Flying the Friendly Skies

On Saturday, I’ll be flying down to Texas for a week of visiting with family and friends. This flight will take me from Chicago to Houston, then on the little bitty scary airplane operated by Aero Horroroso (i.e. Colgan Air) that connects to my home town.


Flying always makes for great blog fodder. I’ve flown quite a bit over years and have some fun stories to tell. I don’t think any of them are quite like the passenger who recently decided to pee in the aisle during a flight, but some come close.

Once, I had just taken my seat when a young girl threw up right next to me. She was walking down the aisle with her parents and, blorpp! out came her lunch right there next to my aisle seat. She was probably scared about flying. I feel sorry for parents who have to go through things like that.

While waiting for a departing flight, I noticed a chipmunk crawl out from under a young woman’s sweater who was sleeping nearby. She woke up, thankfully, and put the little rodent into her carry-on. I'm almost positive it was, indeed, a chipmunk. Maybe she had a disability that required the use of an assistance-chipmunk.
One never knows.

While waiting for my plane to take off out of Houston, seated in my preferred aisle seat, the flight attendant escorted a young boy to the window seat next to me. I noticed he was crying a little bit.
Awww.

However, when the plane took off, he really let loose and began wailing. I was in a quandary. How do I assist the little guy without crossing over into a stranger-offering-candy situation? (A couple of thoughtful questions seemed to calm him down.)

And I remember my very first flight. I was twenty years old and flying back to college on Southwest Airlines from San Antonio to Dallas. The student fare was nineteen dollars back then. I sat in the back where I could smoke.

Can you imagine that?
A passenger smoking a cigarette?
Next to you on an airplane?


I’d almost prefer a guy peeing in the aisle.