Not necessarily a Flight From Hell, but it was a little frustrating, and one you just have to shake your head at.
I was on American Airlines Flight 5 from DFW to HNL on Septmber 2nd, 2010. In the boarding area there were several children playing and laughing, and immediately my first thought was please let these children be well-behaved for this 8 eight hour flight… please. And they were.
Unbeknownst to me, the irritation would come not from the children, but from the group of senior citizens traveling together on this same flight.
I board, take my seat, and put my small backpack under the seat in front of me, and so does my partner. We were sitting in Group 2, and it seemed like we were waiting quite a while for the other passengers to board. Then we saw why… there was a group of 25-30 senior citizens. Each was very confused about where to sit, and how the seats were numbered. They were examining their tickets, and then the seat numbers, etc.
Finally the two older ladies who were to sit in the row in front of us came down the aisle. One was barking orders to a younger gentleman, saying here is my seat, put my bag up there. And this younger man nicely tugged and lugged and stuffed her huge bag into the overhead compartment. Then he had to make his way back toward the front of the plane. Then a few minutes later here he comes again down the aisle with a huge bag for the other older lady. One of the older ladies said, “I don’t know how we would have managed without your help. Thank you.” As the man began to make his way back to the front of the plane to his seat, other older folks started to ask him to help them with their bags. He probably helped at least 5 other people put their bags in the bins. (We found out later he was a complete stranger and not with the group.)
So, issue number 1: Folks if you cannot wheel your bag on the plane, let alone lift it into the overhead bin, don’t bring it! It is rude to rely on the kindness of strangers and expect them to hurt their backs tugging the luggage that you are too cheap to check!
So we take our seats thinking the ordeal is over, and a rather attractive 20 year old comes down the aisle. She says to one of the senior citizens in front of us, “I believe you have my seat.” The older women were a bit flabbergasted and fumbled for their papers. It was determined that yes, one of them was in the incorrect seat. The 20-something very politely said, “Are you both travelling together?” And, the response was “Yes.” So the 20-something volunteered to take the older lady’s seat, which the older lady said was on the other side of the plane. The 20-something crossed over the people in the middle to the other side of the plane and sat down (2-3-2 configuration).
A few minutes later another younger lady came down the far aisle and said to the “transplanted” 20-something, you are in my seat! The 20-something tried to explain to the person that she was sorry, and pointed to the senior in front of us, saying she switched with her. Seeing the commotion the senior started laughing, saying, “Oh my, did I cause this confusion, I am sorry.” So the 20-something got up and gave up her seat, asking the senior where her seat was, to which the senior pointed one row up.
Well guess what - a few minutes later a man came down the aisle and told the “twice transplanted” 20-something that she was in his seat. The 20-something had the patience of Job. She tried to explain the reason, etc. By this time the flight was about ready to depart and a flight attendant came back to see what the trouble was. The senior again started laughing. She said, “Oh, I caused all kinds of problems by sitting in the wrong seat.” The flight attendant asked the man if he would mind sitting in the incorrect seat, and because it was a middle/aisle seat, he was fine with it.
Issue number 2: The senior continued to laugh saying she caused all kinds of problems by sitting in the wrong seat, but never offered to rectify the situation by moving herself… how rude! Also, I thought it was some kind of rule that you had to sit in your assigned seat? What if the plane was to go down, and they were to try to identify people? Oh well.
So the flight takes off, we read some, and then after a while we begin to watch the in-flight movie, “Letters to Juliet.” About this time, all of the seniors must be on the same schedule because they all get up and head to the bathroom. OK no problem, we understand. But, it doesn’t stop there… some actually walked up and down the aisles of the planes, I guess to stretch their legs. We just wanted to scream, “Sit down; take your seat!” But, trying to understand, and knowing my Mom is a senior too, I try to be patient.
One senior stops in front of the people in front of us and begins to “chat” – chat, chat, chat - all the time blocking our view of the TV monitor. We are sitting there with wires in our ears staring directly at her, and she just didn’t get it. We shifted from side to side, and finally I said, “I’m so sorry, but we are trying to watch the movie, could you move to the side?” The lady apologized, and went back to her seat. But not 20 minutes later, here she is back again, sharing some juicy gossip with two seniors in the row in front of us, and blocking our view… oblivious that there is an issue. I took off my earphones and got my book out again, saying nothing more.
Issue number 3: Please try to be considerate of others on the plane - walking back and forth, stopping to chat, etc. - is annoying to those of us just wanting to relax, watch the movie, etc. And, again… isn’t this something that wouldn’t normally be allowed? Doesn’t the pilot request that people take their seats when not going to and from the bathroom? Why were the seniors exempt?
So, to make this story even longer… the flight lands, and only having our backpacks, we decide to get up as soon as the pilot hits the seatbelt sign and try to make our way in front of the seniors before they expected us to carry their baggage, and before they hold up the line exiting the plane. Luckily being younger and more agile, we advanced 10 rows forward before most of the seniors got up (I know I am a schmuck for not helping these seniors, but after 8 long hours, I didn’t have the patience). We got to the luggage carousel, waited for our luggage, and were off. Funny thing is… we did not see one senior from our flight waiting at the luggage carousel. Seriously. So, they didn’t mind paying a couple of thousand for a flight to Hawaii, but they were too cheap to pay $25.00 to check their luggage that they could not manage themselves!
We saw the 20-something at the luggage carousel and joked casually about the ordeal, saying we felt sorry for her. She was very nice, but said she would never, ever again give up her assigned seat.
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