u/throwaway-btrfan

My husband and I were supposed to be flying home from Milan to Tennessee (via ATL) today. What actually happened was a descent into a logistical circle of hell.
We board the Delta flight. Doors close. And then... nothing. We are immediately held at the gate for a maintenance issue.
Because we sat there dealing with the maintenance, we completely missed our departure slot. So we are just sitting. For four fucking hours. We did not move.
Then the pilot comes on the intercom to explain why we are still stranded, and it sounds like a bad disaster movie. We are completely geographically boxed in. We can't fly north because the French Air Traffic Control is on a rolling strike. We can't fly south because Mount Etna literally erupted and all the diverted airspace traffic is completely choking the route.
While we are held hostage in this metal tube, Delta operations is scrambling. At one point, they seriously floated the idea of flying us to Boston just so they could get around some duty regulations or swap crews. Like, sure, just dump us in Massachusetts, whatever, just get me off this ground.
Finally, the inevitable happens. Because we spent half a day sitting at the gate, the pilots and flight attendants legally "time out." They hit their maximum hours and are legally prohibited from flying the plane.
So after four hours of claustrophobic torture, they tell us the flight is scrubbed for the day and kick all 300 of us off the aircraft. We are officially stranded in Italy for another 24 hours. My husband is now convinced this happens every time you fly internationally and is ready to never leave the US again. I am just so unbelievably exhausted.
We ended up just walking away from the massive, furious line at the gate and eating the cost of the airport hotel to preserve what's left of our sanity. Currently waiting on Delta to figure out their shit so we can try this all over again tomorrow. Send thoughts, prayers, or a teleportation device.

I was never afraid of flying as a child, hell I remember being 12 years old going “wheeeee” during turbulence while my aunt is praying every prayer she knows beside me.
But sometime in 2023 I misheard a PA announcement on an Allegiant flight as “we appear to be going down” and that’s where my fear started. It’s not bad enough to keep me off a plane entirely but I do get hyper vigilant now.
Anyway.
Just got off a flight from EWR-TYS and like. I can reassure and logic myself all I want. My brother flies for work all the time. People fly every single day without issue. My brain can know all of this and yet the second a bump comes I go “I’m gonna die”.
I fly to Italy in a few weeks too and I know exposure therapy is how you beat a fear like this but GOD can people please help me cause I was genuinely shaking in fear the entire time. Takeoff was bumpy, cruising was bumpy, landing was bumpy. We had to circle around cause there was a helicopter on the runway or something and I was shitting my pants when we pulled back up.
Did I just experience, like, an anomaly of a flight?
Great day to forget to take my meds too.