Even better, Delta got me on the last flight available to my destination! The other options were getting up at 3am, taking a flight, renting a car and driving for four hours, or driving 14 hours throughout the night. In over 30 years of flying, I’ve never been late or missed a trip, or delayed a flight one minute due to my fault. I’ll leave a day early if I have to in order to make sure. So happy to not ruin my record!
On the downside, the guy sitting next to me took his boots off, and man! I was forced to drink a glass of wine to endure the smell. Oh,the suffering!
I can ignore snarky comments from flight attendants , but several years ago when American pilots were in angry negotiations between the union and management, I had a couple of Captains come on the intercom after landing and really be unprofessional and snarky about management. It was embarrassing to hear.
Busdriver, I rarely confront strangers, but I think stinky feet would push me into the “say something” category. Yikes!
@dragonmom, that is awful. They should never make the passengers feel uncomfortable when they are having issues with management. Passengers don’t want to hear that crap, and it is really unprofessional.
Ah well, the stinky feet were no big deal. I was just so happy, because by the time we got to cruise, I knew we were going to make it for sure. The closer you get to your destination, the less chance of the rare divert. i would have suffered a lot worse than stinky feet, if I had to. Someone suggested getting a bottle of essential oils to put a bit under your nose for those smelly situations. Stinky feet could be fixed by putting the shoes on, but what if the person next to you has BO, or keeps farting? Hard to stop that one!
We recently flew into SFO (Sat., 2/6) and were pleasantly surprised how many nice folks were around, smiling and asking if they could help you. H later mentioned they were likely extra security hired for Super Bowl crowds and being friendly and helpful was likely part of their contract. I was pleased and it was very nice to see so many folks who appeared so friendly. Mich nicer than officious frowning folks who look threatening and I think better fit tourism.
At the car rental area, there were handouts on how to be sure to allow enough time for crowds and traffic when you return car and for your return trip.
I was on a southwest flight today. One connection was a bit late because of high winds and they made an announcement was we were lining up that today was very special someone named Etta had a birthday today.
Later on during the flight, they presented Etta with presents and led everyone on singing happy birthday. H slept through it all.
The presents were a crown of pretzel bags skewered together with red SW skewers that have hearts on one side. The cake was a roll of TP with more skewers as candles. Etta was turning 13.
Recently I’ve had the good fortune to encounter airport dogs - on Monday I was transferring flights in Charlotte and snuggled with a Golden Doodle wearing a Pet Me vest.
The last time I flew domestic , I encountered unusually pleasant TSA agents. It was almost as if they were going out of their way to be pleasant , which is rare IMO.
How about story about a baby that does not involve crying?
Sitting in the window seat and a mom sat down next to me with a baby. A little, tiny, almost band new baby. She was obviously exhausted, but refused to sleep because she was holding the baby. So I violated some social norms, summoned the boy scout in me and offered to hold the little girl so she could get some rest on the flight. At first mom was apprehensive (understandably so, as I was 40 something male stranger), but then accepted and acknowledged its not like I could run off anywhere with the kid. Mom got a 30 minute nap, and I got to remember what it was like to hold my own kids. I think this grumpy/softy guy got the better end of the deal.
Another baby story- several months ago on a Southwest flight a mom with her older baby, 8 months or so, sat in front of me. Very quickly two other women chose the other seats in her row. The first one said she loved babies and wanted to sit there. The baby was happy the whole flight, not surprising!
On a flight into Frankfurt, travelling with my youngest, I was seated next to a young woman who was a Fordham student about to tour Eastern Europe on her own. She was a philosophy major applying to PhD programs. Her area of interest? Comic books and superheroes. She was very smart and a great conversationalist.
Every once in a while, when you were expecting drudgery, kismet hands you a super-interesting day.
I have only had to sit in the dread middle seat once in 10 years.
2.The last time I picked my son up from the airport, his flight was on time.
3.The wine is still free on international flights, even in economy class.
I am only 5’5" so even though the seats keep getting closer together, I usually have adequate leg room.
I always check a bag, due to the non-TSA conforming quantity of pastes, gels, unguents and salves I have to use to tame my frizzy hair, and my luggage has always made it for at least 20 years.
Even though flying completely sucks most of the time, if you are patient and kind and don’t act entitled to the desk agents and flight attendants, they will treat you with respect.
The ambient noise on a plane is so outrageously loud, that crying baby they always include for free on long flights never bothers me.
Dawn from Alaska, whom I met on a cross-country flight decades ago, thanks for the doily you crocheted and gave me at the end of the flight. I still have it.
It is possible to pack a ton of stuff into a suitcase, and it will still be under the 50 pound limit.
The bahn mi sandwich they once served me on a Seattle to Boston flight tasted pretty good.
My husband flies on United so rarely do we fly any other airline, however we flew home on Southwest last Wednesday. I loved it. Flying United to our 4 hour destination, our flight attendants were okay. They came around with the cart once for drinks, and then came around to pick up the garbage. The flight had no tv or movies etc. No complaints. I chose to come home on Southwest as there was a possibility that we might have to change our flights (and Southwest has no penalties to do this). My husband wasn’t too keen on it, mostly since he wasn’t getting miles, plus he hated the idea of no assigned seating. However, we each got aisle seats (although not with each other), got two free baggages, and had the most delightful flight attendants. They took our drink orders. They came around with snacks (we got nothing on United), they came asking if we wanted more to drink. They picked up garbage several times. They came around with coffee at the end. They were hard working. They were personable. One even sang a cute song at the end. Its too bad that we normally cannot fly Southwest, but when I have a chance to do it, I definitely will!
I think the service on Southwest is good but I could do without the songs and schtick but that’s just me I guess. I just feel sometimes its a bit much. But there employees do seem happy, not something I can say for some other airlines.
The bad thing: the bomb was in a laptop. The good thing: the suspect must have reached for it as soon as the plane got above 10,000 ft, otherwise, the ending could have been tragic.
Tomorrow I’m on my first post-retirement flight since October and I’m kind of looking forward to flying again. But I fall asleep easily on flights, which is a blessing.
Well, between D and us, we had 4 flights betwrrn us this month. All were on time for departure and arrival. The many babies on my flight were pretty calm. The movies on United included some I’ve never seen but have meant to, so finally viewed some of them.
I like smiling babies on flights, too, but I’ve learned not to engage with them too much.
I was on a flight once where I started playing peek-a-boo with the baby across the aisle and one row up.
It was great fun for the first ten minutes or so --baby all smiles and giggles – but the baby would start WAILING when I stopped. The baby would promptly stop crying when I’d start playing again.
So I had the pressure of everyone around me to keep entertaining the baby the whole flight. The mom keyed into what was going on and kept apologizing profusely but it was no use. In only a few minutes I had managed to train the baby that all she had to do to get me to start making the funny faces again was to scream wildly.
