My recent flight experiences

...a smorgasbord of homemade ethnic food mid-flight that literally smelled like feet and ****.

Mike!!!!! 😂
But ugh, I don't know what's worst on a plane; stinky food or fellow flyers in desperate need of a wash-up.

Oh my goodness ! My flights never have anything so interesting (although maybe for my stress levels that is good. But this does sound entertaining !! )

All I ever seem to get are crying babies...

I am understanding about babies because we've flown with ours way back in the mists of time. Sometimes there is nothing you can do to calm them down. It's stressful because you know everyone around you is annoyed to say the least. My heart goes out to those parents. I mean, they're exhausted, too.

One rule if I was king for a day: Everyone has to shower and brush their teeth before boarding a plane. That's not unreasonable. Also, please, no tuna fish sandwiches.

Southwest Airlines: The Florida-Man of Air Travel.

-- Mike Beebe

I don’t know flight attendants keep their sanity these days. I have to endure the flight and all this nonsense for a few hours. It’s their day, every day for their career. It really wasn’t quite this bad a few years ago and I’m trying not to say this in my old person voice, but by observations like yours, Mike.

Yeah, well, on our last trip, we had the most amazing experience. A large woman with 3 uncontrolled children was seated directly in front of our row. It began when my pre-dinner glass of wine was knocked out of my hand by the 2 YO. Luckily, it was a white. All over the pants. Then at 2 AM, when most were asleep, the woman discovered that a large earring had disappeared. She began wailing (LOUDLY) and intensely seatching under her seat, our seat, our seat back pockets, etc. She was using her cell-phone flashlight. Remember the "if you drop your cell phone, as a crew member to assist"? Well, the crew did not only not assist, they ignored her while she was awakening all the neighboring passengers. I've never experienced anything like it.

How is it, Big Mike, that you get to have all that entertainment and fun on your flights? Ours have been very boring. We have yet to have a fight or even hear a good argument. My only complaint is that local airfare is damn expense.

Big Mike, last year I watched a fellow try to cram his carry on into too small a space in the overhead bin next to ours, so he took my bag out of its bin, put it in the space where his wouldn't fit, then crammed his (much) larger bag into the space where mine had been. It just barely fit, next to my husband's smallish backpack.

My jaw dropped as I watched him do it. I decided no harm was done though, and let it go, but my husband was sure peeved when he went to get our bags when we landed, and mine wasn't where I had left it.

I had a two year old girl behind me kicking my seat repeatedly. I was quite annoyed and turned around and glared at the mother who looked back at me like she didn’t care. The third time I turned around and glared at her she said, “You tell her to stop! She won’t listen to me!”

@Jane, during my last two flights from my home airport, other travelers tried to jam their roller bags into the “almost long enough for two” overhead of the smaller planes. Both times they were attempting to more or less bend my wheel bracket to obtain the space they needed!

I’m taking a backpack this time. I’m finished with the chance of starting a major trip with a broken suitcase. Anything to increase the chance of having a great time is a positive decision. ; )

Frank, hell if I know. Maybe after years of nothing it was my turn? Before my civilian life the worst of flying on Air Force planes is we were often without showers for quite some time.

Also, if I'm king for a day? World peace, too.

Jane, the overhead bin is often a source of consternation. This is why I try to board as soon as allowable. It is rather hilarious watching someone try to jam something in there.

Paul, perhaps the crew knew what was going on and made a pointed decisions to just not get involved. I mean, I understand.

BigMike,

So many incidents lately seem to be getting filmed on someone’s cell phone then aired on local or national TV news, with perpetrators often duct-taped to a seat, before being arrested upon landing. All on your list were outrageous, but apparently not quite to that extreme level.

• Did they expect to be able to use the restrooms together at the same time, too? Or have everyone stay seated while they got off first?
• They were probably also blaming the pilot for any turbulence that kept them from reaching new high scores. Do planes still have a PA system for music? The crew could’ve cranked up some nice Lawrence Welk tunes for that teen couple’s enjoyment, to add to their games’ noise.
• The family with the putrid food should’ve been severely chided for not bringing enough to share
• The businessman who removed someone else's luggage should’ve had that luggage open up and spill a feet and **** smelling substance on him … because it was “over his seat and therefore it was his.”
• Good thing that Pajama Guy wasn’t wearing a tiger or leopard-skin negligee! Or maybe a negligee is now considered a rightful personal choice, but not with socks!!!

Maybe Boeing will start equipping planes with cameras, and a Blooper reel can be shown on each flight before landing. Passengers can vote on the worst offenders and call attention to them. Then the footage gets sent to the local and national news. Are Greyhound and Amtrak free from all this, I wonder?

https://www.tiktok.com/@goneviral23/video/7234152594506091819?refer=embed

Mike-- how did you miss out on this flight, which undoubtedly was late in leaving?

Cyn, the old greyhound bus. Been a few decades. That has got to be far more interesting than on a plane.

joe, that's the day I would retire as a flight attendant.

Why is this posted on the 'best walking shoes' forum? Just curious.😊

Nancy, a mistake on my part.

Also, if I'm king for a day?

It's my goal to be Emperor of the World on my travels, if you're King for a Day, which one of us has seniority and gets the last space in the overhead bin?

Emperor of the World isn’t flying on a commercial jet; the Emperor has a private plane. Onboard is also an Executioner with an axe and chopping block, to behead anyone who gets out of hand during the flight.

King for a Day would get priority boarding on a commercial flight, and first dibs access to the Throne.

My flights are boring. Maybe because the stinky food is more of a topic of interest to me than an issue. I suppose they think my kimchee stinks too. The stories above are not flight stories, they are 22nd Century Life stories. Its everywhere.

Recently I stayed in sort of a newage design hotel in Bucharest. At breakfast in the morning there were at least 40 people between 20 and 30 years old in the breakfast room in pajamas. Some had teddy bears..... What the ........ ?

Emperor of the World isn’t flying on a commercial jet; the Emperor has
a private plane. Onboard is also an Executioner with an axe and
chopping block, to behead anyone who gets out of hand during the
flight.

I like your thinking Cyn.

King for a Day:

1) Overhead bin space
2) Premium economy (trying not to be greedy)
3) World peace

Why is this posted on the 'best walking shoes' forum?

Probably the subliminal thought/influence that 'walking might have been better'

Good one, Joe.

Speaking of walking shoes (or lack of them).......on my last flight from Dulles to Heathrow, a group of college age girls took their shoes off and walked around the plane for most of the flight. Bare feet; no socks.
By the halfway point of the flight, all the bathroom floors were wet but the girls went in there barefoot anyway.

The worst is yet to come.
They then returned to their seats and two of them reclined and put their feet between the 2 seats in front of them, thus using the armrest of their neighbor in front of them as a footrest during the night.
I'm sure the people in the row in front of them were surprised to see feet beside them on their armrest when they woke up.

Little did they know where those bacteria-coated feet had been which were now on their armrests.

Speaking of walking shoes (or lack of them).......on my last flight from Dulles to Heathrow, a group of college age girls took their shoes off and walked around the plane for most of the flight.

Bare feet; no socks.By the halfway point of the flight, all the bathroom floors were wet but the girls went in there barefoot anyway.

An United Flight Attendant told me some stories about passengers going barefoot to the bathrooms. Can you say gross!

passengers going barefoot to the bathrooms. Can you say gross!

The past 2 weeks in Ireland have included some fantastic hillwalks and strolls on trails. Sheep abound, and there are lots of droppings to step over or around. I haven’t seen anyone doing it, but maybe some of those plane toilet barefooters would just stroll thru the fields without any footwear, blissfully squishing thru the sheep deposits. That might be preferable to the floors on some planes.

I wonder, too, whether those folks stand up on the toilet seat to reach the towels dispenser, or use the sink as a footrest while they’re in there? I’ve seen women (collage age, mostly) all contorted in their seat, feet on armrests and/or the window sill/wall. Everywhere’s fair game on a plane for some folks.

Oh Rebecca, that is absolutely disgusting !!

I would think that the residents of the seats would be aware, as surely those feet STANK ??!!

Ugggghhh 🤢🤢🤢

Yes Kim, disgusting...UGH!!!
The residents of those seats were asleep when the feet first appeared on their armrests, I'm sure.
It was in the middle of the night on an overnight flight.

I had to fly weekly this past fall into winter, so it was kind of fun to people watch. Thankfully I always lucked out with seat mates. There was one flight attendant that was so rude to everyone, and I was just waiting for someone to let her have it. One poor person I don't think had ever flown before as they had no idea of what to do. They asked her where their bag goes, and she started yelling at them that she will not lift their bags. They weren't asking that, but she just went off the deep end. I should have reported that to the airline as she was so out of line, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt that maybe something had just happened etc. Anyway, I think the most interesting thing I saw was first in the lounge, and then sure enough the guy was on my flight. I have no idea what the heck it was, but he had some sort of large stuffed animal, or part of one. attached at his waist and it was like a huge tail that stuck out his backside. I would say it was at least a foot in diameter, tapering off of course, and was 2-3 feet long. So if he turned, he would have hit someone with it. He must do this a lot because the lounge workers knew him by name. So weird though, and why?????

" So weird though, and why?????"

Sounds like he's probably a Furry.

Not that I would know anything about that.

-- Mike Beebe

a huge tail that stuck out his backside

Perhaps it was a companion animal? Or a service animal? Not certain what service was being performed!

Or he was smuggling his pet fox onboard, so as to not have to pay the airfare.

Or he was wearing his fur coat under other layers, to keep the weight of his carry-on luggage down.

Was the guy in 1st class, or in the back? My guess is in the Tail of the plane, and he has a proclivity for that kind of thing.

Mike--I am afraid to ask, what is a furry?

Cyn--LOL!

Furries are individuals who are especially interested in anthropomorphic or cartoon animals (e.g., Bugs Bunny). They often strongly identify with anthropomorphic animals and create fursonas, identities of themselves as those anthropomorphic animals.

Observed it once somewhere on the West Coast. You got me!

I realize it's immature on my part, but I like a little passenger entertainment on a flight as long as I'm not involved and there's no violence.

My wife reminded me that Pajama Man had a hoodie on his pajamas, which he would pull over his head, but we can't remember if it was a onesie or not with a flap on the back.

Allan, I'd guess an emperor would trump a king, so you win .

Well at least you weren't flying in South Korea when someone managed to open the door on final approach. https://wapo.st/43ofTEu
(It's gifted so folks can hopefully open the link).

Ed--That is so odd, but it shouldn't surprise me!

So if someone’s prized anthropomorphic cartoon animal is a reptile, like the GEICO gekko, are they a Scaly?

Totally off-topic but...

So if someone’s prized anthropomorphic cartoon animal is a reptile, like the GEICO gekko, are they a Scaly?

Yup. That's exactly what they're called. No, I am not making this up.

"The more you know."

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled thread.

-- Mike Beebe