Extreme Commanders

There will always be a slew of stories about flying nightmares. I'm sure cuts to TSA and FAA staff will only exacerbate it.

Florida woman anoints JetBlue planes with oil after recent flight incidents

A Florida woman took it upon herself to bless two planes she recently traveled on, and the decision is getting mixed reviews from viewers of her viral video.

Desiree Salter posted footage on TikTok of her blessing a JetBlue plane heading to Punta Cana on Feb. 15 and rubbing it with oil while boarding. The post's caption reads, "In Jesus name we pray… AMEN!"

Salter took some of the oil on her finger and made the sign of the cross next to the plane's open door. Her video has gotten more than 6 million views as of Sunday, with both supporters and nonbelievers commenting.

What they're saying:
"The way I would instantly feel safer on that flight," one man said in response to the video. "There is a thin line between faith and fear," another commented.

Salter posted a subsequent video saying she had no idea her video would garner so many views, but she particularly wanted to answer a repeated question she was getting from social media users.

"I actually get the oil from my church," she explained. "My stepfather is a pastor, and he prayed over the oil and passed it out to the congregation."

She said she keeps some bottles of oil at her home and in her purse.

"Happened to have one right before the trip and, of course, with some of these planes that's been crashing and some weird stuff that's going on, I just wanted to pray for it and get everybody here safe," she said. "God kept us safe. God kept us covered, and the devil is a liar."

Salter did the same thing on the plane for her return flight to Florida on Feb. 20.

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....in unrelated news, Desiree Salter has been appointed the new head of science and engineering integrity at the FAA

Southwest plane almost collides with private jet as it lands at Chicago Midway Airport

'I refused to put plane seat upright after woman complained - I wanted to sleep'

A woman has sparked a debate about plane etiquette after reclining her seat despite knowing it was causing discomfort to the passenger behind her.

During a nine-hour journey from Dallas to Paris with her mum, she planned to get some much-needed sleep during the overnight flight.

To help with this, she reclined her seat, popped in her headphones, and closed her eyes. However, her attempt at rest was quickly interrupted by the woman seated behind her, who requested she return her seat to its upright position.

Taking to Reddit to share her story, she explained: "After take off, I lean back my seat to begin snoozing. Almost immediately, the girl behind me taps on my shoulder and asks me to pull up my seat, which I do, but then asked why."

The reason given by the fellow passenger was that there was a baby in a car seat directly behind her, preventing her from reclining her own seat. This meant that if the original poster reclined hers, it would obstruct the view of the in-flight entertainment screen on the back of her seat.

Unsatisfied with the situation, she later thought, "I was like, OK, but a few minutes in I realised I really needed to lean my seat back if I was gonna sleep (it just made a huge difference for me)." After spotting an unoccupied seat nearby, she proposed that the other woman move there, which would allow both of them to enjoy their flight – the concerned passenger could watch her movie and she could recline in comfort.

Despite the suggestion, the woman resisted change, prompting the original poster to add: "I figured, since there was an empty seat in the middle section just a few rows back, if it really bothered her, she could move there. I had even told her as much. "So, after a few minutes, I leaned back my seat again and close my eyes. She then gets the attention of a flight attendant to tell me to pull up my seat. I put in my headphones."

In response, the irritated woman eagerly flagged down a flight attendant to address the issue, only to be met with the frustrating reality that they couldn't intervene. "The girl then got the attention of two more flight attendants, who all said the same thing, and offered the same seat I told her about. Thing is, we were in the window seat, and the girl complained that she picked that seat because it's the window seat so she refused to move. Meanwhile, I pretended to sleep the whole time."

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the problem with the original es thread by no excuses was that airlines are usually no issue. I recently flew a 10 hour flight where someone leaned they seat back and barely gave me any space, but I just pulled my tablet out

'Everyone started crying, screaming:' Airline makes emergency landing in Atlanta

Two Hopkins residents are speaking out after the Delta plane they were on filled with a smokey haze and had to make an emergency landing Monday in Atlanta.

Christin and Bill Chapman were still shaken up hours after they finally made it home.

Christin recalled the moment just after takeoff when Delta Flight 876 filled with smoke.

"It immediately filled with smoke. Immediately. And everyone started screaming, ‘Smoke! Smoke! Smoke,’” she said.

Chapman was returning home from a trip with her sister and father when the cabin of Columbia-bound flight quickly filled with a haze.

Christin’s father Bill said the smoke made it nearly impossible to breathe.

“It was a burning in my throat. And I just couldn’t holler,” he said.

Christin said the flight attendants initially made it sound as though they couldn’t reach the pilot.

“The flight attendant said, ‘We’re trying to get ahold of the pilot.’ And when she said that, that’s when all chaos broke loose. Everyone started crying, screaming, and it erupted into a panic,” she said.

The pilot contacted the Atlanta control tower and declared an emergency. The Boeing 717 with 99 people on board then made an emergency landing at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Once the plane came to a stop on the runway, emergency crews arrived as passengers were evacuated.

Click on the link for the full article

Air India flight to Delhi makes emergency U-turn to Chicago after 11 out of 12 toilets clog: 'A new low bar for customer service'

In yet another bizarre incident, passengers on an Air India flight en route to Delhi were forced toake an emergency U-turn back to Chicago, US, reportedly due to clogged toilets on the flight.

According to news agency ANI, which cited a spokesperson saying that alternative arrangements were made for the passengers who were stuck on the flight for over 10 hours.

According to a report by the popular aviation website View From The Wing, Air India flight AI126, which took off from Chicago to Delhi on March 6, 2025, was forced to circle back after 11 of its 12 toilets were rendered unusable.

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Looks like Southwest will start losing a lot of business.

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerosp ... 025-03-11/

CHICAGO, March 11 (Reuters) - Southwest Airlines (LUV.N), opens new tab said on Tuesday it would start charging some customers for checked bags, ending a unique free policy, as the company looks for ways to shore up its earnings.

The changes mark yet another departure for the Texas-based carrier's passenger-friendly policies. Last year, Southwest announced plans to end open seating, which had been central to its brand image for more than 50 years.

American Airlines passenger swallows rosary beads, attacks flight crew in bizarre ‘satanic’ meltdown

An American Airlines flight to Miami was forced to turn around when a manic passenger — who was convinced that demonic spirits followed him onto the plane — swallowed rosary beads and violently kicked a flight attendant across the airplane aisle.

Just moments after the flight left Savannah, Ga., Monday night, Delange Augustin, 31, began “yelling and shaking” in what the crew initially assumed was a seizure.

The incident took a bizarre turn when Augustin began gulping down rosary beads to try to ward off what he claimed were “Satan’s disciple(s)” that followed him onto the flight, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the New York Times.

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Flying is getting worse, if you can believe it

For decades now, we the people have been remarkably tolerant of all the nickel-and-diming the air travel industrial complex has unleashed on us. (That’s largely because of rampant industry consolidation that’s made US airlines less competitive and more cartel-like, but that’s a rant for another day.)

Point is, flying sucks. And it’s getting worse.

As if we didn’t have *waves hands at everything* to worry about, airlines are bracing for a slowdown in travel.

Delta, Southwest and American Airlines all cut their first-quarter financial forecasts this week. On top of that, Delta and United said they’re reducing their capacity for summer travel.

It’s not entirely clear why but it may have something to do with the two terrifying plane crashes in the first two months of the year; the lingering memory of Boeing’s door-plug blowout just over a year ago; bad weather leading to delays and cancellations; wildfires; mass layoffs leading people to rein in their expenses; businesses scaling back travel because they don’t know whether tariff policies are going to hamstring their operations …

I’m just spitballing.

Actually, it’s all of those things, as my colleague Chris Isidore reported Tuesday.

That’s bad news for anyone planning to fly this year. When airlines pull back, the experience of flying gets suckier.

“Reduced capacity” is industry-speak for fewer flights. That means the flights that do happen will likely be expensive and packed to the gills. And, when those summer storms inevitably hit, there’ll be fewer options for rebooking.

In response, airlines will be incentivized to extract maximum value from its customers. Which means — you guessed it — more and/or worse fees.

Southwest already got that party started on Tuesday, when it decided to ditch the one little luxury it allowed its customers: free checked bags.

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