Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

There is a Problem with the Plane

The plane ride…

We barely had time between flights to touch our feet to the ground.

Running as we heard our names being announced…"Last call for Corey and Yann…"

"When was the first call?" French Husband asked as we raced down the escalator.

We told the hostess our last two planes were late. She smiled. She gets paid to smile. Those waiting on the plane didn't look so happy.

We walked to the back of the plane amongst a grey cloud of passengers.

The last thing I remember hearing, beside French Husband snoring was, "There is a problem with the plane's…"

I was out like a light, and that is saying something close to a miracle considering how scared I am to fly… I was fast asleep before I heard the end of the sentence… "There is a problem with the plane's…"

The next thing I remember was someone saying my name, "Corey?" I thought to myself, somewhere deep in sleep land, "I must be dreaming."

I woke up to an empty plane. The airline hostess was standing above me repeating, "There was a problem with the plane…"

Rubbing my eyes, I wondered if I was dreaming, dead or if someone had slipped a drug in my sparkling water. I was reassured by French Husband's snoring. I poked him, "Honey wake up there is a problem with the plane."

He too had a strange look on his face when he saw the airline hostess, and the empty plane, he asked, "Am I dreaming? Where are we? What is happening?"

"I don't think we are dead." I yawned.

The plane's door could not close properly so everyone was asked to leave the plane. Though we hadn't heard a word. I have no idea how long we were sleeping. But it is surreal to wake up on a empty plane.

Do you have a "plane story"?

Comments

29 responses to “There is a Problem with the Plane”

  1. Julie Ann

    Surreal indeed. I once broke my foot alone in France. At Nice airport I was given the A list treatment and carried, literally to the front of the plane (my ticket was not for the front !) by the most handsome French attendant. Once seated he offered me a leg massage and I was brought a glass of champagne. Almost worth the pain…. Who says the French are aloof ? Let me at em ! Safe journey you two, Jx

    Reply
  2. Jojo

    I have several actually. I’ve mentioned in the past when posting on your site that I’m married to someone from Beirut. In the early 80’s when we would visit, it was not uncommon to fly back to Europe with half the plane curtained off for injured UN soldiers being flown on KLM. It was like being on a medical flight. One of our flights an older man started screaming “God help me, God help me” in Arabic and holding his heart. I was mortified. Luckily there was a pediatric cardiologist on the flight who quickly put us all at ease by calming the man and letting us all know that it was a simple stress attack.
    But my favorite flight story was on a flight from Paris to Montpellier. I’m not sure what the pilot was doing but it was a perfectly beautiful day and the flight was calm and quiet UNTIL the pilot realized he had overshot a turn to direct him into his landing. For some reason he made a huge “U” turn and it was a little too sharp for the passengers. Most of us were belted down but it was like a scene in the movie as half of the plane slide over to the other side of the plane and things not strapped down went flying. There was a huge group tour group of beer drinking Germans who turned the moment into a reason to celebrate. They started singing something that had us all laughing. Thankfully we landed safely with a story to laugh about!

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  3. meredith

    I have a good one…
    Once, flying back to France from the USA, somewhere out over the Atlantic…a urgent message on the intercom asked:
    “Is there a DR on the plane? Is there a DR on the plane?”
    The man sitting next to me stood up and identified himself as a cardiologist and the flight attendant hustled him away.
    An hour later, he came back and I begged him to tell what was happening. And he whispered to me that a man in the first class section had died in his seat and they were waiting to pronounce him dead until the plane was officially halfway to France because otherwise they would have to turn the plane around and go back to Chicago.
    In the meantime, they’d just tucked the deceased man in with a blanket up to his chin.
    The dead man had a friend with him who told the DR the rest of the story. It turned out that the man was dying and wanted to be buried in France, but if you’re not French you have to die in France to have that right. So the plane flew on with the VERY asleep man in first class and when we were over France territory, the DR went back and pronounced him dead.

    Reply
  4. Lucy Rogers

    We once got on a small town hedge hopper with no less than Prime Minister of Israel: Simon Perez and his entourage. That group included assistants and Secret Service people…He had been in town for a University speaking engagement and we were headed to Dallas to catch a real plane to Hawaii.
    After we were all on, the plane started up and then shut down. We were all ordered to another plane for security. I seriously wanted to run home. SS sat by each person that was flying that day.
    I don’t know why they just didn’t drive him to Dallas in a limo or something. SCARY! I hate flying anyway. I want my feet on the ground!

    Reply
  5. Penny

    Mine was a helicopter ride following my first plane ride. I was a teenager and my dad, who worked for United, took me to California. Being an employee, he got to fly on a dime and family did too. This was my very first airplane flight, our of Chicago, standby and we were seated in first class. This was the time of china plates and full meals. First class, first seat. I was ruined for life! ha!
    From LAX, he arranged for us to take a helicopter to Anaheim. We got on, followed by a contingency of men. Very tall men. Dad remarked that they were all so tall they must be basketball players. It wasn’t until we were in the cab on the ground that we learned we had flown with the Harlem Globetrotters.

    Reply
  6. Judy O

    On my first trip abroad we were flying to London to meet our daughter who was studying there. After a 6 hour nighttime flight we awoke at 6 am London time and landed only to find out there was an IRA bomb threat at Heathrow and we could not deplane. We sat on the tarmac for another 6 hours with no food and the bathrooms in dire straights. Finally after getting off and gathering our luggage we were about to exit the terminal when another threat came in and we had to wait another hour before all was clear and we could leave. Fortunately the threats were just scares and we proceeded to have a wonderful time.

    Reply
  7. Jean(ne) Pierre in MN

    After our teen daughter’s visit to hospitalized French papa in Marseille, I accompanied her to Paris to fly back to the US. After boarding my return flight to Marseille, I realized that I had left my purse in the airport waiting area, yikes! I ran off the plane like a madwoman, and luckily found it safely with an attendant. The French business commuters had a good laugh at the silly American woman (no kidding), but I was grateful for the kindness of a stranger on that stressful day. (My husband was having a bone marrow transplant)

    Reply
  8. Claudia

    I’m amazed that you and Yann were able to fall asleep so fast. That would have been lovely if you’d woken up in France with the flight behind you.
    My story is that my young son and I were flying from east coast to west coast in the U.S. and our plane sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half and I was getting more and more claustrophobic and feelings of panic were running up my spine and I was worried that I’d have a panic attack. I walked to the front of the plane and asked the flight attendant what they would do if someone panicked on the plane and she said they would ‘sit on them.’ ??? I went back and got my son and our luggage and I got off the plane. The very nice attendant at the gate was also a claustrophobia sufferer and she put us on the same flight the next day with no extra charge. My son and I rented a cool convertible car went to Toys R Us and bought him a Lego to build and had a lovely day and night and the next day I drank a couple of gin and tonics before boarding, the flight took off on time and all was well.

    Reply
  9. Patt

    Flying to Hawaii with my Mother to visit my sister, I had had 2 drinks to calm myself at the airport bar. I use to hate to fly, and am not a big drinker. I waited as long as I could to use the Lav, when I did we must have hit turbulence and the plane began to shake and rock. I didn”t know what was happening,I thought we were crashing. When the voice over the speaker said return to your seats I grabed my pants, pulled them up and flung open the door. I saw tubes and thought they were oxygen. The look on my face must have said it all. White faced and big eyed I looked at the hostess and she smiled and said. “Earphones, would you like one?” No more drinking before or during a airplane ride for me.

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  10. georgie

    First trip to Europe via Pan Am, lightening struck near the plane’s wing.
    On another vacation. Broke my leg in London, had surgery there with casting and one week later took a very painful trip back home. The attendants wouldn’t let me take the jumper seat to keep my leg elevated like Doctors said to. I had to stay in a economy and no seat to put leg on.Leg was very swollen and I was in a lot of pain when we got home. Lucky I didn’t get phlebitis.
    Another trip an elderly lady in front of me passed away. Her companions were very calm, said she had been in ill health. The crew did a great job of keeping things low key and calm.

    Reply
  11. Everton Terrace

    I flew from Phoenix to NYC, long flight. Then got on a plane to fly to Poland and at take off we blew tire – it sounded like a gun going off and a few people screamed. It took 5 hours for them to decide they couldn’t change the tire and the towed us back to the airport where we were put on another plane to Poland. That was the longest trip of my life. There was also the time they had a wheelchair waiting for me in Amsterdam to shuffle me from my flight to their medical center where I received an IV right away for what was later discovered was a bacterial infection I picked up in Greece – always an adventure.

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  12. Christina

    My then 14 month and 2 1/2 yr old including me, on our way from Ohio to Germany… first stop Philly… worst decending to land ever, as the little one also wakes up and releaves herself of her lunch and whatnot… thank goodness for the change of clothes my hubby pressured me into taking… two young ladys behind me “I don’t know how she does it… I couldn’t do this..”, my reply was a grin and “I couldn’t do it either, but I have to” as I’m wiping away at my child, swiftly changing, and bundling the rest of the mess… almost missed my connector bc I had to wash the clothes in the bathrooms. Prepared better for the landing in Germany…PLZ never use those cute spit baggies for chewing gum!!!!
    Coming back was even worse. 3hr car ride, 2 1/2 hr airport time, 9 1/2 hr flight, 4 hr layover !!! bc we landed to late for connector, 1 1/2 hr of more flying… add the great time difference of 6 hrs… kids where troopers, mother (myself) was ready to chime in when the youngest rang in the final landing approach with unconsolable crying…
    Oh yeah, did i mention that i dislike plane rides?

    Reply
  13. Kathie B

    During a bitter winter cold wave here many years ago (sub-zero overnight temperatures Fahrenheit), I was scheduled to fly to California to visit my dad.
    First day: Received a phone call from the airline that morning informing me that my flight had been canceled that day due to a blizzard in Chicago that had closed O’Hare Airport (where I was to change planes).
    Second day: No early morning airline phone call, thank goodness, so got to airport in plenty of time — where I waited, waited, waited for boarding on my flight to Chicago to be called. Around the time the flight was scheduled to take off came an announcement that the flight had been delayed. We could see a crew fiddling with the plane door, apparently in vain. Finally, another announcement, this time that the flight was canceled, owing to the plane door being frozen shut (I always wondered why they didn’t just use a hair dryer to thaw the lock and dry out whatever moisture had frozen in it, but they never asked me). We were invited to reschedule our flights with the airline the next day.
    Understandably, after having already been delayed one day, I most definitely did NOT want to have to wait until the third day to try to take that same flight. As this was back in the era before cell phones and Internet access, the only thing a passenger could do was sprint to the counter at the gate as fast as possible in order to get rebooked onto a different itinerary later that day on another airline.
    This entailed shlepping myself and my bags to a distant concourse in the airport. I located a pay-phone en route, from which I quickly called Farmboy Husband at work to ask please him to phone my father in California to notify him of my once-again altered itinerary and schedule. Despite a short time between flights in Dallas (an airport I’d never been in before), I managed to make my connecting flight. Wisely, my dad had the foresight to call my new airline to check on my flight’s ETA before driving out to Oakland Airport to pick me up, so it eventually all worked out, but I was exhausted.
    Of course this was decades ago, when I was much younger. I’m not so sure I could handle such a chaotic situation any more.

    Reply
  14. Denise Solsrud

    no, i do not have a plane story and stop scaring me. but, one good thing is i wrote a shorter blog than anyone else, this time.
    bestest,Denise

    Reply
  15. Kathie B

    Ack!!! Sentence fragment should read, “I quickly called Farmboy Husband at work to ask HIM PLEASE to phone my father in California…”
    That’s what I get for editing my own writing without rereading before hitting the “Post” button!

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  16. Victoria Ramos

    you’re story sounds like something in the movies – egads!
    hey, how come there are so many stories that involve ‘france’ and ‘flying’?!?!?

    Reply
  17. Marilyn

    Your story made me smile. Thanks! That definitely would feel surreal.
    I was thinking I didn’t have a story, but indeed I just remembered flying to Honduras and not being able to land because the pilot couldn’t see the ground. We ended up flying to San Salvador, landing, and sitting on a warm runway for 5 hours with nothing to eat and very little water. Then they took off and flew us back to Houston, Texas, where we had to stay the night and try again the next day. I was flying on business, so my business was cut short by a day. I was in Honduras 25 hours and then came home. Definitely an interesting trip.

    Reply
  18. Michelle M in KY

    Dear Corey,
    I do not have a plane story, nor do I ever hope to have one. I’m no sure where you are…but I hope that you and Yann are safe and sound and that there’s a lot of snorning going on. Safe travels my friend!

    Reply
  19. Rhonda P.

    My story was surreal enough as it was only 2 months after 9/11 and I was terrified to get on a plane to see my family for Thanksgiving. As I walked down the aisle looking for my seat, this jovial man in my row looked up at me, said, Good Morning, smiled real big and I knew everything was going to be okay. We talked the whole flight and I don’t remember being frightened that whole flight.

    Reply
  20. Shelley Etchepare

    Corey,
    I am not sure if i told you this, it was a plane ride from hell… We were given a trip to North Carolina for a NASCAR weekend. We were on a red eye plane to Chicago. When your handicap there is special things prepared ahead of time like.. when your booking your flight you need to be seated in the front not the back and I had to get into the airplanes wheelchair and be wheeled to the back of the plane. After arriving in Chicago we headed to our next flight to North Carolina. We had asked the ticket girl when we get to board, she said said handicap is last to board. Sooo when everyone was seated in the plane they made me change to there wheel chair. Eric had asked them “let me put her in her seat”, they said “no we have to do it”. So we let them wheel me to my seat and they had no idea how to lift me, everyone is staring at us from all different directions, we were holding up the planes take off, these two women tried to lift me up over from the wheelchair to the plane seat it wasn’t working.. This poor man sitting from the other side of the aile said “is there anything i can do to help”? about then my shirt was up to my chin and my bra is showing! It was very embarrassing. All they did was drop me in my seat and they walked off. The trip from hell.

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  21. Lori

    I was flying to Dallas/Ft. Worth (airport from hell) to meet my girlfriend and we were flying on to N. Carolina from there. When i get to the airport 1 hour early, there is a line about 150 deep at the counter. there were about 75 US soldiers getting ready to deploy to Iraq. Standing in line for about 30 min the attendant announces “if you are going to Dallas you are going to miss your plane” I proceeded to run up and down different airline counters trying to see if i could get a flight to connect with my friend at what would have been our first plane change. I finally got one, it was boarding as i was buying the ticket. Had to add yet another plane change, at which i had 20 minutes to get to once my plane landed, needed to pee this entire time, but no time to do so, running through the airports like a crazy woman asking anyone with a uniform on where my gate was, no time to stop and read. finally met my girlfriend at the 3rd plane change, i beat her there.

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  22. Linda

    Seated on a plane with my ex and next to me a man who was white and very stressed looking. The flight attendant asked him if he was ok. As the plane took off down the runway and was almost ready to leave the runway, this man stood up and said, “I’ve got to get off this plane!” The flight attendant said, “Sir, you have to sit down!” He didn’t listen, went up to the door and would you believe he got it open? I didn’t know you could do that. The flight attendant grabbed him by his legs and a passenger got up to help hold him down and got a nasty bite on his leg. The plane, of course, came to a stop, a police car came and he was taken off the plane. It turned out that he was on his way to some army base to be discharged for mental reasons. I ask myself why he was traveling alone. At least he didn’t try to open the door while we were in the air.

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  23. Juliette

    I love your stories!
    ********************
    I was 14.
    Travelling France/US alone.
    Still learning English at school and, with my favorite teacher Michael Jackson… lol!
    1st Flight: Paris/Ottawa, very big plane.
    I was very curious; actually, I am still very curious. I asked the hostess why there were theses little paper bags on the sits’s net.
    I had my answer.
    2nd flight: Ottawa /Oakland.
    Very small plane.
    Air sick….very, very sick.
    No paper, but plastic bags…(other air-line company)
    I was so sick and so disturbed than my mind was only focused on paper bags, not on the toilet.
    I was going crazy:I wanted paper bags! Paper, paper!!!!
    The hostess found out a paper bag… at least… I could vomit….
    Isn’t that crazy?

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  24. Juliette

    Meredith-> I like your story… 🙂

    Reply
  25. Julie M ~ The Little Red Shop

    At least you got some yummy rest!
    1. In Bulgaria, they refused to give my mission team our passports back until the very last moment. I’m pretty sure they turned them over after a little, um, extra somethin’ from our team leader. During the long wait…the boys were ogling over a cute girl w/ a lil’ mini doberman pup. They were hoping to get to sit by her on the plane. I ended up with the ticket for the seat next to her…and her sweet pup! (We flew to Bulgaria from Switzerland w/ an entire American Football team : )
    2. Just before leaving Greece, my boyfriend told me to be sure to exchange my money before leaving the country (for a better rate). I remembered after checking in with the airline…and when I headed back to the plane, I found out that they had been looking for me…and the entire plane was waiting…FOR ME!
    2. For my return trip back to the States from Switzerland, I was a wee bit late. I arrived at the airport, and was ushered past officers (w/ pretty heavy-duty weapons) to the “Business Class” counter. They were over-booked…and bumped me up a class. : ) I had a lovely comfortable ride back home. I offered my remaining teammate to trade seats mid-Atlantic…and she didn’t believe where I was sitting & refused to budge her cranky young self out of coach. Ha!!!
    I hope you have a lovely time in the States!
    : )
    Julie M.

    Reply
  26. Sharon, Morrison Mercantile

    ahhh travel…so much fun!
    Same situation of running and being the last one’s on the plane happened on a flight from Portland Oregon, to Wichita 9 years ago. I just walked on with my 3 daughters to see the passengers scowling at us, smiled and said; “sorry we are late.” I might add Corey, we had been running too…
    Our trip home from France…in Chicago…nuff said.

    Reply
  27. Gwen

    Have been married to my pilot for almost 40 years…29 years Air Force, 9 years with Delta. He also has a degree in Aerospace Enginerring. One of the first trips we took he explained what was happening every time there was a “noise”. What I do remember and love to share with “seat mates” when I fly is that the equation for flight has approximately 47 variables and many of those are ASSUMED. Assumed as in…let’s see if this works. So when our daughter first flew and ask how the plane was so heavy and stayed up in the air….I had to say, “It’s magic!”

    Reply
  28. Lorelei

    Back in the early 70’s I was a WAC and was waiting for a flight from Atlanta to Pittsburgh. And waiting, and waiting due to an ice storm… I was so tired when the flight finally took off that I went straight to sleep. Somewhere along the flight I awoke and happily said, “Oh, look at the snow – it’ll be a white Christmas after all.” The flight attendant pointed out that we were above fluffy, white clouds. No white Christmas, just white clouds. I wonder how many people were hoping for a white Christmas, too?

    Reply
  29. GiGi

    I have a dozen horror stories of which I will only tell a few, but I take the train now.
    Flying from SC to FL – one engine of a 2 engine plane went out – Air Tran landed for the first time in Atlanta. Great pilot.
    Flying from VA to FL – as we approached Orlando, the pilot said, “It’s raining, we need to delay a bit to land.” An hour later, we landed; two ATF guys with the biggest guns you ever saw boarded and took off 2 guys.
    Flying from TN to FL – Stuck in Memphis airport for 6 hours because of snow delay (it hardly ever snows in Memphis). Helped a lady in a cast get a wheelchair. Beat on the desk to have the rep of the company give us some info. Diabetics, elderly, etc. Gate change 3 times. I still get mad thinking about the inefficiency.
    Flying Orlando to France – Gate change not announced clearly. Nearly mised our flight.
    I HATE TO FLY.

    Reply

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