I am back from Las Vegas and have been sharing memories of the trip. I haven't talk about this on air, but, yes, we hit turbulence both to and from Vegas.
On the way to Vegas, Boo and I were warned by the pilot that we'd hit stiff winds. The seatbelt sign came on about 45-minutes before landing.
Same on the way to Des Moines - strong winds caused turbulence about 45-minutes out and we were asked to be seated with our seatbelts fastened.
The difference: the temperature: wind chill was NOT a problem when we landed in Las Vegas - it was in the 50s. In Des Moines, the air temperature was 4 degrees with a gusty wind.
Turbulence is a normal part of the flight, but in some cases it can be extreme.
A recent Air New Zealand flight had experienced some abnormal turbulence on a one-hour flight to the southern end of the country.
It appears that the flight ran into 111-mile crosswinds. The turbulence created by these winds lasted for much of the flight. Even though the pilots had full control of the situation, about 20 percent of the passengers ended up getting sick on the flight. When the flight landed, those passengers were tended to by emergency services.
Air New Zealand confirmed the incident and that they would be refunding the fare to those that fell ill in a statement.