What is the strangest reason you have heard of, which prevented a flight from taking off?
One of my flights was postponed for more than an hour while the crew kicked all the drunk people off. It was a mid-morning flight, after an international game of football in London the evening before.
My flight home for Christmas was delayed for four hours (we got onto the plane in time but remained on the runway) because one of the doors froze - the temperature outside was minus 20 and there was a snow blizzard.
J.
Reply to this My strangest one was on an American Airlines flight from Quito to Miami. We started down the runway only to turn around and drive back to the terminal because 'the temperature had gone up by one degree and we were now too heavy to fly.' Someone please explain this to me, it seems like the stupidest reason ever. Even more annoyingly was that they had overbooked the flight (I still don't understand this policy, if you pay for a ticket you are going to do everything you can to get on that flight!) They had to find five volunteers to wait for the next flight as apparently it's AA policy to always have a few free seats on a flight, giving them $300 a piece to get them to volunteer. Then we start again only to be told there's now a technical fault so back to the terminal. That finally gets fixed but our flight had already been marked as 'departed' when we first tried to take off so the paperwork had to be redone which involved the pilots running across the airport while we're still sat on tarmac. Finally get going over three hours late with practically everyone onboard having connecting flights in Miami. I dread to think how much they had to pay out to get everyone on to their final destinations. The most annoying thing of all was that the people who volunteered to get the next flight actually took off before us AND got $300 for doing it!!
Reply to this My favourite was a flight from La to San Francisco. We all boarded the plane, fastened our seat belts, were told by the hostesses to raise seat backs, stow luggage, and then guess what we were told there were no pilots to fly the plane!!! Yep, seriously! We all had to get off the plane, while the air hostesses apologised embarassed. As we passed them, they handed out free beers, spirits etc. Classic stuff
Reply to this A flight from Jersey to Gatwick, they could not close the cargo hold door, after 3 hours sitting on the runway with technicians working on it we left, I am a nervous flyer and i was convinced they were bluffing, I was rigid with fear the whole flight all be it a short one
Reply to this There I was at Gatwick, sitting in the aisle seat of Row 1 on a CalAir DC-10
(this aircraft had once been part of Freddie Laker’s SkyTrain and is probably now in the Mojave Desert). The doors were closed, everyone was buckled up and ready to go. Then, I noticed the carpet by my feet getting very blue and very wet. I pointed it out to the cabin attendant, who rushed to the flight deck. Within seconds, a very-worried captain came to investigate, followed by an even more-worried flight engineer. Doors were opened, ground staff in yellow jackets appeared. Blue water was now pouring down a crack between my feet and the bulkhead. After much running up and down steps and anxious grumblings, the ground staff stopped the flow. It transpired that a valve in the forward toilet’s water tank had stuck in the open position and the bowser pumping chemicals had just kept on pumping. We were delayed by several hours while the electrics beneath the toilet compartment were dried out. Then, with fingers tightly crossed, we took off - but, of course, we could only use the aft toilets during the flight!
Reply to this Oh, and how about the scariest reason for a
landing being aborted? On the final approach of my Virgin flight from Mumbai to London - as we skimmed the perimeter car parks at Heathrow, just ten seconds from touchdown - the aircraft suddenly went onto full forward thrust and climbed steeply back into the sky! The face of the Indian gent sitting next to me was a picture! Five minutes later, our captain (who'd been otherwise occupied swearing at the control tower), informed us that a British Airways plane that landed ahead of us had still been on the runway and suggested we enjoyed the magnificent view of central London as we circled for a second attempt to land.
Reply to this @Kat M ive missed flights, and ive bought tickets to flights and didnt show, because it was cheaper to buy a new ticket, then pay the fee to have it changed! I can think of 2 flights just last year i didnt make because i was late to the airport
@ Keep smiling, that scares the HELL out of me! lol im already a nervous flyer, i was landing in Atlanta, and we hit a patch of fog, as we were landing... and we were pretty low, and the pilot lost all visiblity... so the engines start roaring and we are going straight back up! LOL it made me nervous, because i was wondering what happened, and in Atlanta the worlds busiest airport, he just went straight up i was thinking, what if something was above us lol...
Reply to this We had a flight from La Paz to Rurrenbaque in Bolivia that was cancelled because the engine exploded. They told us that was the reason and then tried to retract it later....as you can imagine we were a bit nervous when we manage to get the same flight the following day!
Reply to this delayed flights sucks.
laandal.. that was breath taking huh? scary.
Reply to this Oh dear Lion air (Lying air) why does this not suprise me?
I think the strangest reason for a plane being delayed ive encountered so far was sitting on the tarmac at Port Moresby waiting to fly to Alotoa and waiting, and waiting...the pilot came out and explained that they were waiting for important medical supplies to be loaded and asked for patience and the woman with the two live chickens and her friend seated next to her with a piglet nursing to keep their animals quiet...
Eventually the important medical supplies were loaded...nothing like seeing boxes and boxes labelled ''longsok belongim kok'' being loaded. Translation = condoms.
Reply to this Mine was when there this air traffic and the pilot needs to have an emergency landing to another airport for a refuel that was not so nice to hear.
Reply to this Often times the problem is you are waiting for an extended period of time on the tarmac and no one tells you what the delay is. Active imaginations take over......and that is never good.
We were on one flight when they announced they were going to circle the airport because they were having trouble getting the landing gear in place. Oh boy-- on approach I'm sure everyone was wondering if they were certain the problem had been remedied.
Reply to this My strangest experience when we heard the captain saying that there are birds on the runway so the plane can't take off.
Reply to this Many years ago I was flying on a small prop plane from Columbus, Ohio to Chicago. To get to the plane we had to follow white lines on the ground leading to steps. Seemed pretty easy. After the propellers were up and running, they stopped again. Turns out one of the passengers was on the wrong plane. She didn't follow the right white line. We had to sit and wait until the propellers were blocked and secured before she could disembark. Overall not a scary reason for not taking off, but rather a humorous one. And it made me happy that I wasn't the one who had to stand up in front of everyone, gather my stuff and try to leave with dignity.
Reply to this Probably the scariest for us hot climate people was in Chicago and being told we couldnt fly as the wings were frozen so they needed to have antifreeze put on them. Probably normal for cold climates but definitly adds lots to the imagination on what else is frozen 😞
Reply to this I got stuck on a flight where a passanger on the previous flight on the plane had flushed several napkins down the toilet close to landing. Natually it backed up and overflowed. The stewardess only discovered this while preparing my flight for takeoff. We got to sit on the tarmack for over an hour while maintaince cleaned up the mess.
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