It's time for the annual gripe and even though I’ve been doing it since I was eleven, I don’t really like flying. There is too much stress involved.
I had just arrived in Nashville TN an hour late doing that airport hopping thing that people do when they’re trying to get from one city to another but have to change planes at behind “God’s Back” county 30 miles east of nowhere. The airport at Nashville seemed to fit the bill. It looked dark and dingy and dismal and I thought, “If I’ve missed the last connecting flight to Philly, there’s no fucking way I’m staying overnight in this place.” I swear a lot when I’m talking to myself; somehow it seems more poetic and insightful. Call me crazy.
While I was leaving the plane from Florida, trying to figure out which gate I should go to and where the flight information board was, I noticed that I was a behind a man in a wheelchair who was tipping the person who had helped him off the plane that I had just left. In fact there was a whole bunch of people sitting there in their wheelchairs waiting for another flight or for someone to take them somewhere and I realized why the flight attendant on the plane had asked passengers in wheelchairs to be patient since there was only one person who would be able to help them disembark.
I passed the group, carry-on luggage in hand and I was hit by the stench of what can only described as the smell of raw sewage and baby shit. “Oh God, this must be some sort of decrepit persons wheelchair convention,” and then I wondered how long it would be before I joined them. But I heard over the loud speakers, “Last call for flight blah, blah, blah to Philadelphia at Gate 25 please come immediately to the gate.” “Freedom!” I thought and made a quick dash to the right only to stop and do a u-turn after 20 yards when I realized I was heading in the wrong direction.
Anyway after arriving at gate 25 panting and wheezing feeling the sweat start to trickle down my back, I really do need to quit smoking, they took my boarding pass and closed the door of the airplane 20 seconds after I had boarded. Last on board as usual. This seems to be becoming a habit.
I don’t think I really like flying, there’s just too much stress involved.
Er... Call me old-fashioned, but did it not occur to you to help out even just a little bit with the assisting those a little less mobile? Especially since the demand was far greater than the supply.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought.
@Theatremad87 I thought the same thing. However they must not have been on his flight.
ReplyDeleteTheatreMad87 - Ok, I think the critiscm is fair but also unwarranted.
ReplyDeleteWhat I didn't say is that I was seated 3rd row from the back on my 1st flight so I was one of the last people off the plane. And where as there might have been empty wheelchairs hanging around outside the gate, I don't remember seeing any to help anybody. Plus I may not know much about assisting people in wheelchairs, but I do know enough to know that many people are hurt by others trying to help them who have not been trained in that field. It would certainly have been an act irresponsibility on my part if someone had been injured by me. And let's not even bring up the security issues that would have been created by me, an authorized person moving back and forth in a controlled area. If that's not someone looking for a bullet to back of the head, it at least deserves a good beat down by a TSA (Transportation Security Administration) officer.
But what overrides all of that, and this maybe the selfish part, was that I had a plane to catch with only enough time to run to get there. That was my chief and only concern.
♫Hershey's Kiss♫ - Normally unless asked, I might not be the first person on the list who will help someone, but I'll be the second and I'll be there until the end doing my utmost. These people didn't look like they needed my help and probably would have been insulted, as I would have been had someone offered me help when I didn't need it. And as I said in an earlier response, I had my own agenda which was just as important to me.
MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE? Flight 457 departing Nashville for New York will be boarding passengers at Gate 176, those passengers needing special assistance may board at this time.
ReplyDeleteHow very often have I been in a airport and my connecting flight is in twenty five minutes and I disembarked at gate 23 and the next flight gate is 156B West Terminal.
Flying can be stressful in any capacity business or pleasure. Trans-Atlantic is the worst. I can understand your dismay about passengers that need or require special attention due to circumstances beyond their control such as wheelchairs etc.
I don't see the airlines as providing enough special care facilities so that these peole can properly care for themselves while traveling, the lavatories on the planes are to small for them so many just use adult diapers until they land and can utilize the airport's larger facilities.
Nashville is a nice city, can't recall what the airport looks like, but I understand your need to get the hellout of there, you appear to have been having a rough time and having to stay there over night would have put you over the top.
Chet - It had not crossed my mind about the adult diaper thing. That really seems like a much more reasonable explanation than the, "Bag must have bust," thought that I had. Thanks for the insight.
ReplyDeleteAs for Nashville, you're right. I shouldn't really judge an entire city by the small section of airport that I was allowed to see. Although I suspect I was in such a state that even if it were the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House, I would probably have thought the same thing.