Life isn’t all peaches and cream. Sometimes we find ourselves in negative situations, and when things don’t go our way we just have to put up with them the best way we can. A noisy person in a movie theater, bad customer service in a restaurant, or an annoying passenger sitting beside you during an 8-hour flight all can ruin the day. Speaking of flight horror stories, just be thankful that the following didn’t happen to you…

Last month I was flying to Israel with my family on Continental Airlines. Since we are a family of 5, my son and I sat in the middle while my wife and 2 daughters sat across the aisle.

A man sat down next to my son who must have weighed at least 350 lbs. The man attempted to raise the common arm rest next to my son in order to get more room. In addition, he was ultra-religious wearing heavy clothing and had body odor. He also sat with a large fur hat in his lap the entire flight.

My son was forced to lean into me for the entire 11 hour flight. We tried to get the flight attendants to do something about the situation but they ignored me, my wife and my son.

I was recently on a red eye flight across the U.S. – after a 2 hour delay we were finally airborne. I proceeded to recline my seat when the elderly man behind me starting throwing a child-like temper tantrum, hitting and kicking my seat complaining that he had no room. I decided to be the bigger person and put my seat upright which did nothing to aliviate the kicking of my seat. Every time I would almost fall asleep (sitting straight up) he would kick or hit my seat. In addition, there was a small child seated next to me who slept with her feet on my lap while her mother slept comfortably in the aisle seat. I requested to move but the only other seats available were middle seats and I didn’t want to punish those lucky passengers with an open middle seat. I arrived at my destination completely exhausted after getting zero sleep overnight.

On a flight from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles, I found myself lucky enough to sit in front of a family of two parents and a toddler-aged child. For the entire four hour flight, the child would scream intermittently and kick my seat constantly. About half way through the flight, I turn around and ask the child nicely if he could please quit kicking my seat. His mother proceeds to give me a nasty look and inform me that “he’s just a child,” to which I respond, “if you tell him to stop, you know, he just might.” The mother looks at me with disgust and doesn’t say anything to the child. When we finally arrive, I tell the parents that I just wanted them to know that I’ve never seen such a misbehaved child before. With that, I turn and exit the plane.

All stories are from the Flights From Hell website. If you want read more of other people’s horrible flying experiences, visit www.flightsfromhell.com.