to have never experienced a major issue. The worst that ever happened to me was a 1 hour delayed takeoff once due to a maintenance issue with the lavatory (of all things). I know I'm lucky and I'm thankful for it.

However, after hearing stories from others who have not been as fortunate (my poor Dad has the worst luck of anyone I've met), I've learned a few things. First, as bumbershoot mentioned, pack things you will need for a few days in your carryon. If you've checked in for a flight that ends up being significantly delayed or rescheduled, you will need to rely on the carry on. Always pack any meds in your carry on! I always pack, at minimum, a change of clothes and my toothbrush in my carry on.

The most important thing to pack when traveling is your patience. If you're driving, you may be caught in a traffic jam. When flying, you might encounter long lines to check in or to get through security. If you have the misfortune of your flight being canceled, you will need extra patience to get that sorted out. Difficult situations are best entered in a calm state of mind. You won't get very far by huffing and puffing and yelling at people.

I do agree that negative threads aren't fun...it may be more wise in the future to start a thread indicating you don't travel often and to ask for general flying tips (or if you have a specific question, include that).

 

[dis_guy]

The most important thing to pack when traveling is your patience.

Amen to this and also bring along some decent manners for those poor airline staff who have to deal with all of us when things don't go right. here's the story that goes along with my comment:

IAH (Houston) was socked in solid with fog. Nothing was getting in or out that morning, period. I was on a plane headed there but we were sitting on the ground 4.5 hours flying time away in Canada. As time ticked on we had multiple delays in addition to the fog. A route change because of storms along our original route, waited for approval. Then there was the fuel load needing adjustment. Finally we were cleared to head down to Houston but needed deicing first. We got out 2 hours late. The pilots did their darnedest to get us there as fast as they could and in fact we actually beat our estimated time of arrival by a healthy 25 minutes. So once stopped, connecting passengers were supposed to be let off first but this one "lady" literally shoved past me and my family and everyone else who was moving quickly but orderly off the plane. Apparently she needed to be off the plane first. We ran to our next gate but the plane was already gone, oh well, but too surprising, considering. Over to customer service and joined the very long line of passengers needing help. Fortunately there were several agents and the line moved quickly. The woman from the plane was in front of me on her phone swearing a blue streak about how lousy United was and how her trip was ruined. As we got closer to the counter she was still going on and on as a new station opened up and I was waved over ahead of the complainer. A very pleasant and fast woman had my boarding passes for the next flight to MCO leaving in just an hour with all 5 of us sitting together. Perfect! The complainer was at the counter still going off on that poor customer rep as I left for our new gate. Once settled into our resort we went over to the food court for dinner. I heard a familiar voice yelling across the food court. It was my "friend" from the plane, with phone still in hand arguing with some cast members about something that didn't meet her approval. We just had to laugh. I don't know how she finally made it to Orlando, but she sure wasn't on our flight from IAH. I wouldn't have blamed the agent, that had to deal with her, if she had routed that lady through Chicago. It pays to be reasonable.

 

[arlinar]

The only two bad experiences I had was at Boston Logan. I booked a flight to go home to Phoenix about 3 days prior on Delta. When I went to check in, it told me to go to the counter immediately. Upon getting to the counter, The ticket agent came over and I explained that while checking in, I was told to go to the counter.

From there, the rudest agent I have ever met in life started asking questions like "Why did you book this flight?" "We had other flights" "This flight is booked" "why did the system even allow you to book"

I kept answering "It was available on your webpage. I'm sorry"

The agent ended up calling her manager over. The manager looked at the flight and told the ticket agent to issue me a security pass and told me to talk to the gate agent when I got to the gate and apologized for the inconvenience and gave me a one day pass to use the airline lounges in Boston and Atlanta (where my connection was)

I did end up getting a seat to Atlanta and saw a group of 3 and overheard them acting frantic. I was watching as the group of 3 were almost in tears as they were flying to Atlanta and catching a flight overseas and only two of them had tickets while their other friend was begging for the gate agent to find a seat for them. The next flight to Atlanta wasn't for another two hours but they couldn't go to the other flight as their connection to their international flight would of taken of by then.

I offered to give up my seat and go on the next flight to Atlanta as I had an airline lounge pass and wouldn't mind waiting the extra two hours as I had no rush to go back to Phoenix. The gate agent rudely was telling me "Well no I'm not going to do that" to me when I offered. Eventually the group of three was able to get on the plane but it was just poor customer service on the gate agents and ticket agents part.

Like Previous Poster said, sometimes things are out of your control.

The other experience was also out of my control but almost resulted in me missing my flight by a minute.

 

[minnie mum]

Please share any issues or bad experiences you have had regarding flights. Whether it is booking, checking in, onboarding/offboarding, the flight itself, or general service. What bad experiences can you share?

Seriously?

How about the flight where the pilot notified us before landing that there was a problem with the landing gear. We circled the airport for nearly an hour, hearing the landing gear cycle up and down repeatedly. And then having to assume emergency landing positions on final approach. All ended well, it turned out to be a faulty light indicator in the cockpit, but we all thought we were going to crash.

Or the time we were on final approach into Vancouver when the plane made a very abrupt pull up and steep turn ( I was looking straight down at the ground through my window.) The pilot had just avoided a midair collision with a small light aircraft.

Do either of those things give you information that you will need on future trips? Thanks for helping to bring those memories back.

 

[monorailsilver]

I guess we have been pretty lucky.

I have had a few delays, one which gave me first class on the way back home and a voucher for another flight.

Kids crying. Yes I have kids and yes they eat Lollipops and gummy fruit at 7am if that's the time of our flight to keep them quiet. I can tolerate the crying, I know the ears hurt or they are tired and they do stop.

One kid was memorable though, we were on our honeymoon on our way home. Had a flight from Maui to Honolulu, this kid sat 2 rows behind us and screamed the entire 20 min flight or however long it was. My dh and I looked at each other and when we got off we must of had that same look because the parents were in line for our next flight to Atlanta and the mom said "I bet yo wish we weren't on the flight with you." I politely said, it's ok. Thankfully the kid passed out pretty much as soon as we were on the flight and didn't make another peep.

That same flight, the a/c was broken and the movie screen was broken...blah! Not fun for that long flight.

We have had some hazy screens on Jet Blue but nothing horrid.

I don't expect perfection. I know the flight won't leave on time and when it does I am thrilled, I don't expect it to arrive early and when does even better. I know when I have checked bags, they will be the last bags out. I know weather can cause delays too.

 

[AquamarineSteph]

I think it is helpful to hear of other's experiences so we are aware of issues that can occur, and can maybe plan ahead on how to avoid such experiences. I personally don't like to be caught off guard. If I know that a specific action has the potential of occurring, I can better deal with the issue. I am sure there are others who feel the same and appreciate a "heads up."

Are you going to be flying a short flight or a long one? Domestic or international?

 

[WDWNY]

Not really a negative experience just an... experience. Was flying back from Disney before a giant blizzard. We were the last flight that didn't get cancelled to NYC from MCO. It was a shaky ride to say the least and this lady was screaming every time the plane started to shake. It was like a 3 hour ride at Disney.

Another extremely annoying flight situation was when my flight was delayed for 2 hours (was never given a reason, and the plane was AT THE GATE!!!) and the exact same flight on another airline took off on time. Just my luck.

Once we were landing and suddenly we are clearly not landing anymore... get an announcement that there was another plane and we would of crashed if proceeded to land. Of course the announcement was made a while after it happened so everyone was in panic mode.

Being notified at our layover (after 3 hours of flying and a 5 hour bus ride prior) that our flight was overbooked and we have to wait for the next flight 4 hours after our flight was also really fun and made me extremely happy...