Shitty Travel Stories

No she stayed, didn’t want to travel solo. If I’m unable to fly tonight but I’ll be able to fly say Friday she’ll leave tonight I think. 

There also a Few arbitrary barriers. For example, the gate guy put us on same flight for today at no cost to us, leaves at 3 pm. However, the passport office doesn’t issue passports until 3, so fuck me. Like I could be done by 9 am and they can print it but I can’t take it until 3. Such bullshit. 

Bc of that, I had to buy us both new flights. The airlines we booked with doesn’t have another flight until Monday sadly thus why we couldn’t get it moved to Friday. 

posted by Commander of Awesome

However, the passport office doesn’t issue passports until 3, so fuck me. Like I could be done by 9 am and they can print it but I can’t take it until 3. Such bullshit. 

That's the Government for you.

posted by like_that

Did your wife leave?

http://ohiochatter.com/forum/serious-business/divorced-people

posted by justincredible

http://ohiochatter.com/forum/serious-business/divorced-people

Might still be on the table. Will update 

I’ve got a bunch of small ones. But past lost luggage and delays and cancellations, which typically don’t effect me because the airlines take care of me for free and accommodate you to get you where you need to go (traveling every week has some perks...).

But after one SNF game in Denver, I am flying the redeye back at midnight. Which, admittedly is cutting it close. Of course it’s snowig really bad (the Pats - Broncos snow game where Osweiller beasted and beat the Pats lol). So the drive to airport takes longer than usual. We get in line to check bags (gone for a week plus, so didn’t have carry on) at 11:10pm. Waiting, waiting, waiting...only 1 person working the counter. At 11:26 she gets to us. But, we’ve missed the 35 minute checked bag time to departure. We were livid, because we didn’t actually miss it, you fucks just took 15 minutes to check in 1 person. They finally budged because we had 3 diamonds and a platinum flying, but had to get permission from supervisor. Who was a complete bitch and refused to override the system. Finally she agrees, but standby has no cleared and 3/4 seats were given up. So, we draw straws and my buddy won. He got the first class seat we all should’ve had, while the other 3 of us had to drive back to hotel for a 3 hour nap to make our 6am rescheduled flight.

posted by BR1986FB

First time on a plane I went down to Houston. Trip was uneventful. I was pretty freaked about getting in a plane to begin with. The way back was a different story. Coming out of Houston there was a nasty thunderstorm and the plane was rocking from side to side. I'm in the second to last row in the plane and I'm pretty nervous. There's a very elderly lady behind me who starts screaming in my ear "oh my god, we're all going to die !!!" I turned around, pretty much scared shitless, and told her "lady if you don't stfu you ARE going to die."

Been on one plane since. Not a fan.

Reading this made me smile like a dumbass....not sure why

posted by Commander of Awesome

No she stayed, didn’t want to travel solo. If I’m unable to fly tonight but I’ll be able to fly say Friday she’ll leave tonight I think. 

There also a Few arbitrary barriers. For example, the gate guy put us on same flight for today at no cost to us, leaves at 3 pm. However, the passport office doesn’t issue passports until 3, so fuck me. Like I could be done by 9 am and they can print it but I can’t take it until 3. Such bullshit. 

 

Bc of that, I had to buy us both new flights. The airlines we booked with doesn’t have another flight until Monday sadly thus why we couldn’t get it moved to Friday. 

Hope things finish out well. Sorry to hear all the irritating parts of your traveling experience that just are unwarranted

You guys are making me not want to hassle with flying.

posted by BR1986FB

First time on a plane I went down to Houston. Trip was uneventful. I was pretty freaked about getting in a plane to begin with. The way back was a different story. Coming out of Houston there was a nasty thunderstorm and the plane was rocking from side to side. I'm in the second to last row in the plane and I'm pretty nervous. There's a very elderly lady behind me who starts screaming in my ear "oh my god, we're all going to die !!!" I turned around, pretty much scared shitless, and told her "lady if you don't stfu you ARE going to die."

Been on one plane since. Not a fan.

I want to picture the guy in this Bill Burr bit as you.

posted by Commander of Awesome

Alright I’ll pony up and tell mine. Supposed to be on my honeymoon now 

Holy shit I think I blocked this out. On the first flight after my wife and I got married I was happy to book my wife's flight with her(my) new last name. Like a dumb ass I did not consider that her passport had her maiden name. That caused a huge problem when we tried to board... We are late to everything but somehow we were 3 hours early that day. We used every minute getting that fixed. The lady fixing it was "super helpful" and said she fixed our return flight too.  When we tried to fly home we discovered that she had just canceled our return flights. Fuck.

Not my travel, but other folks whose travel I impacted:

Thirty years ago at USPS, I went from the night shift to the day shift in the training office. I found out I was now the relief travel coordinator when the secretary went on vacation, so I had to get authorized to call our travel agency and get flights for folks going to training, and we were always flying people out to DC, Chicago, and Norman OK for training.  At the time I didn't know what flight numbers meant, I just thought I was supposed to get the cheapest flight to save money.

- Early on I was told to get tickets for an overnight trip for my boss's boss's boss - the imperious HR manager.  Let's call her Mrs. Jones.  I was very nervous about doing this, but I called, the travel rep said, "I've got flight 6498 available non-stop, that's the cheapest."  I said, "I'll take it".

The first day she returned to work I got a call from the Mrs. Jones' secretary, another stern lady.  All she said was, "Pay attention to what I'm about to say.  Never - repeat, NEVER - EVER - put Mrs. Jones on a plane with propellers again" ........... I stayed away from Mrs. Jones' office all week.

* * * * * *

- We used to send people to DC on a regular basis, had a big training center there.  I learned that we always used USAir 1492 flying to DC on Sunday afternoon, and USAir 1493 coming back to Columbus on Friday at 5 PM (then it would continue to LAX), and I scheduled a lot of people on those two flights when I was filling in.

Friday evening, February 1, 1991, big story on CNN and the networks:  USAir 1493 crashed on landing at LAX, actually landing on top of another plane taxiing there by mistake.  23 of the 89 SOB's the USAir plane died.  I checked later - I had booked two of our people on that plane, and they had gotten off safely in Columbus before it continued west.  I'm sure I would have felt responsible if they had died because I put them on a flight.

Holy shit!

posted by Ironman92

You guys are making me not want to hassle with flying.

Same. I've only flown a couple of times and they were uneventful but I'm probably the most impatient person on this site. We flew to Florida a few years ago and I hated every minute of it. Waiting to check in, to get through security, to take off, to get off the plane, etc. The absolute worst was waiting in line at Orbitz at the Orlando airport. Only a handful of people in front of us. Still took >45 minutes. 

Survived Spirit down and Frontier back from Florida, was only about 30 minutes in delays.  

Friday night at the budget gates of airports are entertaining.

Felt actually refreshing to have only a backpack for the trip.

posted by Verbal Kint

Survived Spirit down and Frontier back from Florida, was only about 30 minutes in delays.  

Friday night at the budget gates of airports are entertaining.

Felt actually refreshing to have only a backpack for the trip.

I've flown Spirit a few times and never had an issue. Flew Frontier to Denver and back and they managed to lose my luggage on the non-stop flight home. Other than that, it was fine.

Update: we made it. 

Good news. Enjoy!!

posted by Spock

i was just looking at flights on Allegient.  Anyone ever fly them?  

My girlfriend flew with them once. 

posted by Fab4Runner

Nothing too bad has happened to me, but a creepy guy sat next to my friend on a plane from Akron to Orlando (she was sitting in the middle seat and I was in the window seat) and sexually harassed her the entire time and also sexually assaulted her at one point. So that was fun.

Yes, she asked him to stop. No, he didn't stop. 

Did she contact the flight attendant? I might have throat punched the guy, or punched him in the balls.

About 6 years ago had to go to India for work. 

Flight out had a cancellation from Atlanta to Dubai (Delta). I was rerouted the next day through Germany instead. No big deal...yet

I arrive in Kalkutta India at 1 am Local time just to find out they lost my bag. I have to fill out the forms and literally buy a change of clothes in the only shop in the airport open at 2 am. 

Kalkutta is the asshole of the world if you don’t know this...for the rest of the story. 

I go to the taxi window and it has a sign that there is a taxi strike you must find your own transportation. So, at 2 am I go outside and find a taxi (apparently not part of the Union) and tell them the name of the hotel (Taj Bengal...same chain as Taj Mahal...absolutely beautiful). They tell me price that was about $40 which seemed reasonable for a 45 min taxi ride. 

Due to the late plane (another colleague meeting me there from Europe was delayed as well) we had to take a rental car with a paid driver to the city we were working in as the train we had booked was gone. 

The car ride was about 6 hours of mind wrecking insanity (the sheer number of near miss accidents was crazy). At one point the driver pulls over he needs a coffee and tells us to wait in the car, do not get out. We find out from him later that it was because we had white faces and may have been robbed there. 

Fast forward 10 days and one food poisoning later, I am watching the news and they are describing a local terrorist group that bombed some tracks causing a train derailment. The officials believed it was the same group that had sabotaged the brakes on a train a month ago causing two trains to collide at a station killing a lot of people. 

The next morning I am eating breakfast with our two colleagues from our Mumbai, India office. I ask them “hey, that train bombing I saw on the news, isn’t that the same train system we are riding back to Kalkutta in 2 days?”

In their Indian accent their reply, and I kid you not, was “Oh no worries, they bomb the trains at night, we are riding in the day!” 

Lets just say that wasn’t my favorite train ride ever...

I finally get back to the airport to fly home...and I find out that I have no ticket home. Emirates is saying they cancelled my flight home because I never got on the plane from Dubai to Kalkutta 2 weeks ago. Delta is saying they made changes and it shouldn’t have affected my return flight. To make this more fun, Kalkutta airport does not have a ticket counter like in the US. If you don’t have a ticket you are not allowed past the security at the doors (2 guys with AK47s). I was using a pay phone outside to talk to Emirates and Delta offices in New Delhi to sort the problem out. 

Once I realize I am not getting on the plane I have to find a place to sleep. The taxi strike was apparently over so I go to the window and try to get a taxi to the hotel I had stayed one night at 2 weeks ago. The taxi ride cost $4 (yes, 2 weeks ago during strike it was $40). So, I have an hour drive to a hotel that I have no reservation at so I am just praying they have an opening. On the way there, it’s during afternoon so it’s 8000 degrees outside and the taxi doesn’t have A/C. I have the window down and at one cross walk a woman tries to had me her baby through the window to take home...because a white face meant Europe or US to her and her baby would have a better life (not kidding). 

I get to the hotel, get a room, and get on the hotel phone to Delta and Emirates. I get tired of them blaming each other and just say I don’t give a shit just get me home. They could either get me out the next night on the same flight time  I was originally on or the following night, but either way the only time I could get out of Dubai was in 2 nights as the one tomorrow night was full. So if I left Kalkutta tomorrow or in 2 days it didn’t matter, I got back to the US at the same time/flight. 

I said put me on the flight tomorrow. They said “you don’t have a visa for Dubai/UAE so you would have to stay in the airport for the 24 hour layover. I said “yup, Dubai airport is 100 times better than Kalkutta, get me out of this city”. 

So I did spent 24 hours in Dubai airport, was like Tom Hanks in Terminal but it was better than India. 

tl;dr version-India sucks balls. 

^^^not bragging, as that sucked, but I think that might have “won” worst travel story so far. :(