With gifts to buy and family to visit with, the holidays can be stressful enough on their own.
Nonetheless, the seasonal travel period comprising Christmas and New Year's is notorious for crowds, anxiety-inducing security checkpoint lines, inclement weather, flight delays and other sometimes unavoidable travel headaches.
This year is no different.
Countless travelers took to social media this Christmas to wallow in their untimely flight delays with plenty of sarcasm.
Travelers also used the platform to complain about the behavior of their fellow holiday globetrotters.
Delta Air Lines passengers got an early and unwelcome surprise when their Christmas Eve flight from Beijing to Seattle was forced to make an emergency landing on a small Alaskan island due to a potential engine issue.
One of the flight's nearly 200 travelers tweeted about the experience.
A Washington, D.C.-bound United Airlines flight returned to San Francisco for an emergency landing on Christmas Eve because of an unknown mechanical problem. Fortunately, the issue was resolved and the flight departed only a couple of hours behind schedule.
Meanwhile, in the U.K., 160 guests had to evacuate the Coventry Hill Hotel because of a Christmas Day fire. No major damage was done, however, and guests were eventually allowed to return to their rooms.
Rail travelers weren't immune to the stress either.
While there were plenty of holiday travel woes to go around, some lucky travelers experienced Christmas travel miracles in the form of free upgrades, underpopulated flights and furry passengers.
With the current holiday travel period projected to be among the busiest in history and New Year's right around the corner, travelers aren't out of the woods just yet.
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