I just returned from Chipata, Zambia, my 15th country, and I also happened to take my 100th flight on the way back! This is something I’ve been working on for years, and I’m excited to finally reach 100 overall. While I have friends that fly much more than that every year, it’s a little more difficult for me because of work obligations, but I try to fit traveling in when possible. To celebrate, I’ll be looking back at my 100 flights and sharing some of the most memorable stories I’ve got from these first 100. If you’re reading this and you’re afraid of flying, just know these stories are not your average flight experiences: I’ve just had some really weird things happen to me, but I’ve just learned to go with the flow. So here are my most memorable flight experiences so far:
1. PNS-ATL
2. ATL-SAN
My first time flying brought me to San Diego, California, in 2008. But my first story starts at the end of that trip. My family and I were supposed to catch a flight back home and arrived to the airport on time. But then for some reason, our flight was canceled, so we had to book another flight instead. The next flight wouldn’t leave until the next morning, and it would be a different airline and different layover as well. So Delta put us up in a nice hotel for the night, and the next morning we headed back to the airport. Except this time, we got flagged at TSA. For some reason, our last minute airline change made them suspicious, and we had to be pulled into a back room for full pat downs. They even checked Audrey who was 3 at the time: like she would have explosives on her or something. Once we finally got through security, everything else was fine, but it was an interesting introduction to flying for me.
3. SAN-IAH
4. IAH-PNS
5. PNS-ATL
6. ATL-SFO
My next time flying was my San Francisco trip back in 2011. Again, the way there was normal, but the way back, not so much. We woke up late the morning of our flight home and had to rush to the airport. When we arrived, the TSA line was much longer than normal, and our flight was already boarding. So we tried to hurry through TSA. They eventually let us and the couple behind us skip to the front of the line because our flight was waiting on us. But then Morgan’s bag got flagged, so we were pulled aside. Mom and Audrey ran ahead of us to find the gate, while Dad and I stayed behind with Morgan. The TSA lady took her time going through each individual item one at a time in Morgan’s bag before calling another TSA agent to come help. The other person took their time as well, and they eventually pulled out a rock and were both examining it, wondering what it could be. And we were like, IT’S A ROCK! They ran tests on it and questioned Morgan about it, and our flight wasn’t going to wait any longer. Meanwhile, they finally told Mom to either get on the plane or be left behind and then started to close the gate. TSA finally lets us through, and we start SPRINTING through the airport. Meanwhile the gate has closed, and the plane is getting ready for takeoff, when we come running around the corner, and Mom yelled out “There’s my husband and kids!!!” They reluctantly re-opened the gate (which never happens, by the way) and let us on the plane. The rock was confiscated.
7. SFO-ATL
8. ATL-PNS
9. MCO-MIA
10. MIA-SAP
11. SAP-MIA
12. MIA-MCO
13. PNS-ATL
14. ATL-DEN
On my 14th flight in 2013, I was on my way to Denver with my high school senior class, and I started to feel intense, sharp pains in my stomach. I was very concerned at the time that I may need to be rushed to a hospital when the flight landed, but fortunately the pain finally left hours later. This would become a common occurrence on all future flights that I deal with due to medical issues. Though uncomfortable and very painful, I’ve learned to deal with it since this first experience.
15. DEN-ATL
16. ATL-PNS
17. MSY-LAS
After arriving in Las Vegas with my family and all 4 grandparents in 2014, we were shocked to learn that our rental car reservations had been given away due to our flight being delayed. They didn’t have another car to give us, so we had to scramble around looking for cars somewhere else. I can still see my grandpa marching across the street in the middle of busy Las Vegas traffic, dragging his suitcase behind him to visit another rental car company.
18. LAS-MSY
19. PNS-CLT
20. CLT-JFK
21. JFK-TLV
My first trans-Atlantic flight was a direct flight from New York to Tel Aviv in 2014. This whole experience was stressful from the moment I landed at JFK (New York). First of all, I had to sit around the airport for 12 hours waiting to meet my group. Then, I was interrogated before I could board my flight because the El Al customs agents were convinced I had a bomb on me. (They literally asked me multiple times if I had a bomb and dug through everything in my carry-on). This lasted for a good 15-20 minutes before I was allowed through. Then I dealt with those sharp stomach pains for the entire 12-hour flight to Tel Aviv, and I spent much of that flight in the restroom. One funny story from this: on my first trip to the restroom, I stood in line behind a group of people that were standing outside the restroom, thinking they were also waiting to get in. About 10 minutes later, it finally clicked that I was standing with several Orthodox Jews doing their evening prayers, and the restrooms were empty the whole time…
22. TLV-JFK
The way back from Israel in early 2015 was probably more memorable for my family back home than it was for me. I couldn’t contact my family because of poor internet connection in the airport, and I didn’t have a smart phone at the time, so I couldn’t inform them that I was boarding the 12-hour flight home. Then, my plane quickly got off course, and instead of flying west toward the US as intended, it started flying north toward Russia. So Mom had the flight tracker on her phone, and it was nowhere near the path it was supposed to be following. This happened shortly after several incidents of hijacked or disappearing flights, so you can imagine how worried my family was. It eventually turned before reaching the North Pole and came back down over Greenland. I guess they regularly do this to throw off terrorist groups like Hamas so they can’t target planes. As you can probably guess, I got a smart phone shortly after this.
23. JFK-CLT
24. CLT-PNS
25. PNS-MIA
26. MIA-YUL
27. YUL-LGA
On the way back from Montreal in 2015, Mom, Audrey, and I got stuck in LaGuardia during terrible weather, and our flight was delayed over and over until it was finally canceled. No flights were leaving at all, so the entire airport was packed with angry, impatient travelers all dealing with the same issues as us. We had to book new flights only for those to be canceled and so on. We eventually got put on a flight to DC, only to have the same thing happen to us after we arrived. Both of these airports are included in my top 3 least favorite airports in the world, partly due to these situations.
28. LGA-DCA
29. DCA-PNS
30. PNS-ATL
31. ATL-MGA
Upon arriving in Managua, Nicaragua, in 2016, we had to pass through customs and then another security check before we could leave the airport. Between the two stops, Cheyenne, the missionary I was traveling with, handed me a bag of welding equipment and Bibles: one that would for sure get flagged at security. He explained to me what was about to happen and told me that they will try to pull me aside for further checks. He said “Don’t listen to them. Just grab the bag, smile, and walk out the door.” He left me with one last tip: “Act BOLD and DUMB!” So that’s exactly what I did. They were telling me to take my bag for additional security, then I grabbed it, smiled at them like I had no idea what they were saying, and bolted out the door into a sea of taxi drivers trying to grab me and throw me into their vehicles.
32. MGA-ATL
The way back from Nicaragua was even more eventful… When I got my boarding pass, I received one with the dreaded “SSSS” printed on it. That meant I was flagged as a potential threat and selected for additional security checks. And I was immediately directed to an armed guard at the corner of the room. He then led me down this long, dark hallway until we reached a dead end with a slide window in the center. Then a security agent slid that window open from the other side and had my checked luggage on the table in front of him. And one by one, he went through every little thing I had packed in my suitcase and examined them. He threw some stuff out and would just look at me disgustingly when he saw something like sun screen or bug spray (which is legal in checked luggage), then he would shake his head like you would when disciplining a toddler before throwing it away. I was finally allowed to continue on until I reached TSA and had to endure a full pat down. Then I was pulled aside one last time while boarding the plane so the agent could go through everything in my carry-on one at a time. He then broke the zipper on my carry-on, so it wouldn’t close, then casually said “sorry” before handing it back to me to board the plane. I had to hold that thing closed the entire way home, including the layover in Atlanta.
33. ATL-PNS
34. ATL-CLT
35. CLT-MSP
36. MSP-ATL
37. PNS-DFW
Mom and I almost missed our flight to Dallas because we were trying to get an airport selfie. We finally realized we were the only ones not on the plane when they called for final boarding.
38. DFW-HNL
Every time I think about miserable flights, flight #38 from Dallas to Honolulu back in 2017 comes to mind. This one was just me and Mom, and calling it miserable is an understatement. We were bored out of our minds! We had no TVs, which is what we were counting on. This was because our original plane had some maintenance issues, and they had to put us on an older plane instead. So we just sat there with nothing to do for 8 hours. We were also very cramped as the seats on this plane had less room than normal. And we both reached the point where we were so miserable we were laughing out loud at our own misery and couldn’t stop laughing. I mean, crying-laughing uncontrollably! I had to get up to go to the bathroom to get relief from the miserable, cramped seat I was in, hoping that that would somehow calm whatever was causing this laughter. Add to all this the severe stomach cramps I was experiencing on this flight, and this was just a terrible experience all around. And this lasted the ENTIRE 8 hours!
39. HNL-LAX
40. LAX-DFW
41. DFW-PNS
42. IAH-SAP
43. SAP-IAH
44. PNS-ATL
45. ATL-AMS
46. AMS-NBO
When leaving Nairobi, Kenya, in 2017, our group had to go through several different layers of security before even reaching our gate. First, our bus had to be completely unloaded with each of us passing through a security check before even getting to the airport itself. Then we passed through regular TSA after checking luggage. Then, we had to line up along the walls of the hallway while drug dogs came and sniffed each of us. Then before we could enter our gate, we had one more regular security check. The entire trip home took me around 36 hours, and I had to go through customs, get my luggage, check it, then go through security all over again at each airport along the way.
47. NBO-AMS
48. AMS-ATL
49. ATL-PNS
50. PNS-IAH
51. IAH-SEA
52. SEA-IAH
53. IAH-PNS
54. PNS-ATL
55. ATL-MIA
56. MIA-BOG
57. BOG-LET
58. LET-BOG
59. BOG-MIA
60. MIA-PNS
61. MSY-ATL
62. ATL-MSP
63. MSP-MSY
When boarding my 63rd flight from Minneapolis to New Orleans (first time flying Spirit Airlines), I was shocked to see puke on the seat that I was supposed to be sitting in. This is the only time I’ve ever asked for a different seat, and they acted like I was being difficult…
64. PNS-ATL
65. ATL-JFK
66. JFK-KBP
I had a long layover in Ukraine and decided to explore the city. You can read about that here if you want to.
67. KBP-KIV
When I arrived at the airport in Chişinău, Moldova, to head home in 2019, the Ukraine International Airlines representative lady was very rude to me. Their app wouldn’t work, so I couldn’t check in early, and when I explained that to her, she charged me for it. She finally handed me my boarding pass (which was booked along with everyone else’s in my group), and I made my way through security. I reached the gate, and when our flight started boarding, this same representative lady refused to let me on the plane. It turns out that the ticket she printed for me was for the following day. She blamed our group for booking the wrong day, but my ticket was literally booked in a bundle with other team members who actually had the right date on their tickets. I was then rushed out of the airport with no idea what to do. MMO generously booked me a hotel for the night, and I spent the next 24 hours wandering around Chişinău on my own. I had a full 24 hours planned in New York City on the way home along with plenty of reservations, including a helicopter ride over the city which was very expensive. Of course, I missed this entire NYC day due to leaving Moldova a day later than planned, and I didn’t get any refunds on anything due to having to cancel at the last minute. I still regularly get promotional emails from the helicopter company, and each time I see them I think about that rude lady that works for Ukraine International Airlines.
68. KIV-KBP
69. KBP-JFK
When I reached JFK (New York), I was shoved into this disgusting, crowded room packed with as many people as possible, with no A/C or working outlets, for several hours, as they delayed my flight over and over again. This was potentially the worst airport experience I’ve ever had and adds to the many reasons why I don’t like NYC. This is the other airport in my top 3 least favorite of all time. By the time my flight to Atlanta started boarding, my next scheduled flight to Pensacola from Atlanta had already taken off.
70. JFK-ATL
In Atlanta, I had to book another flight for the following day, and Delta refused to provide a hotel for the night. So I was stuck trying to spend the night in the busiest airport in the world, which was near impossible.
71. ATL-PNS
72. PNS-DFW
When leaving Dallas for San Diego in early 2020, my flight was delayed a couple times for maintenance issues. (I won’t complain about this because I’m happy they caught it before takeoff). But when the plane was finally ready to leave, the pilot came over the intercom to inform us that they may have to fly us to Los Angeles instead of San Diego. This was because of a curfew in San Diego where airlines that arrive into the city after midnight will be charged a large fine. But when the pilot told us this after delaying our flight multiple times (we had been sitting on the plane this whole time too), the plane erupted into chaos. Everyone was rioting! I mean, there were passengers storming the front of the plane and verbally attacking flight attendants. I really didn’t know what to do- I was checking online to see if there was a quick way to get from LA to San Diego because all my reservations were obviously in San Diego. The pilot finally calmed everyone down and explained that there was another flight planned for the next morning. There were several people that decided to get off the plane and try to make it on the next one. I decided to risk it. So we eventually took off, even later than the plans they had following the delays. Midflight, our pilot told us that he was going to try a short cut (not sure how flying works, but apparently there are short cuts), and he somehow managed to get us into San Diego at 11:59 pm, just seconds before midnight!
73. DFW-SAN
74. SAN-CLT
Okay, this next flight from Charlotte to Pensacola was wild. We took off, and everything was normal for the majority of the flight. But then we reached Pensacola, and we could not get the approval to land because of some thunderstorms that came in. So we started circling the Pensacola airport over and over. This lasted for 30 minutes, and we were still circling, with no approval to land. Finally our pilot decided to let us know what was going on and explained that we had about 20 minutes’ worth of fuel left. If necessary, we would fly somewhere else to fuel up. But then 20 minutes passed, and we were still circling Pensacola! I thought at this point that we should be somewhere else getting fuel. Then he decided to tell us we would head up to Montgomery instead. So we’re already out of fuel according to what the pilot told us earlier, and NOW we’re making the decision to go to Montgomery?! We did make it to Montgomery and then sat there for about an hour after fueling, waiting for the storms to pass Pensacola, before we took off. (I’m counting these as two separate flights since there were two takeoffs and two landings in different cities. If you consider this cheating, then I still reached my 100th flight on this trip because by my count I’m at 101 overall).
75. CLT-MGM
76. MGM-PNS
77. PNS-CLT
78. CLT-LAS
79. LAS-DFW
80. DFW-PNS
81. PNS-ATL
82. ATL-STL
83. STL-ATL
84. ATL-PNS
85. PNS-DEN
86. DEN-MSP
87. MSP-DEN
88. DEN-PNS
89. PNS-DFW
90. DFW-DEN
91. DEN-CLT
92. CLT-PNS
93. EYW-TPA
After being delayed multiple times in the disgusting one-room Key West airport earlier this year (due to a shortage of pilots after vaccine mandates were enforced), I had to spend the night in Tampa, and that was a miserable experience. It was freezing, and there was an automated reminder that masks were mandatory in the airport that came over the intercom every 5 minutes throughout the night, even though there were like a total of 5 people in the entire airport, and not a single one of them was within sight of me.
94. TPA-PNS
95. PNS-DFW
96. DFW-DOH
I left Dallas around 10 PM on November 10 and arrived in Doha around 10 PM on November 11. That’s a 24-hour time difference (considering the time zones) between takeoff and landing! That’s the biggest time difference and longest flight (15 hours) I’ve ever experienced. I also got to see parts of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iran, and Qatar from the plane!
97. DOH-LUN
98. MFU-LUN
99. LUN-DOH
100! DOH-PHL 🎉
101. PHL-PNS
For my 100th flight, which was around 14 hours long, I paid for internet access to keep myself entertained. This was a good choice considering I wouldn’t receive any sleep on that entire flight. Overall, my 101 flights have taken me to 37 airports in 12 different countries on 5 continents. I have circled the globe over 5 times and have flown on 14 airlines:
• Delta Air Lines
• American Airlines
• Southwest Airlines
• U.S. Airways (now part of American)
• El Al Israel Airlines
• United Airlines
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
• LATAM Airlines
• Spirit Airlines
• Ukraine International Airlines
• Frontier Airlines
• Silver Airways
• Qatar Airways
• Proflight Zambia
I have spent over 312 hours flying, taking me to 1.9 weeks of my life just sitting on a plane. And though I’ve had some crazy flying experiences, I wouldn’t take any of them away because I have loved every trip I’ve taken and can’t wait to keep traveling in the future. Thanks for reading about my journey to 100 flights!
Tyler's Travels 