"Thousands Of People Were Stranded": People Are Sharing Their Absolute Worst Travel Nightmare Stories
"The hotel general manager was cornered by guests to try and find out what was happening. He literally put his hand in my husband's face and said, ‘I don’t have to tell you s**t,’ and walked away."
"As we returned, my wife and I sat next to a mother holding her screaming baby in the last row. She would play with a doll and slam the hard plastic toy onto my knee.
The plane just sat idle on the runway for 1.5 hours. A storm was coming into Atlanta, so the flight was diverted to Savannah. We sat for another hour and a half. Then they told us, 'The gas is too hot to take off.'
Naturally, the storm came down at that time, too. So now we’re being told we must return at 7 a.m. the next morning. So I had to find a hotel, get food, and carry luggage in a storm.
The next morning, some crew were late, and many people decided that driving four hours back to Atlanta was better than getting a $200 credit."
"We were leaving to return to Iraq the same day. I left three hours before him. As we were over the Atlantic, the volcano in Iceland blew (late March 2010). We were diverted to London, and we were the last plane that landed. Fortunately, EU regulations required them to get us a hotel. It took nine days for me to be able to fly to Iraq while hubby stayed home and had extra leave. Once we got to Kuwait, he could leave for Iraq in two days while I was there for another 11 days (they prioritized the military). Got to see a few shows in London, went to the zoo, took a tour bus, etc. So, it's not that bad. Staying in a tent in Kuwait sucked, though."
—Beth, Savannah GA
"The same day, my friend and I took a day trip to Italy. On the train, a man was escorted off for having a butcher knife with him. We also ended up on the wrong train on our way back to Nice and had to take a taxi instead. It was a wild day, but we still laugh about it 17 years later."
"The first thing that struck me was that the pilot didn't mention which hydraulic system was the problem. The second was that if we crashed in the desert, the bodies would be easier to recover.
We got to the head of the runway, and the emergency vehicles were driving as fast as possible next to us, trying to pace us. We landed but didn't slow down as fast as normal. We eventually stopped and got to a gate. The problem was that a line for the brakes broke, spraying the landing gear with hydraulic fluid. The fear was that the hydraulic fluid would ignite, hence the emergency vehicles. Five hours later, we continued our journey to San Diego."
"We stood there for nearly five hours without a diaper change, food, formula, or news about what was happening. No one had their wallets/purses, Apple Pay didn’t exist, and there wasn’t a store close enough to walk to — no one had car keys. The hotel general manager was cornered by guests at hour five to try and find out what was happening. He literally put his hand in my husband's face and said, ‘I don’t have to tell you s**t,’ and walked away. I’m glad my daughter doesn’t remember it."
"Upon arrival in Melbourne, we found our checked bags did not make the flight (I knew they wouldn't make the whole flight down). We are told they will arrive the next morning. Because we were flying business class (lots of airline points!), they gave us new pajama sets, toiletry bags, and gift cards for $300 each. The next morning came, and no bags. They missed connections again so that they would be delayed another day. So I took the girls shopping for new clothes, even giving them my card as I was content living in my dress clothes and sports coat. The second morning comes, and there are no bags. Come to find out that they are stuck in Brisbane due to heavy fog. I was assured they would arrive the next morning. Yeah, right. On the elevator ride up to inform the girls of another delay, another in our group entered and remarked,'“Did you not bring any other clothes?' I replied straight-faced, 'No. I travel lite.' 'Impressive' was their reply as they got off on their floor. The bags did make it the following morning. The image of my daughter running my wife in a wheelchair at full speed, followed by the rep huffing it, followed by me laboring behind, hauling carry-on bags in each hand, still makes me laugh."
—Jon, St. Louis
"We get a confirmation that our SFO to Miami flight was indeed rerouted but not canceled. Meanwhile, we are still waiting for the regional plane to get fixed and eventually are told that the replacement part won't arrive in time, so the flight into SFO gets canceled. We decide to rent a car and haul butt all the way to SFO (about a 3-hour drive) to try to make it so we don't miss our flight into Miami. We made it just in time for the airline ticket person to tell us the cargo doors were closed and checked baggage was no longer accepted. We were told to throw our baggage away since we couldn't take it with us and had no one at the airport to take it. We pleaded with her, saying we just drove several hours due to a canceled flight and that it was our honeymoon. She found some compassion in her heart and gave us special tags to allow us to take our checked baggage with us on the plane. The flight attendants had to keep our baggage in the back near their seats, so we thanked them for doing that for us. We eventually make it to Fort Lauderdale and make it to our hotel. The next morning, we jumped on our cruise, and no further than an hour after departing, the Captain announced that there were really bad storms in the Caribbean and that we were no longer heading to the Cayman Islands but to Cozumel. We had our hearts set on the itinerary but made the best of it and had a great time!
As the trip progressed, the seas got worse. The waves were so bad you could feel it on a huge cruise ship! People were throwing up in the dining areas due to seasickness, and the movement was pretty bad, even in our cabins. The next port of call, Jamaica, got canceled, and we were told we were going to the Bahamas instead of Jamaica. Again, we were so excited about the planned itinerary, but either way, we had a great time there, too. We eventually returned to Miami and explored the City for a few more days. Our vacation ended, and we were so scared our flights would get canceled on the way back home, but everything went according to plan (surprisingly). After all our honeymoon ordeal, we wondered if our marriage was doomed since our honeymoon didn't go as planned. We're going to be married for eight years this year!"
—Delia, California
"They say our luggage, along with the HUNDREDS of other bags, will be on a flight back to LA without us. Okay, great, screw you, airline. My stepmom back home in LA books us a hotel and explains the situation, while my sister and I pay $50 for a cab, my dad, stepmom and brother booking it to this hotel to drive us back the next day due to a prior obligation. My boyfriend was also ready to drive out there. The only bright side? The front desk guy at our hotel didn’t charge me for the Stouffer's Mac and cheese I grabbed from the store there because of the day we had. He was awesome, and the airline was crappy. Never traveling right around Christmas by flying again. I’d rather drive."
—Alycia, California