NOTHING BUT AIR

I love air travel. Yeah, I know, in this modern day of the (literal!) "airbus" it has a lot of challenges. Seating room. Line queues. Security (which I have come to label "domestic customs"). 

Other passengers. Definitely other passengers.

Just this last Sunday, on a flight from DC to LAX we had three, count 'em, three aggressively entitled  passengers who really didn't care how much they took advantage and undercut other passengers, they paid their ticket and felt entitled to rule the roost.

The first was a women in her fifties who arrived at the gate in a wheelchair. Then, after the attendant had gone off to handle a truly deserving passenger, the woman stood up, grabbed her suitcase and trundled very capably off to shop or find dinner. Coming back later she betrayed no signs of an inabiity or discomfort in her walk. Just laziness.

Upon arrival, a wheelchair greeted her at the aircraft door.

The second was a man who slipped not two. Not three. Not four. But FIVE items into the overhead, taking up full suitcase room with each of them. Watching this I'd had enough and told the guy he needed to put some of that under my seat - he was seated behind me - and save some room for other passengers. He unloaded an invective which cannot be repeated here, but it had to do with minding my own business, he'd paid his fare and was entitled to the slots, etc. Finally another passenger just looked at me and said I should forget it. The man's wife was thoroughly embarrassed by his tirade, and we watched as several other passengers uselessly searched for a spot for their own luggage.

Nasty customer

 The third and final asshat was a passenger (not the one pictured above) who needed something from the overhead bin while the aircraft was parked on the tarmac waiting for our gate to open after touchdown. In complete violation of crewmember instructions, and several federal laws, she stood up and opened the overhead. The flight attendant came on the PA and said, in a generic fashion, that we were on an active taxiway and "passengers" had to sit down. The woman ignored the request,  retaking her seat only once she was done with finding what she needed - two announcements, each more specific, later. Then, apparently having gotten the wrong thing, stood up again to get into her luggage. On an open taxiway, in violation of several Federal laws. She didn't sit down again until the flight attendant, on the overhead, threatened to have her arrested.

But I continue to love air travel. It's a gateway to adventure

that can sometimes be an adventure, in and of itself.