10 Travel Nightmares Worse Than Yours

There are a lot of headaches when it comes to air travel, but nothing compares to the pain that might be happening right below your feet. When you fly Air France, insufficient legroom and a lack of overhead storage space should be the least of your worries.

That’s because your Air France ticket is also supporting the abuse of monkeys, who are shipped to laboratories across the country, where they will be tortured and killed in cruel and pointless experiments.

Can you relate to the plight of monkeys shipped by Air France?

1. Dealing with baggage

You on Vacation: You try to squeeze all your clothes into one of those small carry-on bags to avoid extra baggage fees and cross your fingers hoping it’ll fit in the overhead bin.

Monkeys on Air France: Forced into cramped shipping crates, they’re left in the dark cargo holds for journeys that can last UP TO 30 HOURS.

2. Saying goodbye

You on Vacation: You visit with family and friends one last time for a few tearful goodbyes before your long trip, because you won’t see them again until the holidays.

Monkeys on Air France: Torn from the wild or from breeding farms in Africa and Asia, they aren’t able to say goodbye to their families, whom they will NEVER see again. Instead, they will suffer in cruel experiments in laboratories.

3. Showing up early

You on Vacation: You take a pricey taxi ride hours before your flight, stand in long lines to check your bags, and wait even longer to make it through those Transportation Security Administration checkpoints.

Monkeys on Air France: They’re trucked from breeding farms to airports where they wait for long periods of time in tiny wooden crates on the tarmac or in warehouses—sometimes in extreme weather conditions.

4. Refreshments

You on Vacation: You wait in a long line for small, overpriced food items or wait until you take off for the complimentary refreshments.

Monkeys on Air France: They’re often too stressed and scared even to eat during the long journey to their future prisons. They also sometimes eat their food too fast and finish it well before the end of the journey, leaving them hungry and afraid.

5. Crowded flights

You on Vacation: You try to score a window seat or a seat next to a healthy vegan who fits completely in his or her own seat. If all else fails, you can purchase a premium ticket or pre-select seats to avoid some of the hassle.

Monkeys on Air France: Though they try desperately to escape and to alleviate the stress of their tiny prisons, they aren’t able to stretch their legs, switch seats, or drown their sorrows in sky-high cocktails. This confinement will continue at the laboratories when their journey is over.

6. Annoying in-flight demonstrations

You on Vacation: You roll your eyes because you still have to sit through demonstrations on every flight about how to buckle your seatbelt, use oxygen masks, and deplane during an emergency.

Monkeys on Air France: Terrified, they have no idea what is going on or what will become of them when they arrive at the laboratory—assuming they survive the trip.

7. Terrifying turbulence

You on Vacation: You listen to the pilot and brace yourself for the bumpy ride ahead, because even though you’re a frequent flyer, it’s still stressful.

Monkeys on Air France: Holding onto the sides of their shipping crate for dear life as turbulence knocks them about in the cargo hold, they have no one to comfort them while their ears pop and they experience miserable motion sickness.

8. Crying babies

You on Vacation: You hope there won’t be any crying babies on board.

Monkeys on Air France: Crying out beneath your feet, they sit amid their own urine and feces as well as the waste that spills over from neighboring crates. Just because you can’t hear them doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

9. Boring layovers

You on Vacation: You sit bored with nothing to do and no way to entertain yourself without paying an arm and a leg.

Monkeys on Air France: They remain confined to crates while waiting for the next terrifying flight on their painful long-haul journeys to laboratories, where they’ll be confined again—this time to steel cages that they’ll leave only when they’re being experimented on.

10. Lost luggage

You on Vacation: You file a report and wait for your luggage to make it to the right destination.

Monkeys on Air France: After the flight, they suffer in the backs of trucks as they’re sent across the country to laboratories. This stress will only be followed by more suffering when they’re used in cruel and invasive experiments. In laboratories, monkeys are poisoned, crippled, cut into, mutilated, subjected to scary psychological experiments, and addicted to drugs and alcohol before being killed.

Flying can be a pain, but for humans, it’s a minor annoyance that ends quickly. Monkeys forced to fly Air France suffer through much more traumatic experiences that continue once they reach their final destinations at laboratories across the country.

Air France is the last major airline to support this cruel industry by shipping monkeys to their deaths in laboratories like Covance and Charles River Laboratories.

There are many other airlines to choose from, so the next time you fly, make sure it isn’t with Air France.