2008 has been, amongst other things, a year for airline travel. From January when I skidaddled up to New York to see my nana who was very sick (but yet still asking me to sneak Irish Whiskey into her drip) to this newest flight experience to my homeland of Seattle I have hit New York twice, Missouri, Florida, Pennsylvania and Seattle thrice. Feelings of guilt aside for the "ginormous" eco-footprint that I have left, I have spent a lot of great time with family and friends and have learned a few things about airline travel.
1. Flight attendants are no longer chipper and friendly.
This last trip out to Seattle, my flight to Atlanta was 40 minutes late, giving me approximately 15 minutes to run from one terminal to the other at a dead sprint before my next flight took off. On my first flight was a couple with small baby who too, was trying to run through the airport without spilling said child onto the floor. A feeling of Louisville to Seattle camaraderie came over me I suppose and I told them I would run ahead and let the airline know they were coming and to hold the plane. So, as I am running past airport lollygaggers who are waiting at their gates and are pointing at me rather uncouthly (okay, so I was sprinting through the terminal with two jackets and a scarf on---I am sure I looked like the abominable snow-traveler) a woman who is selling airline credit cards literally tries to stop me to sell me a credit card. I tear past her and run to my gate and between heaving breaths say to the flight attendant, "There (heave) is (heave) a (heave) couple (heave) with (heave) a baby (heave) who are running (heave) to get here (heave), can you please hold the plane?" One attendant is looking at me while eyeing the defribrilation device, while the other attendant, the one I directed the question to said coldly, "Ticket, mam." I again, heaving, said, "did you hear what I said? There is a couple..." to which she snippily interrupted and said, "Get on the plane mam." And then, for the first time she actually looked at me and said fiercely again "Get on the plane mam" Feeling slightly reprimanded I collected my bags which I had dropped on the floor and in brazen passive-aggressive defiance walked as slow as possible down to the plane. NOW WHAT?? Whatever happened to coffee with a smile? or come fly the FRIENDLY skies? I have had more run-ins with bitter flight attendants than I would like. Whatever happened to that common courtesy that is so rare these days? I was talking to the woman next to me who had requested a wheelchair for her journey and she said she had to wait 45 minutes without a seat to sit in at her previous flight's gate and was met by a very nasty attendant who asked her if she really needed the wheelchair. Gracious.
2. Older people in a dark bathroom equals lots of mysterious wet spots. I really won't get into this one much. But let's just say that the lights in my past flight's bathroom were very, very dim (I had trouble finding the flush button) and I was on a flight with many, many senior citizens.
Well, that is kind of all for now. I am tired and am going to bed. Maybe I will think of more things I learned at a later time.
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