I was listening to National Public Radio's Savvy Traveller here in the USA and they were asking people to send in their weirdest flight experiences of 2000.

I think this is a great question. I was trying to think if I had any "weird" experiences in flight in 2000.

Recently I was on the way to Vancouver via SEA for a meeting with a prospective client in a certain very specialized business. I won't discuss the business of this prospective client because it isn't relevant, except to say that probably nobody's heard of it, it is extremely small as an industry, and incredibly specialized.

I started talking to my seatmate as I normally do, and it turns out that

1. he is an expert in this esoteric, specialized business

2. he works for a huge government agency and is a key player worldwide in this field

3. he knew everything about this product, obviously, and had even helped a certain government purchase a million of them.

Very weird.

Now, what's your weirdest experience in flight for 2000?

I thought that was very weird.

Mine was flying on an empty plane LHR-AMS, they needed the plane for a return flight the next morning so it had to fly, just 6 flight crew and myself! I got to do a safety demo for the flight crew, I had flown so often I knew exactly what to do, needless to say they were pretty impressed.. We had a really great time and I finally got to view a landing from a cockpit jumpseat before getting a bag full of pretzels and champy...

ScottC, How did you get on? Was it accepting paying passengers?

goodo

Flying SFO - MCO last summer some gregarious clearly middle-management flunky and his floosy secretary in 3A and 3B were 'over-served' and, after polluting the cabin with voluble bawdy improprieties, she apparently decided to shed her 100%-imported-virgin-Rayon sweater in order to nap in more comfort. Unfortunately, for the remainder of the flight she was sonorously doing push-ups with her lips against the window wearing nothing more than a push-up bra while the F/A's feverishly tried to cover her bobbling melons with blankets. During prelanding briefing she regained some semblance of sobriety, reared her torporous peroxide head, gasped, and stormed into the bathroom until after landing. The shame was delicious.

This didn't occur in 2000, but I just have to relay it as a most unusual flight experience. This story beats the one about my plane striking another plane and the usual pax kicked off the plane experiences. RDU -> DFW on AA during the winter. Being it was very cold out, it was highly unusual to see a fairly attractive woman with a micro-mini skirt in boarding area. I boarded early as an elite and sat down in my aisle seat in coach. Couldn't help but notice same woman again who stopped two rows in front of where I was seated and struggled tremendously to put her carry-on in the overhead. Meanwhile her skirt hikes up her hips and darn, she forgot to wear any undies. I didn't know if what just happened was real or if I was just dreaming, so to make sure, when the bell went off after we landed, rather than jump up, I stayed put in my seat to see if the scenario would repeat. It did, and yes, I wasn't dreaming. She was very nonchalant about pulling her skirt back down this time also.

I apologize in advance if this post offended anyone.

Again, excuse my 17-year old sense of "inappropriate" humor, but:

Outoftown: That sounds like a plot for a cheap "Adult Film"!!

Yes, it was a normal scheduled flight, I was booked and just got on, it's usually very empty and I tend to get on 1st anyway but when nobody else boarded it felt rather cool...

Mine had to be sharing a Las Vegas Limo ride to start a weeeknd of R&R in October. After two couples got out, I was left chatting with somebody who turned out to be a State Trooper in town for a training session. It turned out that his job was to check documents at a weigh station for trucks, documents that are created using the software package that we built for that state... We spent the rest of the limo ride talking about what we could do to make his life easier.

I was flying ATL - FRA.
I'm sitting in my usual aisle seat half way into the flight when I am awakened by a man who has fallen into my lap (face up).
I see his eye lids wide open and his eyes rolled to the back of his head with his mouth open and contorted. Not being used to being awakened quite like this, my reaction is to quickly push him off into the aisle. In a flash, the FA's show up and it is obvious that he is having an epileptic attack. Everybody does what ever they can, and I'm holding him down so he doesn't hurt himself. Very quickly, the attack ends and he jumps up as if nothing happened and walks back to his seat.

I don't know if this counts, since I wasn't on board, but it's the one I certainly remember most vividly.

I was staying at the Reno Hilton, which is located just northwest of the departure end of runsways 34R and 34L at RNO. I always try to get a room facing the airport, as it is great for plane-watching. It was a fairly warm summer afternoon and a NW 727 began its takeoff roll on 34R from the south end of the runway, heading toward me. Even on a warm day, with an 11,000 foot runway, most aircraft lift off with at least 2000-3000 feet of runway remaining.

Well, this 727 keeps rolling and rolling and rolling - as it fails to lift off, for about 5 seconds I am sure I am about to witness a full-fledged commercial airline crash. Literally with about 500 feet of runway left, the nose comes up and the main gear come off the runway with less than 50 feet remaining and barely clear the lights at the end of the runway.

It took me about 10 minutes to regain my composure.