I’m currently passing time in a British airport after they canceled my flight, had a fight with them about trying to get a new flight, and finally having to wait 9 hours, fly, wait another 12 hours then finally get home.
They offered to let me into the lounge, but only for 5 hours of the waiting.
So what’s the worst airport experience y’all have had.
30 comments
Spirit airlines (never again…) stranded me in Chicago because of their own stupid delay causing me to miss my connection with their own flight by about 10 minutes, then basically said “tough luck” when I asked for overnight accommodation to catch tomorrow’s flight to the final destination, which was so late I ended up missing the main event I was traveling for in the first place. I had to book a hotel last minute late at night on my own dime, then entertain myself most of the morning through mid afternoon in the hotel.
When I flew from PHL to MSY through ORD in 2005 I was told when I got to Chicago that my connecting flight had been canceled when it had merely been delayed; I didn’t learn this until the next day. I didn’t have clothes, and they only gave me a small toiletries bag. I spent that night wandering around the terminal. I didn’t get my clothes for two days, but I borrowed some clothes from a friend when I got to New Orleans. I was able to shower in my hotel room, but these airlines need to quit fucking with people.
Some asshole TSA at SeaTac took my unopened pack of M&Ms. I’m still a little salty about that one.
Landed in O’Hare. Connecting flight was several terminals away, and took off less than an hour after my first flight landed, which landed late. I was hauling ass trying to make it. I was the last one to board the plane. I only made it because it got delayed. Incredibly stressful mad dash to get there, just to be crammed into the plane for several hours.
That was the last time I ever let HR book a flight for me lol
Frontier. IYKYK
15 hour delay in Chicago where I spent the night sleeping on the floor of the terminal only to have that flight canceled an hour after it was supposed to leave.
In Cancun I had to transfer terminals. Never been there. Cabby standing by told me I’d miss my flight if I didn’t use him. Paid $30 for a quarter mile ride. I got through security in 2 minutes.
I got scammed so hard.
When I was about 8(this was when I lived in Virginia and was at the end of summer vacation with my grandparents who lived in West Texas), we got stuck in the DC airport waiting on the last leg of our flight until probably 3 AM. I think the flight had scheduled to leave about 6 or 7. Now, as a kid I loved it but I think me and my siblings were the only ones awake, my grandparents and pretty much everyone else in the airport were completely passed out at that point.
Spirit in Miami. I feel like I needn’t go into further detail.
I was on my way from Seattle to New Zealand to begin a semester studying abroad there. Had a several hour layover in LA in the middle.
My plane to LA had a mechanical issue. No big deal, they pulled us off and put us on a new one. Still plenty of time to make my connection.
The second plane broke down too. Well fuck. No more spare planes.
They were eventually able to fix the first plane by cannibalizing parts from the second plane, putting the second plane out of service for several months according to the pilot. We eventually make it to LA, but after all that bullshit I had missed the single flight of the day to New Zealand by only about half an hour.
Alaska Airlines at least comped me a hotel room while I waited until the flight the following evening, but I had to check out at noon and go back to the airport for an 8pm flight. No big deal, right? I’ll just check my massive duffel bag with all my stuff for a semester abroad early and go do something in town.
Nope, can’t check my bag until 3 hours before my flight. Can’t go into town because of my massive duffel bag, can’t go through security without checking in. Guess I have to spend five hours on the bench in front of the bathrooms outside security in the LAX international terminal.
After an excruciating five hours, I finally am able to check my bag, get through security, and get to New Zealand.
Was in Detroit in January when a snowstorm was coming in. The other airlines were announcing delays, my airline was still going out. The other airlines announced cancellations, mine was still going out. By the time my airline cancelled my flight, it was too late.
By too late I mean: the hotel attached to the airport was completely booked. My parents couldn’t come get me because the literal actual airport was closed. The news reported later that the airport authority had closed the runways and diverted incoming traffic a couple of hours before my airline eventually canceled. The airlines knew this and were canceling flights so people could make other arrangements… except for mine.
I spent the night sleeping on the tile floor of a cold Detroit airport.
Had a connecting flight at JFK that I missed. The connecting flight only flies once a day. Fortunately, the travel agency I got my ticket from offered me a free stay at a hotel (albiet, the hotel was out of town and falling apart). The following day, I waited 4 hours in line to get through security. I almost wish I stayed at the airport
United from Birmingham to Houston – 9pm scheduled flight, didn’t take off till 2am, landed in New Orleans for some unknown reason, then took off an hour later to get to Houston. Landed at 5am – I had a 7am meeting.
I will never take United again
Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle.
Heathrow: the security people had different rules for carryon baggage than the airline, forcing us to cram laptop bags into wheelie suitcases before sending them through the X-ray machine. Confiscated duty free liquor because they needed to be in checked luggage (what?) Muttered under their breaths, “Americans don’t know how to pack.” They must have been AskReddit enthusiasts. And this was a connecting flight to Asia, lol
CDG: terrible security setup. Single machine for 250+ people at the end of a single stairwell, again for a connecting flight. I never understood this. The passengers are literally going from plane to bus to security. Before they got on a plane, they went through security. The only products in or out are supplied by the airline. Which is French.
So why are we going through security again?
Bear in mind, this was 2009…well past 9/11 when no one knew what the fuck they were doing.
But yeah, tell me again how European airports are better than American airports.
I was flying back from Europe to Washington Dulles on AA in the middle of summer. The flight was fine but it was completely full. Once we landed we were stuck on the tarmac for about 45 minutes to an hour waiting for a gate to become available. The plane got hot!
A woman in the row behind me got sick all over herself, sending an air of vomit scent wafting all over the cabin. That caused a chain reaction. A person then got sick two rows in front of me, and then a guy across the aisle. Because we were still considered taxiing, the flight attendants were telling everyone to stay seated and buckled. It was one of the most miserable hours of my life.
Philadelphia. This was largely on me, but I’ve never had such a hard time navigating through security and figuring out where I was supposed to go. I hadn’t slept and somehow ended up leaving the secure area once I’d gone through security and had to go through again. Fortunately I wasn’t in a hurry.
ATL has the absolute worst airport I’ve ever been to. I witnessed TSA stealing stuff from people and have had one of them attempt to steal my laptop and headphones.
A couple come to mind (I spent 15 years traveling for work, so I have a few stories)
Flying Chicago to Memphis in the summer. Had a late morning flight, but there were multiple delays due to weather. Eight hours later we finally board with an ETA of midnight. About halfway there, we hit wake turbulence. If you’ve never experienced wake turbulence, my recommendation is to avoid it. The captain was awesome. Explained that ATC let us get too close to a UPS plane and that we were fine.
Then there was the time I was flying home from Kansas City (to Chicago). I was originally on a 7pm flight but finished work a bit early and was able to fly standby on a 4 pm flight. This was back when you could just show up at the gate and fly standby if there were open seats. Anyway, we take off and have an uneventful flight. While circling OHare a storm system moves in. We circle about 45 mins and then the pilot announces that due to fuel (IIRC) we have to return to Kansas City. We fly back and they cancel the flight. I ended up on my original 7pm flight.
In all seriousness, I think that every bad trip I’ve had has been weather related. And, while inconvenient, I understand that it’s about safety and that should absolutely be the primary consideration. Mostly I’ve learned to just accept that delays happen and I just go with it.
Recent: Delta computer failure at Sea-Tac meant rolling cancellations as frantic staff tried and failed to check people in with pen and paper. Stood in the check-in area for 10 hours, then finally got on my way by grabbing the last seat on a JetBlue flight 14 hours after my intended departure time.
All time: the legendary North Terminal at Newark Airport, where PeoplExpress was based in the 1980s. Any attempt to fly to or through was an insane adventure that makes waiting for lounge access in 2023 look like the height of luxury.
I was on a trip in high school and our group arrived at Detroit Metro only to find that our travel agent had fucked up and we didn’t have tickets (or something like that). We ended up having to get tickets for another airline for that leg of the trip, which meant being stuck in the airport for about 8 hours, and this was before Detroit Metro was as nice as it is now. We were supposed to arrive at our final destination around noon, but didn’t get to our hotel until about midnight.
Flight from Houston to Philadelphia was canceled due to inclement weather. Had to wait and catch another flight to Philadelphia. My flight from Philadelphia had already departed. So, they put me on a plane to Dublin instead of a direct flight to Cologne. I landed in Ireland and had to leave the terminal and go through customs. Their customs agents were the most rude people I’ve ever encountered. I find my way to the Lufthansa check in and they kept giving me the runaround, telling me it’s my fault. Yes, of course, it’s my fault that Houston delayed me. They finally put me on a flight, but to Munich, not to Cologne. At least I was in Germany though. Had to wait another 7 hours for a flight on top of the hours I waited in Dublin. I finally get to Cologne but my luggage did not. It continued on to Dubai despite already being at my final destination. Had to wait seven days for my luggage to arrive.
Getting hit with an ID check while eating at Narita. Seriously, I’m trying to eat lunch, security dudes. NOW seems like a great time to ask for my passport and ticket? Why am I the most suspicious person in this McDonalds?
On a layover at Heathrow, I had a six pack of beers I had bought at duty free in my original country that they UNSEALED, unpackaged, and scanned individually. They gave me back six loose cans in a plastic bag. Fuck you Heathrow.
Denver. Several years ago.
1. TSA yelled at me for reaching over to the next lane to grab an empty tub because there were none in my lane,
2. Same trip, TSA grabs my 9 year old offspring and shoves them in the brand new sniffer box without warning or explanation. Scared the crap out of them when they got hit with air jets.
A few years later, I went back to Denver. Much smoother trip that time, but weed was also legal so ?
In the time during my flight from ABQ to Denver, they cancelled my next flight on to NYC. All the Southwest flights were cancelled due to weather… yet there were still other airlines flying. I put my name in as an alternate to be able to go on the other Southwest flights flying to NY that day, but since I wasn’t initially aware because I was in the air, everyone in Denver who had the flight cancelled were able to put their names in first. I finally got to like 3rd in line when they had the last flight of the day and they said they couldn’t fly me until later the next day. I was supposed to see a game that next morning so I wouldn’t make it. And it was a team from England that was playing preseason friendlies in the US, so it’s not like it was a game where I could just go another time. I ended up just flying back home at around midnight. My vacation was just spending the entire day in the Denver airport. I left my house at around 3 in the morning and didn’t get home until around 2 the next morning. Worst vacation ever.
Another time, I was connecting through Salt Lake to Amsterdam. I already didn’t have a lot of time to connect from my flight to the international flight. When I landed at SLC, they said there was no terminal. So we had to land, taxi out to some non-existent terminal, and wait for buses. By the time we got into the airport building, we had 10 minutes until the next flight. Had to book it running to the complete opposite end of the airport with luggage and backpacks on, and masks on since it was when that was required. We got there, hella sweaty, just in time. Turns out, that flight was late too, so we didn’t even have to run. Just ended up being exhausted and sweaty right before our long and cramped flight.
Seoul, Incheon international airport. Was being deported, so I arrived in handcuffs, with immigration police carrying my luggage. I was whisked through all the hidden places that you never see in an airport, like holding cells. I didn’t make the Duty-Free, or the business-class lounge, that’s for sure.
They kept me in a cell until everyone had boarded, then the two agents brought me on board, gave my onward tickets and passport to the captain, who would give them to me in Narita, Tokyo, for my connecting flight home.
Then they removed the handcuffs, in full view of the other, quite shocked passengers, who were all staring at me like I was Osama Bin Laden. I smiled at all of them, because I was happy that I’d recently been released from prison, and that finally, the ordeal was over.
After going to China, then Thailand and flying back to the US I made the mistake of flying through LAX. First of all, LAX is the worst airport I think I’ve ever been to, but the fact that in order to get from the international terminal to the domestic terminal you have to walk outside for good amount of time past a bunch of busses and taxis and cars picking people up on a disgusting gum covered sidewalk just go back through security again is a joke. China’s airport that I flew through, that barely had electricity and only had skylights for lighting, was nicer than LAX.
I’ve got two:
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Mumbai, India. This describes nothing special, no failures anywhere; it’s just the standard way things are done in Mumbai.
I arrived business class from Nanjing to the iternational terminal incredibly early in the morning (1:00 am or so). My connecting flight to Ahmedabad (also business class) isn’t until 7:00 or 8:00.
Like many airports, you have to transfer from international to domestic, but these aren’t really two separate terminals. It’s more like two separate airports. There’s no place to hang out in the international terminal, and I don’t even mean a business lounge. We’re forced to take the shuttle to the domestic terminal.
Except it’s not open.
The entire domestic terminal isn’t open. There’s no place to go in. I’m travelling on business, so I’m not even a “snobby” business class traveller; I just want a freaking place to go. Instead, I have to sit on the steps outside of the airport for several freaking hours until it opens.
Oh, and neither my Chinese nor American SIM works in India because they have an evil authoritarian government disguised as democracy, so I couldn’t even read reddit.
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On another occasion, I was trying to return “home” to China from BJX (Leon, Mexico). This was to Shanghai via a connection in LAX. Due to a storm, we had to divert to Mexico City. Except now the pilots’ daily time was overdue, and we had to wait until the next day for a new crew and new plane.
I think we arrived at midnight or so, and since we were already domestic, we were let go through the domestic doors, i.e., outside of security. Since we had no valid boarding passes, we couldn’t get back through security to where the seats are, and the Delta counter wouldn’t open until several hours later. Thus, there we all are, sitting/laying/standing around the Delta counter or anywhere else we could, waiting for Delta to open. Nothing in the terminal was open except for 7-Eleven, and I think we collectively sucked it dry.
Normally I love Mexico City, and the airport is usually efficient, but dang, it would have been really nice to go back to Leon, where we came from, instead of being shuffled off to MEX which is further away!
Not to mention missing our connecting flight and losing our Economy Plus seats during rebooking on the LAX-PVG flight. This is a big deal for a 187cm dude on a 12 hour flight!
Took a United flight to Grand Cayman. In route we had a transfer in Newark. Got off the plane, walked about sixty feet and determined my wallet must have fallen out of my pocket in my plane seat. Went back to the gate, was refused boarding to look for it. Was told in some amount of horror “the cleaning crew is already on board”. They found my wallet and returned it to me except for $300.00 in cash. The supervisor stole the money as he was tweeking and his crew was upset, one lady was crying. United basically said your lucky you got your wallet back now piss off. Shitty airlines and shitty customer service.
I was at Love Field last summer about to board my flight when a woman walked into the area before security and fired a shot into the ceiling.
I was in the bathroom squeezing out the last few drops before I got onto the plane when suddenly everyone in the terminal started screaming. Some lady came into the men’s with her two kids to hide.
Walked out of the bathroom to see pure pandemonium as people were running onto planes that weren’t theirs, or hitting the emergency exits and running onto the tarmac. By the time I found my mom and sister the hysteria had died down. Texted my boss that I wasn’t going to make our meeting.
Over an hour later they made everyone in the airport go through security again. I do mean everyone. Even the people that worked their. It was wild to see an entire airport evacuate and go back through security.
Here’s a link to a story about the shooting. [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/love-field-airport-shooting-dallas/](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/love-field-airport-shooting-dallas/)