As great as traveling is, sometimes the actual flight part can get a little crazy or scary. From rude flight attendants and passengers to airplane malfunctions, some people walk away vowing to never get on an airplane again. People share the insane moments on their flight that made them go “WTF?!” This content has been edited for clarity.
Free Fall
“We were flying from San Francisco to Cincinnati. In the middle of the flight, the pilot announced to fasten our seat belts because they were expecting a bumpy ride. Apparently, there was a very tall weather disturbance that had been reported. Just prior, he casually announced that we were at 40,000 feet in the air.
After the announcement, we heard pop, pop, POP, POP. Tons of them and we were all like WTF?! It was really bumpy. The pilot again announced more sternly for all crew to take seats and no one get up. Then wham! We freaking fell out of the sky. There is no other way to describe it. It was like you were just sitting in a chair suspended from a rope at the top of a cherry picker and someone cut the rope.
We dropped for a little until there was a big jolt. It’s like the plane landed in an enormous vat of creme filling but more on one wing than the other all sorts of shit went flying out of the right bins to the left nailing people in the head. Some people not completely or at all buckled (idiots) flew up and hit the ceiling then back into their seats. There was screaming everywhere. Absolute chaos.
Then, the pilot screamed over the intercom, ‘Denver, we’re in serious trouble up here, I need…’ and a few other words we could not understand. That really freaked everyone out. We weren’t supposed to hear it but the pilot had forgotten to turn off the cabin speakers from the earlier announcement.
It turns out it was giant hail hitting the plane. The turbulence continued and we dropped another two times like before. People were crying, praying, and screaming everywhere. It was nuts!
“Once it became smooth again, the pilot later announced that he was sorry about the mistaken overhead announcement. It was the worst of my 500,000+ air miles. You never heard so many people clapping upon landing.”
Hot As Hades
“My friend and I started our day out with the normal airport panic and running to catch our flight. When we got there, it was a full plane and we were crammed like sardines in a can- and holy hell there must have been something wrong with the AC because it was hot. Imagine sitting in a leather covered sweatlodge wearing a fur coat, yeah it was something like that.
My friend stroked my hair and reassured me and then we took off. I was suffering silently with the heat ever building. 20 minutes of boiling hades later, my vision was starting to blur, my tongue was hanging out of my mouth, and I was panting up a storm feeling dizzy. My friend tried a few things to cool me off, but that just caused a commotion and lead to the whole plane staring at me. NOT the best thing considering I was already in distress.
Then comes the WTF part.
Maybe it was the heat, maybe too many drinks, but my best and trusted friend FLIPPED OUT and tried to STUFF MY WHOLE HEAD into the airplane vent overhead. I’m ashamed to say I just lost it. Wouldn’t you?! I was clawing at everything just trying to get away. I tried climbing into the seat in front, jumping around and begging for help, you name it. 5 minutes into my panic attack, I felt a pain in my chest and I passed out.
The next thing I knew, I was looking down at the chaos from above. My friend was sitting there weeping and sobbing while cradling my head. Crazy right? To top it off, some asshole a few rows back thought it was the funniest thing in the world and took a picture.”
What Is THAT
“We were on our way back from a vacation in Hawaii on a red-eye, somewhere over California. The airline screwed up our seats and my dad and I ended up in first class while my mom and sis were in coach. The co-pilots had come out a few times to chat with us, and this was LONG before 9/11 so I had gotten to see the cockpit. Everyone else on the plane was asleep, except the crew. I was glued to the window, watching the massive cityscapes pass by below me. That’s when things got interesting.
Out of nowhere, the sky started to light up. I elbowed my dad as I was already panicking. He looked out the window and also got worried. We both watched as it got brighter and brighter. It was bright as day now and we couldn’t see anything at all. Then, it shows itself. A meteor was passing the plane ever so slowly. It was close, less than a mile off.
I could see detailed fractures on the meteor and bits break off and evaporate in the atmosphere. I inhaled to scream, thinking we were going to die, but my dad clamped his hand over my mouth until the thing passes completely and the sky went dark again. I had calmed down at that point, then the pilots come out of the cockpit and asked us if we saw it, both trying to keep quiet but unable to contain their excitement. Best flight ever.”
Standing Ovation
“One time my cousin was flying in South America and about halfway through the flight he realized he really needed to pee. The plane he was on was a tiny prop plane made for tiny people but he is 6’5”. He awkwardly climbed over his aisle mates and shuffled to the back of the plane.
As he was closing the door, the captain came on the loudspeaker and warned of upcoming turbulence. My cousin thought, ‘Screw it. I really need to pee.’ He crammed himself into the tiny bathroom, managed to whip it out, and right as he started to pee, they hit a huge bit of turbulence that knocked him off his feet. He fell backward through the bathroom door and landed flat on his back in the aisle. He was still peeing though and it went straight up in the air.
He was completely mortified and managed to get back up and work himself back into the bathroom. He waited for like 20 minutes hoping no one would have seen it or forgotten about it by then. However, when he went back out to take his seat, he got a standing ovation from every single person on the plane. Ouch.”
Booooooo!
“I was probably 16 or 17 at the time and flying Delta with my family. The seats were unassigned and being one of the first on the flight, I took the middle seat of the first row between a lawyer and a pregnant lady.
After about 15-20 minutes of waiting on the tarmac, I decided I would continue watching Pineapple Express on my portable DVD player before the flight took off. I was about 5 minutes in when a flight attendant walked by, noticed me, and asked for me to turn off my player. I promptly did, but the stewardess stayed there, staring at me blankly.
I asked what was the matter and she told me to turn off my noise-canceling headphones. A little confused but still compliant, I turned off the headphones. She still wouldn’t leave. She then asked me to take my headphones off because they could still restrict my hearing even when turned off. Getting a little frustrated, I reluctantly put my headphones around my neck. SHE WAS STILL STANDING THERE. I asked her again if there was a problem.
She looked at me as if I had just twisted her nipple and said, ‘Sir, I don’t know if you think this is some sort of a game, but those headphones could still restrict your hearing, which could be a serious problem in the event of a disaster!’
I replied saying, ‘How could these headphones possibly restrict my hearing in any way if they’re around my neck?’
She replied by saying it was regulations and she didn’t want to have to call security. I was completely stunned. I couldn’t believe she just threatened to kick me off the flight over this headphone thing. So, I told myself to just go with it, and don’t do anything stupid. I then wrapped up my headphones and put them on top of the DVD player in my lap.
By this time, 3 male stewards had come over because there was obviously a problem. One of the males who I will call ‘bald guy,’ told me to stow my player and headphones rather than keep them on my lap. I seriously couldn’t believe it. I asked how my player and headphones could possibly be a problem on my lap during liftoff. He repeated the other stewardess’s words, by saying it was regulations. So, once again I reluctantly put my DVD player and headphones on the ground in front of me.
They were all still there. I asked if there was still a problem. By now, the entire pane was watching the stewards harass me. They began to tell me that my player and headphones on the ground in front of me against the wall could obstruct the path of the pregnant lady if there were to be a disaster. This was when I could not take it any longer.
I looked at the bald guy in the eye and said, ‘So, what are you guys supposed to be? The comfort-nazis?’ Immediately after the words left my mouth, the bald guy FLIPPED out, yelling that I had just called him a nazi, comparing him to murderers, you know the deal. He began yelling for security! I was like WTF I am about to get kicked off this flight and hold up my entire family/embarrass myself.
Amazingly, the entire flight began to BOO the stewards openly mocking them and telling them to stop harassing a kid. The lawyer to my right began to actually represent me right then and there, telling them they had no right to do what they were doing, saying that there was nothing politically incorrect with what I said and that it was just taken out of context.
By this time, security had arrived. The plane was still booing, and telling them to stop wasting their time. The original stewardess surprisingly came to my aide, telling security that it was just a misunderstanding and the bald guy was just overreacting. Security was called off and the bald guy was told to work in the back of the flight. To this day, I can’t believe how ridiculous the situation was.”
