Thank Og for @Saint_Cad!
Whew. That was a good one – frustrating as all get out, but fair.
After reading the last reply to me, and before reading the solution, I had been going to guess that it was a flyer announcing the results of a vote or political decision that you were pleased had gone your way. Which still wouldn’t have been it –
I was sitting on a plane waiting to taxi to the runway. The phone belonging to the passenger sitting next to me rang. He answered and listened for 20 or 30 seconds before he handed me the phone and said “it’s for you”.
What happened?
Do you know the passenger next to you?
Are you sitting in the cockpit, first class seat, or economy seat?
No
Economy
If phones were to be put away, was the passenger handing it to you make it look like you were on your phone, not them?
Was the caller asking a question that the other passenger assumed, for whatever as-yet-undetermined reason, you could answer?
Were you in a window, middle or aisle seat?
Did the person on the other end of the line ask the person whose phone it was to hand the phone to whoever was sitting next to them?
Did they ask them to hand the phone to somebody matching some other characteristic, which the person sitting next to them happened to match?
Did he grab YOUR phone when it rang?
Do you also have a phone with you?
Is it turned off or in airplane mode?
Is it lost?
Does the caller know the person sitting next to you?
Does the caller know you?
Does the caller know the identity, contact info, and seating assignments of the people on the plane?
Did the airline / airport / airport bar / other travel-related entity need to contact you but wasn’t able because your phone was in airplane mode? Or because you had lost your phone?
Reread the OP so it is his phone not yours. BUT did your SIM cards somehow get transferred?
Did the caller ask specifically for Fiendish Astronaut?
I love this answer. The airline would know who is sitting where AND their contact phone number.
No
Yes
Not relevant
I’m going to say no to this because of the way it was asked
No
No
Not relevant
Yes
Not personally
Only the people involved in this riddle (not the entire plane)
No
No. Unlikely the passenger next to me was told to give “Fiendish Astronaut the phone” as as he did not know me.
Did the caller ask you something about the passenger?
Was the caller somebody the passenger didn’t want to talk to?
Did the caller want to know something about the other passenger (op) that he (op)
wouldn’t know, like if the caller was a doctor and wanted to know if op had a rash
on his face ?
hah - i see i’ve been ninjad a bit.
Hmmm.
Did the person on the end of the line want to know the answer to a question which could only be answered by a person in your seat or your seat position?
Had the person on the other end of the line been sitting in your seat recently? ETA: or did they know somebody else who had been?
Would the scenario have played out the same way if your seat and his were switched?
Were you a doctor?
Was your profession obvious because of how you were dressed?
Yes to this.
No to everything else.