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Post by clemiethedog on Nov 1, 2009 8:44:26 GMT
I attended a protest in Chicago, followed by a horrible football game in Champaign-Urbana (Michigan lost, 38-13, to what was at the time the worst team in the conference).
I got into weird situation on the flight back. The overhead compartments by our seats were all full (this is a downside of charging for bags of course), so I went toward the back of the plane to stow a suitcase. I come back and let the woman on the aisle seat know I'm sitting in the middle. She looks at me and says, "Are you sure you want to sit here? I'm claustrophobic." It's so weird that I don't really process what she's saying, and when she doesn't get up I just start squeezing by her. She gets all huffy and says something like "well go ahead and sit here I guess." I give my wife the Larry David look and we both start involuntarily cracking up. The aisle lady, who is obviously kind of nuts, starts writing furiously in a notebook.
But just when things might get really tense, the people two rows back get into a huge fight over who is putting their carry-ons where under the seats. The flight attendants have to intervene and for a minute there I think they're going to call the air marshals or whoever takes unruly people off flights.
A final funny touch is that the flight is Delta/Northwest, and the pilot comes on the intercom three times during the flight to tell us about the conversations he's having with Air Traffic Control about the weather, the headwind etc. I.E., we're not playing video games up here folks, honestly.
We were among the last people to get on, and when I went to the back of the plane she must have started fantasizing about not having anyone next to her. In an example of what the French call staircase wit, it occurred to me 30 seconds after sitting down that I should have said "Yeah this isn't really my seat, but I saw this girl sitting by the window here and decided to make a move."
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Post by clemiethedog on Nov 1, 2009 8:49:57 GMT
I should add that I took the AMTRAK to Chicago and found it far more enjoyable. Next time, I am spending the night and taking the train on Sunday. Air travel may get me home a few hours earlier, but the train is much more pleasant experience.
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Post by gabriel on Nov 1, 2009 12:08:46 GMT
Man, I don't know about the protest or the football game but I get it about the flight.
Geez it's hard being stuck in an aluminium shell for 5, 10, 15 hours with no leg room, toilets that don't work...I won't go on. And the overhead lockers. No, I'll stop.
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Post by everso on Nov 1, 2009 16:44:49 GMT
And to add to the discussion, what about idiots that feel they just HAVE to let back their seat because there's no way they can travel for a couple or so hours sitting in an upright position. It's o.k. if you're travelling business or first class, but if you're in economy it means that a domino effect must take place. I can understand it when it's a long flight though. There should be a bit more room in economy, but then we'd have to pay more to fly. In the UK we have Ryan Air and Easy Jet where you don't get allocated a seat and it's a rugby scrum when they open the gate. I've vowed not to fly with them again because it seems that we're not treated like customers but, rather, like a nuisance. They pretend their fares are cheap, but by the time you add up all the extras ("oh, you want to take a SUITCASE?", "oh, you want to pay by CREDIT card?", "oh, you want to check in at the AIRPORT?", "oh, you want to bloody-well be treated like a PERSON?" don't get me started.
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Post by gabriel on Nov 6, 2009 6:15:09 GMT
It's all backsides on seats for them. The more they can squeeze in, obviously the more money they get. But since most of the plane is economy seating, you'd think they'd get the idea and fit in more leg room. My craziest ever next seat neighbour was..no, I won't go there. I have finally gotten over the memory. And the smell.
I'll just add one other pet hate. On long haul flights the attendants who disappear for the 6-7 hours in the middle and are pretty pi**** at having to do their job. Which is service, people.
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