This is kind of long, but very appealing if you have had interesting experiences in airports.
Airplanes are funny things. It’s kind of like a carpool system. You don’t know the people in the plane at all (unless you’re traveling with friends or family, or, as I have experienced, traveling with your ex-boyfriend’s wife’s best friend), and you put your full trust in 2 pilots (drivers) whom you have never met.
“Hey, random 30-40 year old male, who I trust has passed his pilot test without cheating. I know nothing of your character. For all I know, you could be one of those people who snap under pressure. But regardless of your possible tantrums, I put my life in your hands as you put me up 30,000 feet in the air in a piece of equipment that, if tampered with, could plummet to the ground and blow up.”
Anyone else find this a little twisted when looking at it from this angle?
How does a tube of metal get up in the air anyway?!
Aside from the inside of the plane, the preliminaries are quite twisted as well: I have flown about *counts trips in head* 7 times in the past year. I travel a lot! I know how the ticket counter works, how the security line works, how ridiculous boarding is, how I have to pay for the WIFI in the airports… So when I misread the check-in lines today, I felt like a rookie, but there was NO NEED to treat me like an idiot, miss “Its 7:30 in the morning and I’m already tired of being at this stinking (I could use other words) counter.” I’m standing in the line with all the people, away from the 1st class line. Well, the line with all the people (of which I am in front and to the right of) is the people not waiting for a counter, but waiting for their e-ticket to process. As they all are STARING out to the counters, my brain interprets such behavior as waiting to be called to the counter, not waiting for their ticket to be processed up at the desk.
So grumpy pants, sees me standing there and says something like, “Are you waiting for your ticket to process?” Me-“No I have a long story, (flight was cancelled, they called my dad at midnight to say another flight was leaving an hour earlier than mine. News-flash: people go to sleep before midnight, Delta!!!!!!) Delta booked me on an AA flight so I don’t have an e-ticket number.” *we walk up together to her desk* “Well, this is the e-ticket line, people are checking in with their confirmation numbers here. This line right here *points to line RIGHT NEXT TO first class* is the check in line where you should have been.” Me- “I’m sorry, I thought that was the first class line, because no one was there so I figured there were 2 and–” “No, this is the check in line.”
She was pretty much a piece of plankton (bottom dweller, pick a word) the rest of the experience.
Because I was booked about 3 hours before my flight left, I was picked to be one of those lucky people who get to play the part of a terrorist suspect. Got to cut people in line as my stuff went through the conveyor, escorted by a TSA lady. She looked very closely at all my stuff. Tested my laptop and book-bag for explosives (swipe a square of white material onto objects, put wipe in machine, machine sucks it in, tests for explosives, genius). Patted down by another TSA lady (felt up could be another description). Good to go.