Any of you frequent flyers ever picked up a stewe err flight attendant?
Nope. But I have hooked up with a fellow passenger I met on a transatlantic flight one time.
Have you seen the first fifteen minutes of the Pilot episode of Six Feet Under? [Link deleted]
Reported to Mods, wrong episode link.
Oddly, the last 4 or 5 times I’ve flown (the last year) my CPAP machine has not been swabbed. Various airports. Before that, it was swabbed every single time. I almost feel like the TSA said, “screw it, these things are fine.” I do take it out in advance and leave it in the bin for them, but I haven’t had the “pull aside” in a long time.
Yeah, random. I flew NYC- SF- LAX -NYC last week. Checked first three legs. LAX to NYC, they could have cared less.
Freakin’ Southern Californians… 
My trips have been Charlotte - San Diego each time. Neither airport checked me. I’m not complaining…
Ok, have you met any celebrities? Sat next to any? Had a brush with one?
I wrote in an earlier post how about a year ago I gave Leonard Nimoy the old stinkeye while going through security in Vancouver. I was so into my get through this fucking security line as fast and as hassle free as possible I didn’t notice him. He did have one shades, a hat pulled down and gave off a “don’t chit chat” vibe.
A colleague on my flight later asked if I had noticed he was behind me in line. (She was behind him at immigration, and the immigration lady said “looked just like him except for the ears.”). Lenny was on a different flight.
Q: With all of the cut-backs and extra fees for everything, do you find that air travel is now nothing more than a crappy subway ride in the sky, or do you get any special perks?
A: Mostly on United I get a lot of free domestic upgrades. They also send you a sort of coupon book for free drinks on the flight if you’re in coach. I have a colleague who also gets these and doesn’t drink, so I have a bunch of them. I sometimes use them, sometimes don’t. I did use them once to buy drinks for a couple of guys who got screwed on a connection from Australia - I’d been talking with them in line and they seemed like nice guys. Beyond that, I get to check up to three bags for free, get to board before most everyone else, have special lines at the check in - that don’t seem to go much faster than the others, but it varies - and a special phone number to call in for problems.
Q: Also, I have heard that many airlines now offer (or will be offering) real AC plugs for laptops, cell phone chargers, etc. at each seat. Have you seen these yet?
A: United doesn’t have these. Most Continental flights do. I know that some Delta flights now have in-flight internet and I’ve been on a US Airways flight that had it, but I didn’t think to check the seats for a plug. FWIW, the Continental seats have plug in slots but they’re not obvious. Check under the front of the seat near the top. In United they do have power access in first class but it requires a special plug. I think I’ve seen someone request and get an adapter, but I could be mistaken.
Unfortunately no. I’ve met a few Global Services people. For the readers, there are a few ways to get Global Services, which outranks 1K:
- Spend a LOT of money on flights
- Be in charge of or influence corporate travel spending
- Get gifted the status on behalf of someone who influences spending.
The one guy I talked to said he got GS after just a few flights that established a heavy spending pattern. FWIW I’d estimate I spend between $25-50K per year on flights and so far haven’t sniffed GS status.
I’m a consultant for a boutique SAP implementation and development company. I also happen to live in a place that’s not terribly well situated for those kind of jobs*. My current project is in Los Angeles. My last project was near Stuttgart, Germany.
- Do you fly mostly domestic or international?
This project it’s been almost exclusively domestic, with one trip to Singapore last fall. My previous project it was exclusively international. So it varies with the client.
- If you’re US and fly internationally a lot, so you have problems overseas with using credit/debit cards because non-US terminals are increasingly switching to chip-and-PIN?
For some fortuitous reason, I mostly seem to go to Germany (it’s lucky because I speak German reasonably well). Germany you can get by just fine with a combination of an ATM card for cash and a credit card for places that take it. It helps to have a lot of cash available. I prefer Bank of America in Germany because you can use Deutshe Bank ATMs and don’t get any extra charges. I prefer Capital One for credit charges because you don’t get hit with fees and get a decent exchange rate.
- Ever have to evacuate a plane and use that slide chute thing or liferafts?
No, thank Og. I was on a flight once from NYC to Miami where we went into a dive because the cabin pressurization equipment failed. Dove about 20,000 feet in a minute or two. Captain came on to explain that the plane’s redundant system was already broken but since “these things hardly ever go out” they’d decided to fly with just the one. So we flew half of the flight at around 10,000 feet, which can be kind of bumpy over the Atlantic coast during early summer. It was eerily quite on the plane after the dive. Then we hit one good pocket of air (big bump) and several people started crying. You tend to remember those kinds of flights.
4. Ever get diverted in flight due to a natural disaster/medical emergency/unruly passenger needing to be put off the plane/volcanic eruption blocking the flight path/etc? Anything other than weather?
No unruly passenger issues that I recall. Have had to stop someplace else to refuel waiting for weather to clear from an area. This seems to happen somewhat often - I can think of at least four flights that we had to do this. I’ve been in two planes that had to abort landings because of another plane on the runway and once on an aborted take-off because of an equipment issue. I did get affected by the volcano thing in Europe last spring, which meant I went to Czech Republic and Austria instead of home for Easter.
I have had a few very flirty flight attendants, but no never a real hook up. On one of my flights to Europe last year I made an offhand comment about a flight attendants legs - really more of a joke because she was small and had climbed up on one of the seats to deal with some overhead luggage. She took it as a compliment and then spent the whole flight flirting and pouring me a bit too much champagne. I happened to be in business class on this flight. When the guy sitting next to me got up to use the bathroom she sat in the chair next to me and was getting pretty friendly. I’ve had a couple of similar experiences - another was with a Japanese flight attendant on a flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. But my marital status prevented me from taking these too seriously or even checking whether I could have. And, frankly, it’s not exactly a target rich environment anymore, depending on your demographic and taste.
I’m not that into celebrities, so unless they’re super famous or someone I’d notice, I might miss them or not know who they are. I have been seated next to Cris Collinsworth, who played for UF then Cincinnati Bengals and has since done broadcast work, on a flight from Cincinnati to New York. He was already a broadcaster at that time. I didn’t talk to him, but since we’re both Gator alum I should have just said “go Gators” and let it go at that.
On a flight from LAX to Washington Dulles last year I was seated next to Herm Edwards, who was an assistant coach for the Bucs (my hometown NFL team), then head coach of the Jets and Chiefs. He’s now a commentator on TV as well. He had a definite “I’m a celeb and I don’t want to be noticed vibe”. He was wearing a sports coat pulled close and a ball cap pulled low over his face. I just let him sleep, which seemed what he wanted to do.
I sat next to some guy on a flight to LAX, I think from Chicago, who seemed vaguely familiar. He was a small, wiry black man with an enormous gem pinky ring and half way during the flight he pulled out a script and was studying his parts. At the baggage claim some guy with a sign gathered him up, but even though I saw the last name on the sign I still have no clue who he was.
On a flight from LAX to Houston, I sat surrounded by four guys who were obviously in a band. First class seats, instruments in the over head compartments, tattoos, spiky hair, jewelry etc. No idea who they were.
I spoke to Michael Dukakis at Frankfurt airport while waiting to board a flight to Boston, but I didn’t know who he was when I spoke to him. It was only later when my seatmate and I were talking that she told me he was on the flight. He and Kitty were on their way back to Kennedy’s funeral. I spoke to him again while we waited in a really long line for immigration at Logan Airport. He and Kitty were directly in front of me in the line and I mentioned that if I had been Governor of the state I’d probably use the special line. He looked over at the fast lane and then Kitty said “We’re Democrats, we don’t expect preferential treatment”. Michael looked disappointed but stayed put.
But then I’ve seen Monte Kiffin and Matt Garza at Tampa airport, and knew them, while most if not all people reading this won’t know who they are.