I've been meaning to post this for awhile, because it's one of those things that drives me crazy EVERY single time i get on a plane.
First of all, i hate the 'mad rush' hoard to board. I think it's incredibly annoying when they say 'first class only', and then like 50 people run up to the front. That bugs me.
Second, I hate when (on the occasion that i DO get upgraded) older business travelers try to push me out of the way bc they dont think i should be boarding with them. I've had lots of people say 'excuse me sweetheart (or 'honey'), this is only first class boarding', and i just say "yes, i'm aware, i'm in first class", then they scoff at their little friends like 'who is this little chippie'. now i realize i'm young(ish), but COME ON. be a bigger sexist asshole, will ya? jeez. also, i have to say that i feel worse for cara (my dear roommate) bc she looks like she's about 12 and she gets upgraded all the time and deals with this crap way more than i do (becuase i look much more mature....ha!). everytime i go anywhere with cara, she gets carded and i dont. which makes me feel like i'm about 90, but oh well. she's blessed with young-looking genes. and...she wears pajamas and a sweatshirt all the time, so they probably think i'm her babysitter. great.
third, this is my favorite thing to watch when people are boarding. i highly recommend that you try it out. it's serious entertainment. so when you board and are seated (this works particularly well if you're seated RIGHT behind the 1st class bulkhead - like in the first few rows of coach). people will look at their ticket to see their seat assignment, then look up at the numbers above the rows. they say (out loud), "ok honey we're in 24E & F". they look up and see that they're standing at row 5. then they walk towards the back of the plane and glance at the numbers above EVERY SEAT and then look back at their ticket. like, oh we're only at 6! oh this is 7! here's 8! i always want to just scream "THE NUMBERS ARE SEQUENTIAL!!! YOU ARENT THERE YET!! NO NEED TO LOOK AT THE NUMBER ABOVE EVERY SINGLE ROW!!!" anyway - this cracks me up. without fail....people do this on every flight i'm ever on.
fourth, i usually try to fall asleep before this one happens because it makes me angry with people. so you inevitably have the business travelers who board at the very last second. and they get ANGRY ANGRY when there is no room for their rollerbag. they roll their eyes and act all annoyed and really mean to the flight attendants. unfortunately, 99% of the time, it's a young-ish woman being a total biatch, which makes me HOPE that i dont ever do that (although i dont think i do) and i hope none of my friends do that.
finally, the broken reclining seat. so have you ever gotten to your seat and you sit down and realize that your chair is broken and doesn't have any tension left in the recline function? meaning, you sit and the chair flies backwards into 'reclining position'? this has happened to me twice now. and both times, the flight attendant comes by pre-take off and says 'sweetheard, put your seatback up', and i say 'its broken, it wont stay up', and they said 'ok well can you just keep it up for taxi and takeoff'? so the first time....i didn't really think much about it. but basically they're asking you to do an extended (um...10 minute) sit up. you have to sit upright (despite takeoff which always throws you backwards) and its TOUGH. the 2nd time i kind of ignored her and just relaxed (of course forcing the seat to lean back) and i got yelled at. i'm sure other people are posting on their blogs about how this annoying girl couldn't follow simple instructions, but that's fine. they're entitled to their opinions :)
flying to dallas on sunday - i will have more tales for you then. i'm sure they will involve the inhumanly long trek to the rental car facility in dallas. i mean...just bc you have lots of space in tx..doesn't mean you need to use it ALL.......
bye!!!
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Hahaha! People TOTALLY do the "let's check our seat number thing" on every aisle. It also cracks me up. I find it especially annoying though when it is a couple that does not have kids. I mean I get it when the kids need to be interested and don't get why they are not sitting in the empty seats they pass. But when it's an annoying wife who is basically saying to her husband, "I know you lost the ability to read and count when we got married so let me help you." Argh. I definitely do not do this to Loren so I hope no one else does this. (Side note: I always think it is hilarious when I see a kid just plop down in the first empty seat they see and the mom is always like "no honey we are at the BACK of the plane" and the kid won't budge and you can tell she doesn't want to totally lose her cool in front of anyone but inevitably she does.)
I also find it incredibly annoying when people's bags won't fit because they were late to the plane and they yell at the flight attendants and say idiotic things like "but my seat is RIGHT HERE and my bag needs to be RIGHT HERE". What exactly is so important that you need your bag RIGHT HERE for? You were late, gate check it, let's get going. But no no, they must first try to cram the roller bag UNDER the seat and then try to hide the fact that it doesnt fit. And these people are always the pouters who will complain about this for the rest of the flight. It really sucks when they sit next to you!
I am flying tomorrow night and will report back to you on the Seattle airport :)
Good lord - I saw the overhead bag fight up close and personal this weekend on Southwest. This woman - I'd say she was on the wrong side of her 30s - who was already pissed because she got a "C" pass decided that the fact that there was no room for her luggage was the last straw. She decided to remove someone else's bag and put hers in, causing quite the commotion. Her excuse? "I don't have time to wait for my bag after this flight." I cannot make this up.
Long story short, words were exchanged and she was told to either check her bag or get off the flight. Nothing surprises me anymore when flying. I'm aging myself here, but I'm old enough to remember when flying was much more civilized. My mother made my sister and me wear hats and gloves when we flew. Sigh....
How does anyone get a C boarding pass on Southwest these days when you can check in an entire day before your flight? I just don't get it.
first of all, i can't believe anyone calls you "chippie". were you on a plane for 1953?
secondly i HATE plane seats period. i feel like the distance from seat front to the seatback directly in front of you is 4 centimeters shorter than my femur+kneecap. and i always sit behind the GIANT LADY who like explodes her seat back when the cabin indicator denotes we've leveled off.
i PURPOSELY prevent the seat from leaning back all the way by pressing my knees into the seat. it's uncomfortable but eventually blobula thinks the seat is broken and i can relax.
the other thing i HATE on a plane is when your tv screen is the one that has tracking issues and makes the screen jump or have a line down the middle, or the screen that makes all skin green. i HATE that, especially when it's any movie with drew barrymore. oh wait, I HATE those movies too so it evens out :)
Love the observations, they're right on. I love watching people at airports. Tons of strangers who have to spend several hours with one another figuring out ways to NOT interact. I'll give you an example about something I love seeing happen. It's specific to Southwest, so if you never fly them, you might not notice this..
Because of the unassigned seats and 3 boarding group phenomenon on Southwest, you always end up having this weird passive-aggressive jockeying for position in line. 90 minutes before the flight, everyone's polite and casual, very few folks are in line, maybe a couple bitter B folks are camped out up front and most of the flyers aren't even there yet. Once you hit about 45 minutes to the flight though, all hell breaks loose. Without making eye contact or talking, the lines go to 2 or 3 wide, people bunch more closely together and the cutting begins. It's especially bad when you've got the seating area in line with one of the boarding groups, because then the smart folks who just sat down in their group are assumed to just be relaxing and out of line. So, when their group gets called, they stand up while those who've been standing shoot daggers at them with their eyes. Which is why I always like to sit :) I just get up, look at the angry people, smile and walk on in before them. They NEVER actually say something. I find it hilarious
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