Sherman's Travel

When we set out to document the Top 10 Airline Incidents of 2011, we had no idea some of the biggest newsmakers were still to come.

Obviously, the snafu with the highest exposure and level of absurdity has been Alec Baldwin’s removal from an American Airlines flight last week for refusing to turn off his phone once the cabin door was closed and subsequently slamming a lavatory door. (Hey, Words With Friends is important!) In the aftermath of the incident, Baldwin went on SNL to issue himself an apology (while portraying an AA pilot on the Weekend Update segment). Now American is trying to find a way to cancel “30 Rock” from its in-flight programming line-up. Next up: Airlines ban celebrities altogether!

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There’s a reason why so many movies are set in airports and airplanes: The three-ring-circus, anything-can-happen atmosphere delivers on high-stakes drama and hilarious situational comedy in equal doses (think of Airplane: The Movie, The Terminal, Snakes on a Plane, and even Bridesmaids). But this isn’t another compilation of favorite airline movies – these dubious airline incidents really happened, during the course of a single year! Compiling a list of just 10 air travel snafus that garnered attention in 2011 proved to be as slippery as keeping up with the Kardashians, so our editors grouped bunches of blunders by theme. Even that was an exercise in futility (a report about Russian pilots and flight attendants smoking pot before takeoff emerged just before we clicked “publish”). Nevertheless, we hope you enjoy reading about these obnoxious airline incidents as much as we enjoyed piling them up, and please let us know what we left out. The first rule of Fight Club may be “You don’t talk about Fight Club,” but there are no rules when it comes to flight flubs. We’re spilling the beans.

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