What's your wildest FLIGHT DELAY story?

[Gogar]

I had a good one yesterday. Forgot to take pics.

Northwest Airlines from DEN-MSP in the middle of the afternoon.

Upon the plane's first segment of the day, LAX to DEN, the controller noticed that the numbers on the back of the plane did not match his paperwork.

He notified the flight crew and they looked at their paperwork, and all was ok, just the outside numbers were wrong.

APPARENTLY, the plane had been painted in SC the day before. The dum-ass who painted the plane's ID numbers on the tail section of the plane must have been dyslexic, and inverted two of the numbers.

SO, in the middle of the day (not at the end of all the day's segments), they decided to reprime and re-stencil and re-paint the numbers on the plane. On the second segment of the plane's scheduled 3 segments or whatever.

NOT AT THE END OF THE DAY. NOW.

AND, the guy primed one side of the plane, then SAT ON HIS ASS while it dried. Then painted the new numbers on. THEN WENT TO THE OTHER SIDE. And primed it. AND SAT DOWN AND WAITED. And finally finished.

No one ever told him he could prime both sides at once and wait only once.

Anyway, I don't mind an occasional delay here and there. But I was going to see Def Leppard last night, and didn't make it because we ended up being 4 HOURS late. Oh well.

What's your story?

[Dan in Pasadena]

Not a delay exactly; we just screwed up. Last month we took a week long trip to Cozumel, Mexico. I was a great price. My girlfriend got us the flight, a full week's lodging at an ocean front resort with all meals provided including drinks for slightly under $1000 each! Fantastic. Problem was it was already booked when we realized there was a 12 HOUR(!!!) layover each way. On the way, we stopped in Mexico City at 11pm and didn't fly out until 11 am the next day. Had to sleep sitting on aluminum food park type chairs hunched over the cold tables. COuld not check our luggage until 6 hours before the flight maximum. Same on the return flight. Our stop was in Atlanta but at least there were some love seat type couches that we moved around and propped oursleves up on. The vacation was great, the layovers were hell!

[TerryBPP]

I spent 5 hrs on the tarmac at Miami International for a 90 mile flight back to Fort Myers. After an hour the plane was shut off to save fuel. That means no A/C!! IN THE SUMMER!!

The crew and pilots walked off the plane after yelling at each other for the 2nd hour. I believe the pilot quit because he did not return.

In hour 3 they brought a cooler full of warm bottled water and told us if we walked off we would be arrested. Which makes sense seeing as we were on the middle of the runway.

Finally in the 5th the crew returned and we took off for a 25 min. flight.

Beat that!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Which airline was that?

[Gogar]

I have one that's close, Terry; but I'm gonna wait a little longer.

[Moses]

Originally posted by TerryBPP
I spent 5 hrs on the tarmac at Miami International for a 90 mile flight back to Fort Myers. After an hour the plane was shut off to save fuel. That means no A/C!! IN THE SUMMER!!

The crew and pilots walked off the plane after yelling at each other for the 2nd hour. I believe the pilot quit because he did not return.

In hour 3 they brought a cooler full of warm bottled water and told us if we walked off we would be arrested. Which makes sense seeing as we were on the middle of the runway.

Finally in the 5th the crew returned and we took off for a 25 min. flight.

Beat that!

At some point you need to pull out your cellphone and make a call to the police and report a massive kidnapping. Either that or call the FBI and tell them another passengers carry-on is "ticking". They'll get you off the plane in a hurry.

[Dantilla]

Three days. In the middle of Montana.

I didn't mind.

Flying my own little airplane back home across the country, when thunderstorms formed over the Rockys earlier than expected. There was a Super 8 motel close by, and the airport had a loaner car.

A few days of pointless goofing off was far preferable to flying in bumpy, wet clouds that are full of granite.

[cmccuist]

I was flying student stand-by from SFO to American Samoa (this was in the 70's when student stand-by was pretty cheap). I got bumped off in Honolulu and was "stuck" there for three days.

I took the bus to the beach and spent the days there (I had no money to speak of - I was a student!). At night I went back to the airport and slept in the Japan Airlines first class lounge. I broke in there by using a coat hanger to hook the panic bar.

Hawaii is not a bad place to get bumped if you don't care where you sleep.

[Dueller]

About 5-6 years ago, I was developing a FWB relationship with a young nurse, 20 years my junior. We didn't see each other that often...maybe once or twice a month over a 3 month period.

I had some ticket refunds I had to use or lose on short notice, so I called her up and invited her for a week in St Lucia at a favorite little inexpensive hotel in Castries. She accepted.

I travel ligtht but she showed up with tons of luggage tho' I had told her it was to be a low key, casual trip recommending only carry on. Oh well.

We leave early and immediately began having lotsa drinks on the flight and during layovers. We got in much later than expected an checked in in a drriving monsoon. The next day dawned bright and clear and I was up and at it. She slept until 2 p.m. and stumbled out in full resort regalia...WTF? Hmmmmmm?

She was obviously unimpressed with the accomodations since it wasn't an AI resort replete with buffets and planned activities. Solution? Getr her real drunk at the pool bar.

After an afternoon of partying we stumbled back to our room...AT WHICH POINT SHE ANNOUNCED OUR RELATIONSHIP WOULD NO LONGER INVOLVE PHYSICAL INTIMACY. Now what kindas woman goes to a carribean island witrh a guy footing the bill and thinks this is OK?

I decide not to press the issue, but just act cool and aloof. By day three she's really b!tchy, but clings to me when she's being hit on by other guys or when she's ready to eat or drink. By this time I'm chatting up other women, figuring I'll salvage some fun.

Long story short, it ends up being a miserable trip for both of us. I'm counting the hours until we can leave. Three days before we are scheduled to leave I awake to find she has packed her stuff and left the room. I find her in the lobby waiting for a cab. I tell her have a safe trip home and explain that the cab fare will be about $20.00 and an exit tax of about $15.00. At which point she asks if she can borrow $40 .....SHHEEEESH. I give her $100 and she says she'll pay me back when we both are home. I go to the pool bar. She gets in a cab.

About four hours and several rum drinks at the pool bar later, she comes though the pool area dragging all her steamer trunks. She couldn't get a flight out. I tell her the room is open.

We avoiid each other the next three days until we're packing to leave for the airport. We arrive at the airport and go thru all the customs stuff and are waiting to board. A half hour delay is announced. Then another hour delay. Then a two hour delay. Finally its announced that the flight is cancelled as the friggin' volcano on Montserrat has errupted spewing ash into the flight air space.

I scramble to call the airlines on my cell and schedule another flight. Ultimately I could only get a flight for 4 days later, providing Montserrat calms down.

We trudge back to the hotel and check back in. I go to the bar. And stay there for most of the next 96 hours.

We did finally get out 4 days later. But our flight made stops in Barbados, San Juan, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas and finally home. 19 hours total.

Searching for conversation on one leg, while watching an Australlian movie about the moon landing, I asked "Do you remember where you were when man first landed on the moon?" She replied "When was that?" "1969." She responded "I wasn't born untill 1976."

At that very moment, I decided I'd only date women closer to my own age.

[cairns]

From IAD to LHR some years back. I used to make the roundtrip twice a month.

A passenger had a heart attack about half way through. We were diverted to Shannon. All sat and waited while the poor man was carried out on a stretcher. Then...no number 3. Call to UAL central for instructions. A few hours go by. We're released to enter the airport and everyone heads for the bar to get pissed on Irish coffee and black and tans. Early morning drags into afternoon. Pilot and crew were outstanding we can enter plane or airport at will; I go to plane and try to sleep. Late afternoon we are finally released to continue to London- on three engines. For whatever reason our altitude is restricted to 5,000 feet and we enjoy the beautiful Irish countryside from a 747 200. No telling what the natives thought. Arrive in LHR dead tired.

This flight had some sort of health incident probably one out of seven times. Usually old folk heading back to the home country stressed out in coach.

[Zeke]

I had a flight to San Jose to pick up my current 911. I get up at the crack of dawn and look at my calls and the flight is canceled. I had a boarding pass printed off the Internet. My wife gets on the computer and books the nest flight and we drive to John Wayne. I hop out and she leaves me there. I had a boarding pass on that one too. I present it and it's for the NEXT day!! Whoops on the wifey. I put in for stand by for the next flight on THIS day. No go.

I put in for stand by for the last flight of the morning and get on next to the last seat. Good thing I had ear plugs. I got there by noon, which wasn't all that bad after all. But, it was a long morning considering I was on my way to drive a new to me 911 home.

Dueller, that is one hell of a story. What kind of biotch does that?

[jtfreels]

Not too exciting. Last Saturday, board the plane sitting there, pilot speaks of the intercom, having a problem starting the engine. Seems the plane has no self start, must use the APU, the APU has only enough power to get one side started, can't start the other engine. They had to find another APU, pull it in and start the engine. Over heard the (elderly) stewardess say "Now that has never happened to me!".

Jay

[rdrr]

About 10 years ago I had a job that involved a fair bit of travel to India. One particular trip had me flying from Hong Kong to Delhi on United with the flight supposed to arrive in Delhi around midnight.

After the usual flight time has already gone by with no announcements or decent beginning I start talking to one of the stewardesses about what is going on and find out that the Delhi ground crew are all on strike and the airport has been closed due to fog. Great. The pilots don't want to divert so they have been circling. This goes on for several hours until they finally give up and divert to Bombay.

We then spend about 6 hours on the tarmac in Bombay because there are numerous diverted aircraft (mostly 747s) waiting and there are not enough buses. The A/C is off and everyone is pretty upset. An interesting moment occurs when a couple of kids start running through the aircraft screeming that there is a woman who is going to have a baby. It turned out to be a lady who passed out due to the depleting levels of oxygen in the cabin. She recovers quickly once given some oxygen.

Finally some minibuses come to take us to the terminal. Unfortunately each bus only fits about 15 to 20 people and there are only 2 or 3 buses so this takes a long time. At the terminal we are given only a food and drinks voucher and told that they would have sent us to a hotel, but they are all full. Great.

So I go off to get something to eat and drink with my voucher. Of course there is nothing left, because the restaurants weren't counting on the passengers of 10 or 15 full 747s to all be at the airport at the same time. Maybe later I'm told. Greeeaat.

At this point there is no info on when the flight will go on to Delhi. I search for a place to sit down, but everything is predictably full. I find a quiet spot on the floor where I stay for the next 5 hours or so working on my laptop, until there is finally an announcement that we can proceed to the gate lounge. Hooray.

After two hours at the gate lounge there is still no info as to when the flight will leave. The locals are getting restless. A group of Indians (enroute from Canada, so they have been travelling 15 hours longer than I have) decides to storm the doors and get on the plane. Interesting. I sit there thinking to myself that this will probably cause even more of a delay. Thanks guys. The wives and children of the group on the plane are still in the lounge wailing and crying at what their husbands/fathers have done. Security shows up with automatic weapons and boards the plane. This is starting to be fun.

Our flight crew arrives from Delhi and boards the aircraft. Soon after we are all let on board while security guys watch over the early boarders. Airline staff have individual chats with the guys about how they will have to wait for the next aircraft unless they promise to behave. Amazingly, they are allowed to stay on board.

As we get on board, the cabin is completely full of mosquitos. The plane was left on the tarmac with the doors open. Smart move.

After about 16 hours in Bombay we finally depart for Delhi. It is the quietest flight I have ever been on. Everyone is just exhausted. We arrive in Delhi with 24 hours delay.

After the usual fun and games at the Delhi airport I get a taxi to my hotel, check in and decide the check my email. Lo and behold my laptop crashes on startup with a total hard drive failure. 5 hours of work lost. Greeeaaat. Time to get a couple of beers out of the minibar...

[gassy]

Normally a 20 min drive to O'Hare from the studio, 1.5 hour flight to Atlanta, 20 min drive to the hotel turned in to a 14 hr trainwreck. Car blew the alternator on the Kennedy--towed to an empty lot. 4 hrs later AAA came. Took the El to the airport, obviously missing my original flight. Got on a later flight--delayed 4 hrs due to wind. Got to the hotel and they had given my room away. Had to drive an hour out of ATL to get a room. My meeting the next day was about 15 minutes long. woo hoo.

[911 in SC]

A co-worker and I were scheduled to fly to Budapest, HU for 2 weeks on business. We were to fly out of GSP (Greenville-Spartanburg), to Cincinnati, to JFK, and from JFK to Budapest. We were both called early Saturday morning and was told the flight from GSP had been delayed. Then, about 30 minutes later, we were both called and asked to be at the airport ASAP.

When we got there, we were sent to US Air to check in. The lady explained that our flight schedule had been changed because of weather, and this was the only way we would possibly make it to Budapest on time. We were to fly from GSP to Atlanta, to Philadelphia, to Laguardia, ground transport over to JFK and then to Budapest. It didn't sound right from the start.

Anyway, we boarded and had no problems in Atlanta or Philadelphia. We arrived at Laguardia and no one could tell us where to go for ground transport. The weather was what we thought was uncharacteristic of NY in April , as the temps were in the 80's and HUMID. The escalators were out of order, so we had to drag our luggage up the stairs and over to the next terminal for transport. By that time, we had literally melted the wheels off of our luggage and were DRAGGING them on the sidewalk. We finally got transport over to JFK.

When we arrived at JFK, the check in line was out the door. A guy came outside and asked if any of our flights were International. The older lady in front of us was going to Budapest as well. We were taken to the front of the line where the attendant at the desk told us that the flight was closed. At this time, it was 55 minutes before takeoff, and evidently, International flights close one hour before takeoff.

We had to go over and explain WHY we missed our flight. We stood in line for nearly an hour. The guy was as rude as we could have ever imagined. He tried to tell us that it was our fault that we missed our flight. We finally explained that it was the airline that changed our flight schedule. He said that the next flight out to Budapest was TUESDAY. We were livid! We waited and waited while he searched for ANYTHING to get us out of JFK that day. He put us on stand by for Madrid and told us where to take our luggage. The flight didn't leave for another 3 hours, so we were able to get a bite to eat. We did NOT make stand by to Madrid. Neither did anyone else flying stand by to Madrid, as it was overbooked. There were ALOT of upset people! We had to stand in the same line we were in earlier. We stood in line for nearly 3 hours! By that time, it was 11:30pm, and we were wore out! We waited, and waited. Finally, the lady at the desk told my co-worker to go down to baggage claim to pick up our luggage before they closed, while I waited there for our schedule. She finally booked us on a flight to Milan and then to Budapest at 3pm the next day. She gave me vouchers to stay the night at a Holiday Inn an hour away. She told me that there would be a bus out front within 30 minutes to take us to the hotel. My co-worker came back and informed us that the baggage claim was closed and that he was told to check on our luggage the next day. By this time, it had started to rain and was very, very windy. We were freezing! My co-worker had on flip flops... We waited and waited for the bus and finally arrived at the hotel at 1am.

We get up the next morning and have breakfast. We decide to take a taxi over to JFK, as the bus ride would only get us to JFK about 1.5 hours before our flight left for Milan. $120 later, we waited at JFK for our flight. No one found our luggage, but was assured that it would make it to Budapest.

The flight from JFK to Milan was good. We had an 8 hour layover in Milan. Our flight from Milan to Budapest went well too. We made it to Budapest by 6pm - 24 hours LATE. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for our luggage. We completed all of the necessary paperwork at baggage claim. The ladies at baggage claim were very nice, although their English was very lacking. In fact, nearly as bad as our Hungarian (non-existent). Our cab driver spoke very little English, so he was of very little help to us at that time. We called explained to our contact that we had finally arrived in Budapest, but would need to shop for clothes and essentials since our luggage had not. Our cab driver picked us up, along with our FEMALE translator, to go shopping the next morning. Shopping for clothing and essentials in Hungary proved to be very tough.

Our luggage arrived 5 days later.

Sorry for the novel...but some things couldn't be left out...

[red-beard]

6 Hour flight from Paris to Boston. Make it over to the US in short time, but there is a blizzard on the ground. Turbulence is bad. People are throwing up as we circle logan. I've been in worse turbulence, but not for so long.

Captain says we are 3rd in line to land. Then he comes back on. A plow truck has run over some of the ILS equipment on the runway and Logan is shut until they plow a different runway.

We circle more, and then we are diverted to Syracuse for fuel. The 767 can land, but no gate equipment for us. Plus, they can't let us off since we haven't been through immigration or customs. We're out of food. We're now 11 hours into a 6 hour flight.

Take off towards Boston, back to turbulence. More people throw up. The GF is lucky she can't see the stuff, or she would throw up. Finally, after 2 more hours of circling, we land. 14 hours for a 6 hour flight. We landed at 1AM instead of 5 PM. I am way way to tired to drive home, in a blizzard. We grab a cheap hotel and sleep for 4 hours. We're both late to work the next day.

The worst part, it was her first International trip. She went through the worst total turbulence I've ever been through. Tough trip. She was a trooper.

[Dueller]

Originally posted by milt

Dueller, that is one hell of a story. What kind of biotch does that?

One that I have not seen or spoken to since the cab dropped her off from the airport.

Come to think of it she never gave me my $100 back. Oh well...cheap lesson

[HardDrive]

Stuck on the ground in Havana, Cuba. We are on a return flight to Toronto. Its 10pm. Most on the flight are drunk as skunks, and there are total antics on the plane. All the doors are open to provide some ventilation. No stairways leading up, no chain to prevent you from walking out, just a nice 20ft drop to the tarmac if wander out!

This being Cuba, everything is damn low tech. We are hooked into 'shore power' for lights, but they bring out a big generator and hook it up to the plane to start the motors. The doors are still open, and this big generator get cranking. The motors start to spool, when suddenly there there is a HUGE boom. Generators fails in some catostrophic fashion, and all the lights go out. People scream, and are quite reasonable concerned. This dies down after a few seconds, and some drunken Aussie shouts, "Well this is crap, no one told me I was going to have to push!". The whole plane come unglued laughing.

End of story: The military shows up 10 minutes later with a generator and we are on out way.

[Sonic dB]

Gogar, that is one weird reason for a flight delay.


I posted mine in an earlier thread regarding wing tips.

Last fall, I was in Zurich about to depart for Belgrade, Serbia
on a Swiss Air flight. The plane was an Airbus A320 and was
full of non-English speaking people.

They started to back the plane up and "WHAM" we all heard
a crunching sound and the plane shook semi-violently.

After about 15 minutes, the German speaking pilot came on
and announced in several languages (like they always do in
Europe) that they had a minor accident and the plane had been
backed up into the catering truck!

Some of the Serbian guys sitting next to me were pointing out
their side of the plane, so I looked over and the wing tip was
broken off and hanging down from the end of the wing.

The pilot announced that we were going to deplane and switch
to a different Swiss Air flight. So we waited.......and after a while
they came and took the luggage off of our plane and on to
a cart.

But we still waited....after about 1 hour...the pilot came on and
said that we were not going to switch to a new plane, because
they didnt have one available...and that they would be repairing
the wing and we would be flying off on a patched up plane.

This didnt sit well with the Serbian guys and they started
making a lot of noise.... one of the flight attendants, a male
came back and started arguing with them.

One of the Serbian guys spoke English and he said "no way
in hell I am flying out on this plane, the wing is cracked and the
mechanics don't know what to do...just look at them out there!"

After some arguing, the German Captain came back. He looked
a lot like the actor Sean Bean, but spoke with a heavy German
accent:

"If I say that this plane is safe enough for me...then it is safe
enough for you too!" he growled... "so sit down and stop
causing a disturbance!"

The pilot was getting pissed off at the situation and the passengers...

So we are sitting there and the Serbian guys were still being
defiant "we are not flying on this plane"...

So the captain came back again and said "Fine, then we will
get a representative of Swiss Air onboard and she will escort
you off this plane!"

So 45 minutes later, the wing was still not fixed... I was very tired
having flown for over 24 straight hours from the US with no
sleep in the same clothes...

The girl from Swiss Air came back and said "which of you are
getting off?" 4 Serbian guys raised their hands and I said...
"Im getting off too"

I just felt like getting off of the damaged plane and finding
a good hotel in Zurich.

So we all got off and went to the counter to book other flights...
then a long process ensued where they said there were no
other flights that day, the Serbian guys were arguing at the
counter and so they called the head of Swiss Air to come down.
This guy "Mr Staub" was not very pleasant... and he basically
told us all to F Off and that he wasnt helping anyone.

I found a very nice person from Swiss Air to check the hotels in
Zurich, but they were all filled up. The closest hotel was in
Winterthur, about 45 min by train to the North. So I was like
"OK what the hell... I will take it, I just need to get some sleep"

Then they lost my luggage and one was still on the plane to
Belgrade and the other was given to me...

So to make a long story short, I got an unexpected tour of
Zurich to the north by train...got off in a town where I didnt
know the language, or anyone there....but it was a fun adventure
navigating with the locals to find my hotel for the night.

and I saw one of the locals driving a nice 993 in Winterthur too.

[TerryBPP]

Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile
Which airline was that?

US airways

I was also strained for 3 days on my way to Vegas with 10 buddies. But I can't b!tch it was 3 days after 9-11. It was insane. People were running from terminal to terminal to try and get on stand-by. We got drunk and waited. Also, know you are going to Vegas helps.

It ended up being worth it. I "dated" 3 girls that week. None were paid for.