11 Truly Bizarre Reasons That Real Flights Were Delayed

It almost makes you want to drive.

1. Flight Attendant Catfight

fineartamerica.com / Via nbcnewyork.com

Delay Time: 4 hours

WTF Happened?:An American Eagle flight out of Kennedy Airport was delayed nearly four hours after two flight attendants got into a verbal altercation on the plane, forcing the cockpit crew to turn the plane around and head back to the gate, passengers tell NBC 4 New York.

2. Not Enough Extra Large Pajamas

shutterstock.com / Via heraldsun.com.au

Delay Time: 30 minutes

WTF Happened?: Two testy passengers spoiled their own pyjama* party after refusing to take to the skies without XL-sized PJs for the 15-hour flight from Los Angeles.

*Apparently that's how Aussies spell pajamas?

3. Swarming Bees

daveandhiscriticisms.wordpress.com / Via pittsburgh.cbslocal.com

Delay Time: 20 minutes

WTF Happened?: They were getting ready to fuel and they came around the corner of the plane and right there on the wing is a cluster of honeybees,” master beekeeper Stephen Repasky of Meadow Sweet Apiaries said. “It was a shocker to a lot of people.”

4. Blatant Racism

gothamist.com / Via legacy.utsandiego.com

Delay Time:10 hours 45 mins

WTF Happened?: American Airlines Flight 590, with 126 passengers on board, had been scheduled to depart Lindbergh Field at 11 p.m. Tuesday. In an interview yesterday, Robbins said she was sitting in the back of the plane with her children, awaiting the departure from the gate, when one of the Iraqis walked by to use the restroom.

She heard him “clunking around” inside the bathroom. When he came out, he had a suspicious look on his face, she said.

“He looked so mean, the way he was looking at everyone,” Robbins said. “It was very frightening, like something out of a movie.

5. Monkey Loose in the Cabin

now.msn.com / Via nypost.com

Delay Time: 4 hours

WTF Happened?: The foot-tall monkey was one of about 50 to 60 being shipped to China for medical research, “He was a slippery little beast,” one source said.

6. Man with Balloons Strapped to Lawn Chair

cinemaromantico.blogspot.com / Via sermonillustrations.com

Delay Time: Shut down LAX for most of an afternoon and caused delays across the country in 1982.

WTF Happened?: Soon after he was safely grounded and cited by the police, him three questions:

"Where you scared?" "Yes."

"Would you do it again?" "No."

"Why did you do it?" "Because," he said, "you can't just sit there."

7. Turtles on the Tarmac

articles.cnn.com / Via cbsnews.com

Delay Time: 30 minutes on average

WTF Happened?: The slow-motion stampede began about 6:45 a.m., and within three hours there were so many turtles on Runway 4L and nearby taxiways that controllers were forced to move departing flights to another runway.

"We ceded to Mother Nature," said Ron Marsico, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the airport.

8. Stinky Fruit

shutterstock.com / Via en.rian.ru

Delay Time: 1 hour

WTF Happened?: Durian, dubbed the “king of fruits” because of its enormous size (about 1 foot long) and heavy weight, is grown throughout Southeast Asia. The fruit is banned from airplanes and hotel rooms in Indonesia because of its strong smell, which is sometimes described as reminiscent of rotting vegetables, meat or bad Limburger cheese.

9. Puppy on the Runway

twolittlecavaliers.com / Via nypost.com

Delay Time: 10 minutes

WTF Happened?:Taxiing airliners ground to a screeching halt, giving their passengers front-row views of the spectacle that at one point saw a frustrated worker get down on his hands and knees in an unsuccessful attempt to convince the 14-month-old Rhodesian ridgeback, named Byrdie, to surrender.

10. Cat in the Cockpit

break.com / Via abcnews.go.com

Delay Time: 4+ hours

WTF Happened?: As Harris got on the plane, the latch on Ripples carrier gave way and the cat ran through the aisles to first class where passengers tried and failed to catch him. Ripples then made his way to the cockpit, diving under the pilots feet into a small inaccessible wiring compartment.

11. One Direction Shopping at Duty Free

manonthelam.com / Via thesun.co.uk

Delay Time: 15 minutes

WTF Happened?: An airport source said: “The One Direction lads have joined the upper echelons of the celebrity world after BA delayed a passenger flight for them. Airlines are so pedantic about flight times because if jets are stuck on the stand at Heathrow they miss their take-off slot and it ultimately costs them money.

The passengers will no doubt be cheesed-off when they discover the delay to their service was due to a boyband’s bad time-keeping. Especially when they find out that the lads had been shopping and had landed at Heathrow five hours earlier.

It just shows you how far One Direction has come."