To ask for your holiday airport disasters (lighthearted)

[Snooks1971]

Just that really! Mine isn’t a disaster more of a mishap, but my shoulders definitely hunched up next to my ears at the time due to a combination of stress, late hour, busy airport, after 2 hours on a hot coach transfer on the way back to UK....
Anyway I digress
Older ds 14 announced a headache. Ok, here’s 2 paracetamol says I and you can swallow them with the coke from the very over priced airport Subway, already purchased.
DS puts one paracetamol in his mouth, leans forward and picks up Coke bottle for a swig, accidentally drops paracetamol in bottle of coke from stupid open teenage gurning gob. Can you guess the rest?

At the time my inner voice thought it was funny but my inner voice was also very quiet at that moment. Now I can see the funny side! Please share....

@SimonJT it happens to my cousin eveytime he comes to the UK. We don't even leave for the airport until we get the phone call asking us questions.

About to get back in rental car to go to airport last year, DH joking about my terrible, disorganised packing as I shove last minute bits in. I remind him I am very good at packing and am always highly organised. I squeeze the last thing in, zip it up and close the padlock. "Where are the car keys?" he asks. In the closed suitcase, silly me. "Where are the keys for the padlock?". Also in the closed suitcase. Lots of swearing and lock picking followed.

Flew to New York literally five weeks after 9/11. There were four of us, we were given the option to cancel but decided to go ahead (glad we did once we got there, New Yorkers were so pleased to see us).
.

The flight over was horrendous. Everyone was so jittery. The security staff were on edge. Queues huge, tempers frayed through nervousness. Rules about scissors and knives hadn't really come in or at least weren't enforced. There was this huge clear plastic barrel full of knives, scissors and even machetes. Everyone was eyeing up everyone like they were a potential terrorist. That bit wasn't fun.

It was very poignant to be in this city so soon after the horrendous happenings, all the fire stations had memorials outside, our english accents meant we were asked in and embraced (all that shoulder to shoulder stuff). In some ways it was an amazing trip apart from the smell that emanated from ground zero.

I have a few.

When I was about 12 I flew to America to meet up with my best friend’s family on holiday. My parents paid for a travel buddy type person so make sure I got on the right plane etc. She was the most useless person I have ever met. Due to my father’s job my family had flown a lot so I knew the process. She tried to put me on the wrong plane, dawdled and dawdled etc. In my 12 logic I decided to give her the slip and got myself on the right plane.

My parents were ringing up the airport to check on me (pre mobile phones being common for pre teens) and kept being given the brush off. After 4-5 phone calls my mum lost it, grabbed the phone and yelled “somewhere in that airport is my daughter so GO FIND HER!” I ended up being dragged off the plane, picked up (I was/am very small) sat on the desk and had a phone receiver thrust at me. My mum was not impressed.

A few years later I was travelling with the same best friend, her little sister and another friend (let’s call her Amy). We landed in Chicago and I was the first of our group off the plane. An airport staff member asked me to point Amy out and asked to see her passport. Amy didn’t have it. She had left in on the desk where you last show your passport before boarding. We (3 15 year old girls and one 12 year old) had to spend hours in immigration waiting for her passport to be flown over. That was... interesting.

Lastly as a 17 year old I went to Spain with a big group of friends after A Level exams. We were sitting around on our last evening when my boyfriend at the time stands up and announces that we better get going. We all looked at him like he was crazy. It turned out he had booked his flight for 10pm that night and not 10am the next day. The villa we were in was about 2 hours away from the airport, with no buses and it was already 8pm. We had to call his parents and get them to book him another flight home (luckily they had quite a few air miles). It was a very stressful evening.

Writing this sat at Heathrow after missing our original flight from Gatwick, had to buy new tickets costing nearly £2k

I'm so sorry but this makes me feel a bit better. Last year we missed our flight home (got the time wrong ) and had to pay over £1k to get new flights.

nearly missed a flight beacuse of Dobble.

We travel hand luggage only every single time. I'm a pro at packing small and having documents, liquids and electronics at the ready.

Two weeks ago I was flying to Paris with DD (meeting OH there as he was on a work trip) We had a car pick us up but there was a big accident on the motorway meaning we got to the airport about 20 minutes before the gate closed. DD backpack got stuck at security about 10th bag in the queue.
I did my very best not to panic, racking my brain to think what could possibly be wrong.

Turns out because the bastard 'board game' is in a tin the xray thinks it is food and therefore a liquid.
Well I'm so glad that I've upped my running miles as we had to leg it through the airport to the gate.

Never pack Dobble in hand luggage

We were flying back from a big airport with a 6am flight so passing through security st 4am. Ds was 18 months at the time.
Put the bags on the security felt, we were called the other side of the x-ray with the bag.
The bag was searched (but not emptied out) and then another security person was called. They put the bag back through the x-ray and searched the bag again. We were starting to seriously get worried that someone had put something in the bag. They kept searching and searching and putting the bag through the x-ray. They didn't tell us why.
After what seemed like an eternity they started emptying the bag and realised what they were looking for was a toy cow! it was one of the expensive realistic looking ones with a bony rib cage etc. They thought we we smuggling some kind of dead animal in the bag
Never been so relieved in my life

Some good ones here, well done all.

For those people experiencing 'random' security checks at airports, Riz Ahmed wrote a very chapter about that for a book, and it appeared in the Guardian I think later on - called typecast as a terrorist

Had a terrible week before holiday. In hospital. Discharged. Woke up in the middle of the night later that week and watched a bit of the general election that was on. Sleep deprived.

The day of our holiday arrived, slept through six alarms, mad dash to airport. Got there just in time. Man checking us in started fussing about how many months I had left on passport and whether it's okay for the destination we were going to. I'd already checked and it was fine. While we were talking to him, the gate closed, and they refused to reopen it. They didn't allow us to get the flight.

Nightmare.

Luckily the holiday company were great and managed to get us on a flight from another airport four hours later, but it cost £400. The holiday was much needed after all this!

forgot my (elderly & inoffensive) dh got stopped going into & out of Amsterdam - because (they said) of his name & birthdate - nothing to do with ethnicity of course - the question arises what is the point of having these smart e passports? - they just took him off he waited 5 minutes & that's what they said.

We were heading back home after visiting family in the UK and had stocked up on yummy British food. I’d bought some cheese and asked DP to put it in the checked luggage as it was on the squidgy side. Well, as we discovered at Security, he had put it in hand luggage and it got pulled out. Cue me pleading with security officer out of one side of my mouth and berating DP for being a numpty with the other. They were merciful, swabbed the outside of the packing, and let us continue.

Was waiting in Moscow airport for a flight to Mongolia. We were in the bar and there weren’t any announcements. Suddenly a cross Aeroflot woman appeared shouting Passenger Foxtrot! We had to run the through the airport and chuck our stuff through the scanners before boarding. The flight was full and everyone came up the back to smoke. All the passengers were drinking their duty free, then when we refuelled at Novosibirsk, they all ran off, bought more booze, and started drinking again. It was a lively flight, further enlivened by our friendly flight attendant, who kept insisting on making us weird cocktails from the drinks trolley.

After reading some travel tips for travelling with a baby on here, I was super smug in ordering pre made formula bottles to the airport for my 6 month old child when I travelled with her the first time.
I was so proud of myself and thrilled that I could have a week off from making up feeds with powder while on holiday as silly as it sounds ordering pre made felt like a treat in itself no messing with hot water worrying about water etc.

I worked out that 5 big bottles would be enough for the week but being super cautious I ordered 6 to be delivered to boots duty free at the airport.

Anyhow I was extremely organised phoned on the day to make sure the milk was there was told it was, asked if they had powdered milk formula too just in case they did and they put one behind the counter for me in case I needed it.

I set off 4 hours early so that I wasn’t rushing around as I was travelling with two young children myself. Leaving this early should’ve put me at the airport about 3 hours before my flight.
Anyway the motorway was closed for 2 hours so I arrived at the airport stressed and in a rush.

Once a arrived at the airport and queued for ages only to be told I didn’t need to and got through duty free. I arrived in boots to find that there had been a shortage on big bottle of formula so instead I had been sent around 40-50 small bottles of formula...oh and boots had run out of shopping bags

I had to try and cram 50 small bottles in my already stuffed hand luggage and failed miserably.

One shop took pity on me and gave me a carrier bag, which I crammed all the bottles in. By the time we were sorted my other daughter who was 2 was hungry, my super organised plan had been to get her dinner before we flew.

I went to get her some food and realised the gate was already open so I bought her some food and put it in my bag, dd1 then started throwing an almighty tantrum because I’d taken her food off her.

Did I mention I was travelling alone 🙈 I then hadn’t to run with dd2 in a baby carrier, dd1 screaming under my arm a rucksack full of bits and pieces on my shoulders and a bag full of milk bottles in my other arm. As I got down the stairs and onto the runway my bag split and 50 bottles of milk were sent flying everywhere.

I was mortified the staff were grabbing bottles and putting them into a bin bag for me, all the while dd1 was still hysterical. I was last on the plane by which point I’ve never felt so stressed in my entire life. Both my dds were screaming and I knew everyone on the plane hated me.

Once they were both sat down and fed we were ok. I did vow never again but a year later I made the same trip and it was all good.

I went to Spain. I was due to throw a big party a few weeks after my return and I so much wanted to bring back a serrano jamon whole leg (soooo cheap in Spain!) I checked it was allowable into the UK and it was. I wanted a big one, lots of people coming to the party!

I was on Easyjet, hand luggage only. It fitted in my holdall but the hoof was sticking out. When I came through the Xray machine at security the guy had a double take at a huge leg of jamon.

Next hurdle was getting through the Easyjet gate and onto the plane. I hung my bag off my shoulder with the hoof tucked under my arm and managed it!

Couldn't put it up in the lockers on the plane though so had to manouvre it under the seat. Mission accomplished

Not so much a disaster but it certainly didn't impress me much. At Stanstead with friends, they have already cleared baggage and are waiting on me when the conveyor belt breaks down - right before my tray was due to pass. They lifted the tray and took it away and nobody told me. My bag simply disappeared and I was left having a full panic attack in the crowd on the other side of the scanner wondering where the fuck my bag went.

On the way back from honeymoon in Italy, stopped at bag check by a very concerned looking woman. Called other people over and kept looking at me and in my bag. She eventually asked what my 'spring device' was. It was my water flosser which she didn't appear to have heard of. The spring seems to have made them concerned it was some sort of weapon.

It took a very long time to communicate that it was for my teeth as I only knew tourist Italian and she only knew tourist English. We only just made the gate after being stood over by the airport guards for ages!

Happy story, hope it's allowed.

Arriving at Columbo airport, Sri Lanka, got into our pre-booked taxi and set off for hotel. Thirty minutes into the journey, driver got a phone call.

We had left behind our small carry-on case with all the vital paperwork in it, passports, hotel info etc. Apparently just left on the kerb outside arrivals.

Rather than evacuate airport and blow up unattended bag as would happen at Gatwick, Security staff had opened it and rang the hotel we were heading for, hotel rang the local agent who rang the taxi driver.

Taxi driver turned round, back through the by now rush our traffic, we picked up the case from lovely Security officials and headed back to the hotel.

We offered taxi driver cash for the extended journey "No Madam, all part of the service".

Part of why we love Sri Lanka and its people.,

Not a disaster but we may have caused some inconvenience. About 25 years ago ten of us, 5 adults, 5 kids, returning home from holiday in Spain got held up going to Alicante Airport. We were in a bit of a panic so dashed into airport and asked an official which check-in desk we needed for Gatwick, got told Desk 15. Rushed to said desk which was free, hurrah! As we were handing over our documents I turned around to see about 200 pairs of eyes glaring at us from the queue! Nearly died of embarrassment! Some woman asked my DH why we had jumped the queue and he innocently replied we were told to! We were all wearing straw hats which were quickly removed so no one recognised on the plane. To this day whenever we see someone queue jump we call it, 'doing an Alicante'. Apologies to anyone on here who was in the queue, we didn't mean it, honest!

I was coming back from France and went a bit mad at the Monoprix deli counter. I got a trainee security scanner, who very carefully squeezed all my cheese to access their viscosity then took my quenelles off to consult with his boss. He then declared that my cheese passed, but gave me the useful advice that camembert (which I wasn't even carrying) must be under 100ml because it counts as a fluid! I'm not sure how one measures the volume of a camembert, but for the sake of fellow passengers, it should possibly be hold baggage only anyway!

Flying back with DM to her home in Spain after DF funeral in the UK. She had his ashes in a jar in her hand luggage (all properly packed by crematorium according to regulations).

I had been wheeling her hand luggage case through the airport for her but when we got to the automatic barriers at security where you scan your boarding pass I asked her to take it. She didn't hear me and went through the barrier without the case and I didn't notice.

In the security queue I noticed she didn't have the bag and we realised she had left it at the other side of the barrier. Cue panicked dash back to barrier where we had to get security to allow us back through. Ran up to the case just as it was being removed for a controlled explosion! Luckily they let us have it back!

DM commented that he always knew how to cause a fuss

loving reading these we’ve got our first family holiday in October to zante and I am a really really nervous flier, I keep thinking about cancelling the holiday but these are really cheering me up

Once when I was 18 my mother and I visited London for a holiday before I went to university.

We were staying in Trafalgar Square and decided to take a look at the Waterstones there at the 3 for 2 table before going back to the airport. Got our books and everything but then the tube stopped between Hatton Cross and Heathrow for too long and we missed check in by less than 30 seconds.

Because it was our fault, Continental Airlines didn't have to give us an airport hotel and put us on standby for the next day. We were able to stay with a friend that night, but then the next day didn't get onto a flight and decided to sleep in the airport that night to be on standby for a super early morning flight. It was awful. At least we had our Waterstones books to entertain us though.

Now I'm always at least 3 hours early for every flight.

My ds used to get terribly constipated as a young toddler. And when he ceased to be constipated the results were monstrous.

I know it is too late person who posted this, but if anyone else is experiencing similar, DD suffered this and our doctor wrote us a letter for a radar key (doctor suggested it, we didn’t think to ask) so we had more room to clean up. When she first suggested it, is queried if we were morally eligible, and she was quite firm in saying that chronic uncontrollable incontince is most definitely a disability and my dd was entitled to privacy and dignity whilst being cleaned up. It was a total lifesaver for us.

Went on a cruise that started and finished in Italy, so we had to fly to Rome and back again. Got back to Gatwick to find our luggage hadn't arrived; neither had the luggage of half the plane-turned out they'd left a whole cage of suitcases on the runway!
They did deliver them to us the next day though; we'd expected to have to collect them ourselves.

Stuck in Sanford Florida airport all night as our plane was delayed
We were locked in
It normally closes at night..so all the food and services wi d down
Was just horrible
We were 50 miles from my villa. I wanted to go back home but I would’ve had to rebook the car and they couldn’t guarantee me a time to leave so just had to stay.
Mum was about 78 , friends mum a bit younger ..was just awful.
Travel city...no wonder they went bust..they were always pulling stunts like that
( they were cheap though )

Going through security into Florida, I had one particular stern guard.
After asking me some searching questions, he handed me back my passport and called me a name relating to my town’s history that is fairly famous in the uk
This guy looked Latin American, had a Spanish sounding name , we were in sandfords little backwater of an airport and when he called me the name
He still didn’t crack a smile 😂

I’m still bemused to this day about that.