My lovely bride is an F/A for a major carrier. While most turbulent flights are more of a nuisance than anything, there have been times where she got pretty banged up. Once, on a Trans-Pac from New Zealand to LAX, she hit her head on the ceiling of a B747, then landed on her tailbone. They were only an hour or two out of Auckland, and she spent the rest of the 14 hour flight off her feet in the crew area. That one cost her a few months on occupational leave. She's also been injured on a LAX-HTR flight in clear-air turbulence over the Dakotas.

The first time our little one flew, we were returning to LAS from OAK and hit some turbulence associated with a thunderstorm over Death Valley. It was enough that the SWA crew were in their jumpseats. While most of the PAX's were white-knuckling it out, our then four-month-old just giggled away in her carrier.

One other thing - turbulence in and out of Las Vegas is not unusual, and it happens year round. It can be worse in summer when the aircraft encounters thermals rising over the desert, or in the late summer/early fall monsoon. Other desert cities, like Phoenix, experience similar problems.

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