15 Stars Disclose Their Horrific Travel Experiences

Stars probably travel a whole lot more than the average person because of their career demands. Sure, many projects are based in Los Angeles or Hollywood, where they live, but many stars also shoot on location somewhere other than sunny California. Not to mention, they're often required to jet around the world to do press tours. To top it all off, they get pretty generous salaries, which means on the breaks they have between projects they're easily able to hop on a plane and soar over to a tropical destination to spend a few days relaxing beachside.

A lot of airlines have been gaining negative attention in the media lately due to how they treat their passengers - and while you would think that stars would be immune to treatment like that, since they're usually isolated in first class throughout their travels, it appears that isn't always the case. Since they're on planes and in airports so much, it only makes sense that they'd occasionally encounter problems just like your average flyer. From unpleasant passengers to unpleasant airline staff to problems with the plane that no one could really do anything about, here are 15 times that stars have had some travel nightmares.

15 Chris Hemsworth

Sometimes, a travel nightmare has absolutely nothing to do with the plane itself or the flight staff, or even your fellow passengers. Sometimes, the stars just align to make your own personal experience a little rough - as Chris Hemsworth knows well. As many know, the Aussie dreamboat is married to the gorgeous model Elsa Pataky, and the two have three children together. Back in 2015, they were taking a long trip from Australia to London with their three children in tow. Let us paint a picture for you - the flight was about 30 hours long, his children were three and one and one (aka very young), and they were all sick and not feeling particularly inclined to be quiet. The doting dad absolutely adores his kids, but even he described the flight as “the trip from hell.”

14 Sophia Bush

Even if you've never seen a single episode of One Tree Hill, the show that really catapulted her to superstardom, chances are you still know who Sophia Bush is. The blonde bombshell has been in the industry for quite a while, and has begun moving away from the teen roles that defined her earlier career and towards meatier roles in both film and television. However, despite her star status, she still had to deal with an unfortunate creeper on the plane, just like many regular women do. She took to Twitter with her irritation saying that “when you make a woman so visibly uncomfortable, that after you've ignored all visual cues to please leave her alone (one word answers, she pulls out a book, puts on a hat, she actually asks you not to speak to her with the tone and words you're choosing to use) that she finally GETS UP and MOVES SEATS, leave her alone. Signed, Every Woman On The Planet Who Is Sick of Your Creepy S**t.” Preach!

13 Lena Dunham

Unlike Kevin Hart, Lena Dunham wasn't interrupted in the bathroom by a fan - she was interrupted by a flight attendant (albeit accidentally). Dunham was travelling from New York to Los Angeles, a flight that countless celebrities make, and a flight attendant accidentally walked in on her while she was in the bathroom. She didn't explain whether there was some malfunction in the bathroom door, or perhaps if she just forgot to swap the lock over to indicate that it was occupied, but either way - it happened. Dunham spilled that “he shrieked like there was a monster from the great beyond… I didn't know what to do; I was just like 'that was so much worse for you than it is for me… !' He looked so traumatized.” We can only imagine - walking in on someone in the bathroom is always embarrassing, but when you're a professional walking in on one of your passengers, it probably feels a thousand times worse!

12 Matthew Broderick

Nowadays, Matthew Broderick is a seasoned pro when it comes to international travel, but back when he was a teen just starting out in the industry, he had a bit of a travel nightmare that he still remembers. He was taking an international trip to Amsterdam with filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan - exciting stuff - but things didn't exactly go as planned. Both of them ended up somehow losing their credit cards and travel documents on their way home, which ended up culminating in a hitchhiking trip across Ireland and a plea at the American embassy in England for help. They were eventually able to get home, but we're just saying - that story sounds like the plot for a Ferris Bueller sequel, complete with hijinx and exasperated faces. Swap Kenneth for Cameron and you've got a movie!

11 Clint Eastwood

Okay, Clint Eastwood's travel nightmare is basically an action movie waiting to happen, and we hope he got a lot of mileage out of the amazing story. Apparently, the actor was on a plane (a smaller one, from what we can tell by the context of the story), and it had to make an emergency sea landing just shy of the San Francisco coast (yep, exactly like that plane that ended up having to land on the Hudson River). The plane began to sink, and Eastwood had to brave the sea and swim to shore alongside the pilot. As he describes it “we hit the water and bounced about pretty good… and then the plane went up and started sinking. I'm unbuckling to get out and the plane is facing downward but it had big flaps so I'm standing on the flap The pilot comes down from up above where the cockpit was and he said 'what do you think?” I said 'it looks like we're going swimming.' And so we jumped in the water and started moving towards shore.” It's official - Clint Eastwood is the coolest.

10 Kevin Hart

In his new comedy special, Kevin Hart shared a story about the downsides of airport travel when you're a celebrity. Yes, you get access to first class lounges and certain perks that the average person might not experience. However, you also have to deal with crazy fans. Hart's travel nightmare involves a super enthusiastic fan who absolutely wanted to get a picture with the comedy genius, at all costs. The only problem is, Hart was on the toilet dealing with… a bit of a situation. He graciously told the fan that he'd take a photo once he was finished his business, but the fan was in a rush, about to miss his own flight, so he started trying to take a photo of Hart over the bathroom stall. Uh, not cool! We have a feeling Hart is going to be taking a bodyguard in with him to airport bathrooms from here on out after an experience like that.

9 Naomi Campbell

Most travel nightmares involve a bit of an inconvenience of some sort, but Naomi Campbell's ended up in community service - which, to be honest, isn't too surprising from the diva with a notorious temper. Campbell was on a British Airways flight way back in 2008, when she found out that some of her luggage got lost. A frustrating occurrence, sure, but not something that the flight staff do intentionally. However, Campbell snapped and began verbally abusing the crew, apparently attempted to use her stiletto heel as a weapon, and even spat on security once they arrived to remove her. Hilariously, she also tried to claim that the pilot was a racist for having her removed (rather than admitting he was maybe trying to protect his staff from the insane celebrity screaming at them). Needless to say, she got in some hot water because of the incident and ended up with 200 hours of community service.

8 LeAnn Rimes

No one wants to be the kind of passenger that starts some type of issue on a plane. Everyone is in such close quarters, probably frustrated from bumps along the road in their travel journey, and they just want to relax, munch on some pretzels, and watch some in-flight entertainment. When LeAnn Rimes was on a flight, she stopped by the bathroom to freshen up a little bit with dry shampoo to ensure she was looking on point when she landed. The problem is, something about the dry shampoo set off the fire alarm - which, as you can imagine, isn't the most ideal situation when you're thousands of miles in the air. Rimes took to Twitter to share the comedy of the situation, but we bet those were some pretty irritated flight attendants. Perhaps just leave the dry shampoo for the airport and stick to a good ol' fashioned brush when you're in the air.

7 Kevin Smith

Everyone knows that passengers who are a little bit larger than the average person can run into some trouble when flying, from requiring seatbelt extenders to having to face cruel fellow passengers who may make comments. You would think celebrities would be immune to that kind of thing, but apparently not. Back in 2010, director Kevin Smith was on a Southwest flight and he ended up getting kicked off by the airline because he was, apparently, too large to safely fly. Uh… sure, the guy has been a little bit on the plumper side in his life, but he's certainly not too large to fly. We're not sure who made the call on Southwest, but it was definitely a stupid one. Smith live-tweeted the whole incident and ended up getting a $100 voucher from the airline which, to be frank, is not really enough for dealing with that sort of ridiculous treatment.

6 Chris O'Dowd

Flying solo can be stressful, but flying with a baby is an entirely different ball game. You have a whole other human being to look after, to ensure is fed, to ensure gets through all the stages from security to boarding. Chris O'Dowd was flying with his baby son, just three months old, when airport officials at Gatwick decided that the baby seemed a little bit suspicious. He took to Twitter and sarcastically tweeted out “Thanks Gatwick security! Some might think body-searching a baby and binning his bottle was overzealous and weird, but not me! #ScaryBaby.” In this case, we have to agree with him - everyone knows you can't take liquids on board, but there are usually exceptions made for small children, particularly if their bottles contain things you can't exactly buy at the airport stores. Plus, we can only imagine having security checking out your child is a nerve-wracking process because you want to protect them.

5 Rachel McAdams

Many stars have stories of having to deal with super fans while they're just trying to get through the airport and get on a plane, but Rachel McAdams has a story about dealing with a hater. Back in 2006, when she had gorgeous pink locks, McAdams was on her way through the immigration and security check part of the airport when she ran into a female customs officer who didn't seem to be the biggest fan. The officer apparently insulted her appearance (hard to believe, because she's absolutely stunning, and she rocked that pink hair!) and criticized her movies. However, most people know that you're not really supposed to pick fights when you're travelling, especially with airport officials - and McAdams simply stated after the incident that “I couldn't say anything in case she threatened to deport me!” Yikes - we're not sure why that officer woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day.

4 Emilie De Ravin

Everyone knows there are certain rules and regulations when it comes to air travel, but there are generally kind ways to handle any situation. Most people, if nicely asked, will be more than willing to allow an official to check out their bag or confiscate something they deem to be dangerous. It's just part of airline travel. However, Emilie De Ravin faced a bit of a rude employee when she was getting ready to get on an American Airlines flight last year. Apparently, the carry on bag that contained her breast pump (pretty essential for a travelling mama) was ripped from her hands by an airline employee. De Ravin was definitely not impressed and tweeted out that “there is NO excuse 4 physical force being used on someone trying to take her breast pump carry on. NOT OK.” We'd have to agree in this case.

3 Christian Slater

Ah, one from the archives. Thankfully, Christian Slater seems to have learned the rules of airline travel at this point, but back in 1994 when he was an even bigger star, he got into a bit of a situation. For some reason, he decided it was a good idea to board his flight with luggage that contained an unlicensed pistol. And yes, airline rules were a bit more relaxed in the 90s than they are now, but nevertheless - having a weapon in your bag was a pretty big deal, even then. He ended up arrested and given three days of community service for the situation. Quite frankly, we're surprised he didn't end up getting into even bigger trouble - that's a pretty insane thing to do on a flight. What, did he think he'd need the pistol immediately upon landing or something?

2 Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Many stars seem to think that, because they're celebrities, they're immune to any rules that other people may face - especially in places like first class lounges. After all, they're celebrities - they're basically the creme de la creme of first class, right? Well, not exactly. Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers was waiting to board a flight back in 2010, and he was apparently enjoying alcoholic beverages a little bit too much. Airline attendants were watching the celeb get more and more hammered, and turned him away at the gate because of his disruptive and aggressive behaviour. He got into a bit of a fight with the attendants who were just trying to do their jobs and ended up getting banned from United for life. In fact, one of the officials working at the time ended up suing the actor because of his outrageous behaviour. Seriously, man - just save the excessive drinking for some other time.

1 Bella Hadid and Bella Thorne

Just like us, sometimes stars are stuck at the airport when something goes wrong with their flight. Rising stars Bella Thorne and Bella Hadid were scheduled to be on a flight from New York City to London when the jetsetters were grounded because the wing of their plane ended up accidentally hitting a fence. No one was injured, thankfully, but the duo ended up having to spend 14 hours at the airport waiting around for another flight that could carry them across the pond to England. Sure, they probably had a slightly more glamorous experience at the airport waiting around than the average person does, but still - they're not any more immune to travel nightmares than the rest of us. They probably used the time to take plenty of selfies and nurture their social media following, though, so it wasn't entirely wasted time.