Holiday flights.......your nightmares and (maybe) positives.

[Dave7]

Mrs Dave is frightened of flying but after 4 years of me fighting the big 'C' she agreed to go for it.
So.................
We booked a good 4* (Menorca) and pushed the boat out by paying £50 to use the private lounge at Ringway.
Bear in mind we booked this holiday 6 months in advance and got our seats booked at the soonest possible date.
Flight was 08.30........we arrived just after 05.30 to find a massive queue snaking down the road. The baggage system had broken down.
By 08.15 we hadn't even got through security.
They eventually called us through the crowd, and we got through security by 08.25. Just going through the last check we were told "sorry but you are now sitting separately". I argued (as reasonably as my angry state allowed) but was told "sorry.......we are absolutely full and you are sitting separately"............NOT A GOOD START as Mrs Dave was starting to freak out.
So............
our £50 for the lounge went down the pan.
We didn't even have time to buy water or sandwich............had to buy on the plane (crap and expensive).
Not sure how to claim but am looking into it.
Anyway--------the holiday was good and me & Mrs Dave are still in love

 

[Sharky]

On our first flying holiday, when there was still a limit on how much booze you could bring back. We might have been one bottle of whisky over the limit and we "smuggled" it on board and were quite chuffed when we got through the customs at Gatwick. We loaded our luggage onto a trolley, with the bottle on top and proceeded back to the car. Going down one of the ramps, the trolley was going a bit fast, but I managed to stop it at the bottom. Unfortunately the whisky had a mind of its own and decided to leap off the trolley onto the concrete floor!

Serves us right for trying to cheat the customs I suppose.

 

[vickster]

I've done a lot of flying and really am not keen. I've had hypnotherapy and have meds from GP

I have to know in advance where I'll be sitting, so I'll pay. Think it cost an extra £20 for legroom seats and advanced check for Monday's flight to Palma. Much more worthwhile than the cost of the lounge imo

If you paid for extra legroom or advance seat choice, request a refund from the tour operator

Glad you had a lovely holiday

 

[fossyant]

With the extra security now it's a struggle to be able to sit down for 5 mins before a final call.

 

[NorthernDave]

We had to get an evacuation flight out of Mexico in the aftermath of hurricane Wilma.
That was quite interesting, especially the bit where we were route marched through what remained of the wrecked airport and onto a bus to get to the plane on a distant and undamaged part of the apron (part of the runway had already been relaid).
And then the swines dumped us at Gatwick after promising in resort and for the first half of the flight that the plane was going to Manchester...

 

[MikeG]

I once* flew on a Romanian airlines (I think) 'plane which had vinyl bench seats with that little handle built into the corner like you used to get on buses.......the thing you held on to when standing up.

*Just the once. I'm not a slow learner.

 

[TVC]

Last year I accepted an itinery that involved a 50 minute tranfer at Hong Kong. Stupid I know. Anyway the inbound flight was running 10 minutes ahead of schedule as we approached the runway to land, mint. Just over the threshold it was full power, nose up, wheels up. Flip, missed approach. Another 20 minutes before we landed then a long taxi to the gate.

Fortunately an airline rep met us off the plane and trotted us through all the short cuts to make the onward flight, not relaxing at all.

Lesson learned, I will never accept a travel agent booking a transfer at a main hub of less than 2 hours again.

 

[Roadhump]

Glad you had a good holiday, and you and Mrs @Dave7 are still in love.

A few years ago we were flying to Malta and I went to the loo a couple of hours into the flight. It was smooth as silk until that point, but while I was still using the loo, the plane hit the mother of all turbulence pockets; as a result, my "aim" wasn't too good on that particular loo visit but because everyone was well strapped in for a while after I returned to my seat, I was saved the embarrassment of being identified as the offender.

As it happens I have just arrived home from work and in a couple of hours or so we are driving to Manchester Airport where we have booked a hotel / park your car package, before flying to Palma tomorrow to pick up a cruise ship for a fortnight. The increased security is a pain, but I enjoy it from when you get "airside" in the airport, from that moment you are officially on holiday. I used to fear flying but now I quite enjoy it.

 

[LonesomeWanderer]

I once spent a 4 hour trans-Tasman flight rammed between a fat Australian and a bulkhead - I could swear I was much flatter afterwards....

Apart from that though I've been very lucky on flights considering I've done so much long-haul that the exposure to celestial radiation should have turned me into Radioactive Man a long time ago.

 

[I like Skol]

Last year Lady Skol and I had a lovely long weekend in Barcelona sans kids. Never been before and we loved it, absolutely fabulous place. The weekend was only marginally spoilt because, being a bit of a tightwad, I agreed to flying budget airline out of Liverpool John Lennon airport. Awful nasty airline and ghastly, smelly, whiney, ill-mannered Scousers, and that was just the adults! Their obnoxious children were even more repulsive and played up for the entire trip, ignoring the continual and repeated instructions to 'Don't do that!' from their ineffective parents.

Anyway, I got my revenge on the way back The seating lottery had resulted in wife and I sitting in the same row but on opposite sides of the aisle. I had heard the women that was sat between us moaning to her partner in the row behind that she really hates flying. The weather was quite foggy and turbulent as we came in to land so I leaned forward and whispered to my wife in an exaggerated manner "I hope the pilot is used to landing in these conditions and doesn't put us in the ditch like last time". My comment had the desired effect and tipped her over the edge with a dramatic outburst of colourful Scouseese.

 

[mjr]

Mrs Dave is frightened of flying but after 4 years of me fighting the big 'C' she agreed to go for it.

She made you travel to holiday by Canoe for 4 years? (Sorry, it's Friday afternoon.)

Queuing in a twilight zone of identical desks, handing over one's belongings to be bashed up and thrown around, submitting to being prodded and/or nude-body-scanned in a security theatre, then herded through a glorified shopping mall before being bumped around in a metal tube for a few hours, then interrogated and/or scanned again with the threat of an immediate repeat and aborted holiday if you fail - there is essentially nothing positive about flying except that it moves one somewhere far away much more quickly. If you've got the time and it's possible, travelling over land is usually preferable, despite some railway operators apparently wanting to mimic airlines and gouge passengers.

 

[marshmella]

Me and mrs marshmella had never flown until we went to Lanzarote on honeymoon when we were 25. Had no problems and found flying quite enjoyable. We went on a few more foreign holidays after that but then had a break of some 17 years before flying again. Went to Majorca as a family and didn't enjoy the flights at all i felt really nervous and hated the turbulence.
Having said that i still go on holidays but just grin and bear the flying.

 

[LonesomeWanderer]

I used to live in Wellington and this happened a few times (it is a very windy place):

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRXM8GWCnNo

 

[Doseone]

When a tyre shredded on take off and so when coming in to land we had the full emergency services following us down the runway. All was okay though.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I've been on planes a few times.