Craig

Yesterday on my flight home from Dallas I was sitting in the 1st row of coach and could see all the happenings in 1st class. I haappended to see one of the classiest things I have ever seen. There was a business man in the last row. I saw him talking to a young man with military orders in his hands. The next thing I saw him talking to the flight att and exchanging tickets with the young man. The young soldier then sat in 1st class and the man went and took the young mans seat in coach. This was a 3 hour flight from Dallas to Detroit too. Very few people saw this act of kindness. I have a son in the army going to saudi arabia next month. I hope someone will do the same thing for him. I plan on doing the same as I am often upgraded to 1st as a N-W elite memeber. Thanks to this man for the great gift of kindness to the men and women in the service. Also thanks for teaching me something that I really did not think about before.<BR>

Judge

1st place: Sandy<BR><BR>2nd place: Rod<BR><BR>3rd place: Dr. Al (special mention for humor as well)

Melanie

The strangest thing that has happened to me was in Madrid in 98. I was coming back from spending college Spring Break in Spain with friends. I am an American citizen (Anglo, young looking, Southern accent); however, I was born in Iran to parents working overseas. When I tried to board my flight in Madrid, I was harrassed by the airlines and taken to speak to 'Managers'. Apparently, they were very concerned that I was born in Iran and were worried that I was some sorta terroist. I had been spending time in the Basque country, where that weekend there had been bombings. They were concerned I was somehow involved. Very strange...Taught me a lot how easy it is to make assumptions...<BR><BR>My father had the most horrible incident. He missed a plane in Saudia Arabia that crashed with all loss of life. Meanwhile, my father had rented a car and driven acrosss the country to Jeddah. My mother (in the states) was informed that he had died. Living in the mid-East in the 70s and 80s - gave my family many strange airline incidents. My grandmother (from Santa Cruz, CA) came over on a storytelling tour in the Mid-East and was hijacked. There are many other crazy stories of losing engine power, etc.

cantusemyreal

This is not in the same great league as some of those above but here goes.<BR><BR>On a flight last year from NY to Delhi, we stopped in London to take on more passengers. We could stay on or get off and stretch our legs. I stayed on, my seatmate (I didn't know her) got off. While she was gone, a man and a woman from the middle rows section of plane sat down in her seat (and the one next to it). <BR><BR>My seatmate returned but the man would not get up. She called the flight attendant, showed her the boarding pass. The FA looked at his boarding pass (which clearly showed him in another seat), shrugged her shoulders and walked off.<BR><BR>My now ex-seatmate then went and sat in his seat. Then the man turned to me and asked me to change seats (middle seat, middle row, no way) with his son so they could all sit together! Didn't happen. <BR><BR>If he had been in my seat, we'd still be there, probably duking it out. I'm little but if you wrong me, watch out, I'm mean!

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Mary

I was flying with my husband and 2 teenage kids to Israel about 4 years ago on an evening flight out of Newark. My kids were seated across the aisle one row in front of us, and they fell asleep. The woman sitting right across the aisle from us put her feet up,(no shoes) and stuck her big dirty feet in my sleeping daughters hair! I thought maybe she didn't realize they were on my kids head so I told her....and she did nothing! I had to get the flight attendent. I finally fell asleep for a little while, and when I woke up, her feet were back on my daughters head. Round 2!

gary

I was returning home from a ski trip to Mt Batchelor, Oregon with my ski club. We had just taken off from our SFO connection and I was sitting in the window seat. Here comes the flight attendant with a lighter in her hand. I thought that was odd. Then she stops at my row and flicks it on. Even odder. Then she pulls out a birthday cake from behind her back, lights the candle, and leads the passengers in singing Happy Birthday to me. <BR><BR>My buddies from the ski club had bought the cake at the airport and talked her into doing this. This was 13 yrs ago on PSA. They were known for being wild and crazy. (Anyone remember PSA? They got bought out and then dismembered by USAir. Which give a big boost to Southwest. And where is USAir today? Southwest had the last laugh.)

marnie

I remember once, years ago, in the Baghdad airport, an announcement over the PA system, over and over calling for the pilot of flight number so and so. Finally, they announced that flight number so and so was canceled "due to the unfortunate lack of a pilot".<BR><BR>As a teenager, in Iran with my family, flying from Tehran to Isfahan, in an old plaine -- this was in the very early seventies. I noticed the guy in front of me had a seatbelt that was attached to the frame of the seat by a piece of string! He asked the flight attendant about it and she told him: "Oh, these aren't very good planes, just ones the Americans don't want anymore". AS we began taxiing, something out the window caught my eye. We were sitting right at the . I kept watching and sure enough, saw it again: flames coming out of the engine. I was a young teenager and no one would listen to me -- even my parents, on the other side of the aisle, thought I was "exaggerating". Finally, the guy with the string seatbelt told the attendant I was right, there were flames. We went back to the terminal and waited seven (!) hours for repairs. I remember the drive back to Tehran, so I guess my parents decided not to go through that again. (Beautiful drive, but not as exciting.)

Marko

About 10 years ago I flew home from Bali to Brisbane next to a very pierced /very out of it surfer guy ! He spent about an hour before he lapsed into sleep (?COMA?) pushing a rather large sewing needle through the webbing between each of his fingers !!!Hostess walked passed occasionally but very quickly and our aisle didn't get much in the way of service, I had to go for a leak and I spoke to the hostess after he had fallen asleep and all she could say was that the guy scared the crap out of her ! The flight was full with no spare seats so<BR>guess who didn't sleep on that overnight flight , in fact I spent most of it chatting up the hosties!

Robbyn

These are wonderful, just topping as I would love to hear some more!!!<BR><BR>

navyflyer

I was just starting out in the realm of naval aviation and this was my third flight. My instructor and I briefed then we went out to the little T-34 aircraft and we looked up in the sky and we saw dark thunderclouds rolling in. So he said, let's go out there and find a hole in the clouds for us to practice basic flying skills and then find a little air field to practice touch and go's. We barely got up there and we kept having to go higher and higher because there was no hole in the clouds. We started practicing then to my relief he said, this is a really bad idea, let's go back home. He took the controls from me and home we went. The problem was that now we were flying inside the dark clouds and the turbulence was nerveracking. I hit the top of the canopy with my helmet twice. I said about 20 hail mary's and the Lord's prayer before we got down 20 minutes later. I was shaking like a leaf in the wind at the end of that ordeal. From then on, I have found great respect for the weather versus my flying skills.

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Sharon

There was an empty seat next to me on a flight from Hawaii to Los Angeles and a man was seated on the next seat over from the empty one. This man did not move his head or his eyes and looked straight up. Only his arms were in motion while he rubbed a pen up and down his leg. We asked the stewardes to change our seats but the plane was full! When beverage service came around he asked for O.J. and milk and then proceeded to mix them together and drink the concoction. Later he screamed and ran up and down the aisles and said that someone on the plane had killed his brother and kicked the stewardess. The co-pilot came out and asked for volunteers to subdue the weirdo--every man on the plane stood up--no problem. When the plane landed a group of large burly men were waiting by the plane door for all passengers to exit. <BR>The other event was an announcement on another flight that we would be making an emergency landing in Paris while flying from Rome to London. We had lost 2 out of 3 generators. Extremely fortunate to land with no problem-- firetrucks and ambulances were waiting for us--luckily not needed. We waited at CDG Airport for 7 hours--they just didnt know what to do with us. So now when I land and have reached my destination I clap because the flight was uneventful!

Geoff

<BR>If you want *serious* shudders you need to ride Russian made aircraft. Air Ukraine non-stop JFK to Kiev for 13 hours. The drink cart came out not with some nice coffee thermos carafes but an old tin coffee pot and an oversize, 4 gallon CAST IRON KETTLE for tea. When I went to the rest room in the back I could see the reason - instead of nice microwaves, they had hot plates. Hot plates. From the drink cart, 90% of the plane ordered the exact same thing - double vodka. I was in the third row of seats and there were already 3 bottles of vodka emptied. I wonder why.<BR><BR>By the way Mark - anyone that begins a story saying it's true is probably protesting too much. Sorry, but you can count on someone being affended by a movie like that and it would have been stopped quickly.

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Jill

My parents were on an Aer Lingus flight from NYC to Shannon and noted that a leather-clad 4 man rock-band had boarded the plane. Mid-flight the apparent drummer of the band whipped out his drumsticks and started drumming on the headrest of the seat in front of him. The man in the seat mistaken for a drum repeatedly asked him to stop but he kept on drumming and eventually the frustrated man snapped-got up and punched the drummer. Seconds later the rest of the band joined in and an all-out brawl broke out between the band members and other passengers, all of whom were all large men. The flight attendents, all small-framed women saw the goings-on and within seconds went into action, jumping on the men and breaking up the fight themselves with their own force. So don't mess with the ladies at Aer Lingus...they are well trained...and I wonder if you can even bring drumsticks on board these days?

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Lisa

Many, many moons ago I was flying from LAX to Kansas City on Easter Sunday. The flight was delayed and delayed and delayed at the gate. We were told they were loading fuel, then that they were taking on late cargo. Finally, after nearly two hours, the pilot came on over the intercom and admitted that the airline had forgotten to schedule a co-pilot for the flight, but that one was now on his way. The pilot gave regular updates on his progress...."The co-pilot just hit the No. 10 freeway...The co-pilot is 10 minutes away," etc.<BR><BR>Doesn't exactly instill confidence in a nervous flyer.<BR>

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Mavis

Flying into Calgary, Alberta we hit turbulence - which was the worst we'd ever experienced. Trays were flying, drinks, people caught in the washroom, others falling across seats trying to get back to their seats - and from somewhere in the back there was this kid who'd just returned from Disneyland with his parents and who thought this was just another ride. He couldn't hide his glee. It was the most bizarre experience - praying for your life and hearing this child laughing and encouraging more 'bumps sideway'. We landed safely and I noticed as we gathered our luggage how many people were smiling and staring in wonder at this five year old thrill-seeker. Makes you kind of wonder about the definition of fear.