BigTigger
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2002
Lots of interesting stories over on flyertalk.com that are right out of Airline (US and UK versions).
The biggest item disagreed on there is whether the "fat" person should buy two seats. Runner-up is the "smelly" traveler and how they should be handled.
My wife would say I fly for a living, but it's part of the job to get to where our company has offices. I'm a 2 million miler on Delta and have a 1 million award from United. That plus $7.99 will now get me a sandwich in coach on both airlines
In all those miles of flying, I can only really recount two good stories. One was on Virgin Atlantic from London to Boston. A passenger was so drunk he threw up all over the upper deck to lower deck spiral stairs. A doctor on board had to treat him as he was so intoxicated they feared he may have alcohol poisoning. The crew donned these crash suits covering them from head to toe and spent over an hour cleaning up the mess he made. The FA's on that flight earned their pay. They also shared that this happens quite regularly on their long haul flights. The second incident was a daily double of the flyertalk top discussion items. My Boston to Cincinnati flight was at 5:50 am on a Monday and the last passenger to board took the seat next to me. He was the prototype for the "smelly" man. He was in a track suit and unshaven. Obviously he figured he'd clean up when he got to Cincinnati. He smelled like he'd lived in the suit for a week and run a marathon in it. He was also one of those people that just thought he could cross his legs and kick me and the lady on the other side every time he switched sides. We both turned on our air vents and directed them towards him to keep the smell down. Once we reached cruising altitude, the man in the row in front of us rang his call button and asked the FA "what the smell was since takeoff". That brought some chuckling from our row and the one behind us. Thank god it was a short flight. Once in Cincinnati, I switched to a regional jet for the onward trip to Louisville. Those jets are pretty small, but it seemed a lot smaller when a man not more than 5'6", but weighing close to 400# ambled on and plopped into the seat next to me. Thankfully it was the first row which has fixed sides. He literally was squished into the upper half of the seat and was about four inches from touching the seat bottom due to his width. He was a very nice man and apologized profusely. Given that I'm 6'5" and about 240#, I could share his pain and kept telling him not to worry about it as it's a short flight and we're both in the same boat in not fitting the seats we were in too well. Again it was a very short flight and not a big deal in the overall scheme of things. The big difference was the second gentleman was just that and the first guy was just obnoxious.
In watching a show like Airline, you realize that a lot of people are scared witless to fly and take drugs and/or alcohol to calm the nerves. This makes for some bad mixes if they don't get the medicine level right. In addition, the US version shows that SW employees have bad days too. I'm not sure they handle some of the problems very well given the circumstances. More than a few of the gate agents they feature have a bit of a power trip going on. A simple smile and moving along could defuse some of the incidents, but it seems like a few of the gate agents need to be the boss and dictate every outcome. When they hit a tired, irritated or intoxicated passenger the fireworks happen. And of course in America after 9/11 you have no passenger rights, so if you go back at an agent you may be taking the bus home. Just my $.02 of course - the opinions expressed herein are solely those of me
The biggest item disagreed on there is whether the "fat" person should buy two seats. Runner-up is the "smelly" traveler and how they should be handled.
My wife would say I fly for a living, but it's part of the job to get to where our company has offices. I'm a 2 million miler on Delta and have a 1 million award from United. That plus $7.99 will now get me a sandwich in coach on both airlines
In all those miles of flying, I can only really recount two good stories. One was on Virgin Atlantic from London to Boston. A passenger was so drunk he threw up all over the upper deck to lower deck spiral stairs. A doctor on board had to treat him as he was so intoxicated they feared he may have alcohol poisoning. The crew donned these crash suits covering them from head to toe and spent over an hour cleaning up the mess he made. The FA's on that flight earned their pay. They also shared that this happens quite regularly on their long haul flights. The second incident was a daily double of the flyertalk top discussion items. My Boston to Cincinnati flight was at 5:50 am on a Monday and the last passenger to board took the seat next to me. He was the prototype for the "smelly" man. He was in a track suit and unshaven. Obviously he figured he'd clean up when he got to Cincinnati. He smelled like he'd lived in the suit for a week and run a marathon in it. He was also one of those people that just thought he could cross his legs and kick me and the lady on the other side every time he switched sides. We both turned on our air vents and directed them towards him to keep the smell down. Once we reached cruising altitude, the man in the row in front of us rang his call button and asked the FA "what the smell was since takeoff". That brought some chuckling from our row and the one behind us. Thank god it was a short flight. Once in Cincinnati, I switched to a regional jet for the onward trip to Louisville. Those jets are pretty small, but it seemed a lot smaller when a man not more than 5'6", but weighing close to 400# ambled on and plopped into the seat next to me. Thankfully it was the first row which has fixed sides. He literally was squished into the upper half of the seat and was about four inches from touching the seat bottom due to his width. He was a very nice man and apologized profusely. Given that I'm 6'5" and about 240#, I could share his pain and kept telling him not to worry about it as it's a short flight and we're both in the same boat in not fitting the seats we were in too well. Again it was a very short flight and not a big deal in the overall scheme of things. The big difference was the second gentleman was just that and the first guy was just obnoxious.
In watching a show like Airline, you realize that a lot of people are scared witless to fly and take drugs and/or alcohol to calm the nerves. This makes for some bad mixes if they don't get the medicine level right. In addition, the US version shows that SW employees have bad days too. I'm not sure they handle some of the problems very well given the circumstances. More than a few of the gate agents they feature have a bit of a power trip going on. A simple smile and moving along could defuse some of the incidents, but it seems like a few of the gate agents need to be the boss and dictate every outcome. When they hit a tired, irritated or intoxicated passenger the fireworks happen. And of course in America after 9/11 you have no passenger rights, so if you go back at an agent you may be taking the bus home. Just my $.02 of course - the opinions expressed herein are solely those of me
