Tag: airplane hell

View All Tags

/ / / / / / / /

Emergency Landing Forces Qantas Passengers to Deplane Via Forklift

January 31, 2012 at 8:55 AM | by | Comments (2)

From time to time planes are forced into emergency landings. Sometimes the reasons are real emergencies, like a bird strike or cracked windshield. Sometimes the reasons are still real, but are only a smell of smoke in the cabin or an unruly passenger. In all cases, the crew make the executive decision to bring the bird down in the interest of safety. In many cases, the problem is detected, rectified and the passengers are on their way with a bit of a delay. They'll be a little late, but no major dramas ensue.

Over the weekend, a Qantas aircraft had such an emergency where the crew smelled smoke on board. Naturally, alarms were raised and the captain decided to divert to an alternate airport. The Boeing 767, en route from Darwin to Brisbane, safely landed in the small outback town of Mt. Isa.

more ›

/ / / / / / / / /

American Airlines Plane Boots Alec Baldwin Over 'Words With Friends'

December 6, 2011 at 5:20 PM | by | Comments (0)

Did you feel that? If the internet could have earthquakes, we'd have just experienced a minor one as Alec Baldwin went from tweeting like normal, to getting kicked off an American Airlines plane at LAX, to being in custody, to becoming a trending topic, to giving his side of the story via Twitter in just about the span of one hour.

The reason for the tarmac takedown? Apparently, according to Alec, he was playing the popular mobile Scrabble-like app Words With Friends when a flight attendant "reamed" him out. Of course he was probably still playing it beyond the point of being asked to turn off and stow all electronic devices for take-off, hence the flight attendant interference. We predict that the next few days will see news channels rehashing the old argument of whether or not cell signals interfere with airplanes. You know, that old chestnut.

more ›

/ / / / / /

Apparently AirTran Had a Little Cockroach Problem and Someone is Suing

November 14, 2011 at 9:31 AM | by | Comments (0)

AirTran has a lot going on now with that Southwest thing and all, but it looks like they’re headed for a little bit of legal trouble. Lucky for them we think it’s slightly frivolous, but that doesn’t mean they won’t have to send out the legal team.

A couple from North Carolina just filed a lawsuit against the airline because they weren’t too happy about some of their fellow passengers—cockroaches. Apparently the little bugs made a surprise appearance on their flight to Houston, including the air vents. The passengers tried to voice their concerns to the flight attendants, but they claim that their pleas for help were ignored.

more ›

/ / /

Happy Halloween: 11 Tales of 2011 Travel Hell

October 31, 2011 at 10:01 AM | by | Comments (0)

Happy Halloween!

This annual holiday is pretty much one of the most polarizing; you either love Halloween and get totally into it, or you don't care for it at all and end up cranky. Regardless, we can name one thing absolutely no one likes, and that's being stuck in travel hell. Some flyers experienced it this weekend during the various delays, cancellations and diversions, but sometimes nothing compares to retelling old spooky stories...

The Worst Moments of Travel Hell, 2011:

more ›

/ / / / / / / / / /

Air India's Epic Tarmac Delay Almost Triggers Full-Blown Riot

October 17, 2011 at 9:03 AM | by | Comment (1)

Air India can't seem to do anything right. The company tried for years to join Star Alliance—we covered some of their bumbling efforts last May—only to recently give up and suspend integration efforts. Star Alliance's minimum membership requirements, which other airlines seem to be able to meet just fine, turned out to be just too difficult for the Air India people to figure out. On its face, that's not a particularly encouraging signal of competence.

Now comes news out of London that the airline was responsible for a truly epic nine hour tarmac delay, which came at the end—not at the beginning, but at the end—of a long-haul flight from Mumbai.

200 passengers plus one Boeing 777 minus any food unsurprisingly equaled grumpiness. If you're saying to yourself, "I can't believe cops weren't called to put down a riot," you'll be interested to know that cops were indeed called to put down what almost became a riot.

more ›

/ / / / / / / /

Please Do Not Pee on Fellow Passengers

August 11, 2011 at 11:52 AM | by | Comments (0)

You'd think we wouldn't have to say this, but after an incident yesterday onboard a cross-country flight, we have to: please don't pee on fellow airplane passengers. Not only is it gross and rude and borderline criminal, but it also ruins a flight for the rest of the passengers onboard and makes the situation very difficult for flight attendants. This is officially an amendment to our just-published list of The Top Ten Gross Things Flight Attendants Have Seen Passengers Do on Airplanes, assuming the FAs saw it happen.

As the story goes, the JetBlue red-eye from Portland, OR to New York-JFK yesterday has a family with an 11-year-old girl who wouldn't shut up, or was a disturbance in some way. A drunk 18-year-old boy got up, confronted the girl at her row, exposed himself and peed on her. The NY Post continues:

more ›

/ / / / / / /

'Tarmac Delay' Groups Push for Newer, More Expensive Airline Regulations

June 3, 2011 at 2:55 PM | by | Comments (0)

Tarmac delay laws have been a predictable disaster. As we explained at painful and indignant length in the leadup to the new rules, it makes no sense to incentivize airlines not to have public relations nightmares, since as companies trying to make money they already have that incentive.

Long tarmac delays happen because airplanes have to wait in line to take off, and if you return to the gate you lose your place in line and get stuck on the ground indefinitely. So pilots gamble on staying in line and riding out delays rather than returning to their gates. Creating rules that would bankrupt airlines for making those gambles—which is what tarmac delay fines do—would only lead to more cancellations and longer delays, we said.

So obvious were these scenarios that bureacrats could only defend the rules by promising airlines that regulators would "rarely impose the maximum penalties." Pause for a second and let that sink in. When pushed on how they were passing a bunch of really counterproductive new rules, bureaucrats resorted to telling airlines to have faith that the rules wouldn't get enforced. Since that's really stupid—airlines aren't going to rely on the good will of a person whose job it is to fine them—cancellations and longer delays immediately spiked. And now, because the groups who push regulations are apparently filled with shrill, insufferable busy bodies who have nothing better to do than ruin travel for the rest of us, it's happening all over again.

more ›

/ / / /

The Most Annoying Seat Mate is the One with Many Little Annoyances

May 10, 2011 at 10:32 AM | by | Comments (2)

We spent all last night on a red-eye flight, and instead of sleeping, we strained our eyes to type and rant a bit about one persistent problem in travel: annoying seat mates. This is one personal experience.

It's really a pile of little annoyances in a seat mate that mounts to become a worst nightmare. Not someone who attempts to talk your ear off about their kids or even one who steals your seat and refuses to skooch. No, the people who annoy me, personally, the most are those commit a series of small crimes against airplane etiquette. And a few days ago, on a plane between Boston and Houston, I met my match.

I should have seen it coming, to tell you the truth. While boarding, the gate agents repeatedly made announcements calling for anyone who can, to please check their carry-ons. Looking down the line, you'd have thought this a flight for refugees. Oversized and numerous were the carry-ons and the death grips on them, just as well.

more ›

/ / / / / / /

They've Got to Be Joking: The 15 Saddest In-Flight Meals

April 1, 2011 at 9:32 AM | by | Comments (4)

If you haven't already been annoyed off the internet by all the April Fool's Day pranks running rampant, then take a deep breath and know that nothing will be amiss on Jaunted today. Except for this, because the airlines have got to be joking. We've dug around to discover the 15 saddest in-flight meals, including everything from a moldy fruit plate to our dreaded American Airlines croissant.

Sadly these meals aren't April Fool's jokes, but oh how we wish they were...

more ›

/ / / / /

Kal Penn Tweets One of the Grossest Things He's Seen on an Airplane

October 28, 2010 at 3:00 PM | by | Comments (0)

Kal Penn, best known as Kumar in the Harold and Kumar movies, has been stomping for the Dems this week, but its what happened on his flight home this morning that made us take notice.

Earlier today, Kal Tweeted, "Whoa. Dude next to me on the plane vomited into the air sickness bag, folded it up, & put it back in the seat pocket like nothing happened."

Whoa is right! Kal should definitely add this story to our Top Ten Gross Things People Do On Planes thread since its one of the grossest stories we've heard, and we've heard a lot of them!

more ›

/ / / / / /

New Tarmac Rules Cause Spike in Terminal Delays, Flight Cancellations

July 15, 2010 at 3:46 PM | by | Comments (0)

Good news and bad news from the world of tarmac rules and unintended consequences. The good news is that there were only 5 tarmac delays of three hours or more in May 2010, down from 34 similar delays last year. The bad news is that many of the people who would have been sitting on the tarmac were instead sitting in the terminal. Because their flights got delayed and then canceled. Predictably.

Two points need to be made here. First, the increase in flight cancellations was as dramatic as the decrease in tarmac delays. May 2009 saw 4,792 cancellations, while May 2010 had a whopping 6,716 canceled flights. Second, this isn't a matter of "well, passengers are going to sit on the tarmac or sit in the terminal, so we might as well have them sitting in the terminal." The numbers released by the Department of Transportation show that, on balance, the net delay per passenger was longer by hours and sometimes even days.

more ›

/ / / / / /

This is What a Tarmac Delay Looks Like, Under the New Law

May 27, 2010 at 10:44 AM | by | Comments (0)


A few passengers got up to leave after the plane returned to the gate

The sun might be shining and the winds fair at your departure airport, but two hours away, the weather may be throwing a serious hissyfit with lightning-filled clouds and more. We learned this lesson again yesterday as we attempted a quickie flight from New York-JFK to Chicago-O'Hare, getting out of the city before the Memorial Day rush and higher ticket prices.

Just when our flight was taxiing to join this line for take-off, the pilot announced that O'Hare was closed for at least an hour and we'd be forced to sit on the tarmac in New York to wait it out. We smelled trouble.

more ›

Use of this Site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (effective 3/21/12) and Privacy Policy (effective 3/21/12). © Condé Nast. Your California Privacy Rights. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.
Ad Choices