My Crazy Airline Trip

Friday, December 18^th was the day of the craziest airline trip I have ever had. The day started out at about 7:20 AM when I woke up and ended at about 9:00 PM when I got to Jacksonville. I left plenty of room in my schedule for delays, but the delays were so systematic due to bad weather in Atlanta that that didn’t help. Here are the notable parts of the day:

• Almost getting my luggage blown up – Waiting around with other Taylor University students in the main lobby of Indianapolis International Airport, we talked, ate, and played around with a slow shutter speed on two fellow members advanced cameras. We must have looked ridiculous, as we had some of us move quickly in the background with the people in the foreground standing still. Later, as we were sitting, a security officer asked me if a suitcase was mine. It was farther away than I thought it was before; it was about five feet away from me at the table next to us. I responded yes and reached out to grab it. He then responded, “Don’t touch that!” He told me that he had called it in as unattended baggage, and they were planning on detonating it. The misunderstanding was cleared up, and I was warned that I need to keep my luggage closer to me at all times: the times we are in makes everyone nervous when they see unattended baggage. Afterwards, I heard the warning over the intercom that unattended baggage would be blown up. I had never thought that a suitcase sitting almost within arm’s reach of me would be considered such.
• Getting a Star Wars style airplane announcement – Since we were already delayed a while at Indianapolis, after getting on the plane, we were forced to wait even longer until a takeoff spot opened up. What was enjoyable, though, was that the pilot welcomed us to the Millennium Falcon and regretted to tell us that the flight crew was on the plane next to us, but R2-D2 and C-3PO were assisting us on the flight. He did do a real introduction later on. I am unsure how long we were delayed, but we arrived an hour late to Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport for my layover. The pilot apologized for not being able to make it to hyperspeed when I said I enjoyed flying aboard the Millennium Falcon.
• Meeting a pilot for “Did You Hear About the Morgans” – I was confused as to my flight status, as I saw the wrong flight on the gate my flight should have been at. I soon found out my flight had been switched to the gate next to it and was delayed for an hour and a half. When the intercom announced a gate change, I thought that it would be another flight delay. It was just a gate change across the terminal. As I waited for the plane to Jacksonville International Airport, I overheard the conversation of a private pilot who flew a private plane in the “Did You Hear About the Morgans”, which came out that day (a fact that he didn’t realize right away). He talked about how down to earth Hugh Grant is and how he asked about Hugh’s favorite chick flick. Hugh informed him that it was “Notting Hill” because of the Shakespearean training of the background actors. He made the woman he was talking to promise not to tell but not me. He said he and his wife rushed to rent the movie soon after.
• Having a drunk sailor try to take my seat – When I got on the plane, I thought my adventure was behind me, but I had one more hurdle to jump over. A drunk sailor accused me of sitting in his seat. The stewardess verified that I was the person supposed to be sitting there, but the sailor still went, “You’re going to kick him off the plane, right?” several times. He was soon shown his proper seat by the stewardess. His drunkenness was clear by his breath. Another sailor confirmed it, “Tell the truth. Are you drunk?”. Yes was the answer. His antics throughout the flight included counting down before we took off, telling everyone to be quiet after the pilot asked everyone to quiet down for the announcements even though it was because the drunk sailor himself was making noise, hitting on the stewardess (which she was having none of), complaining about how the stewardess reacted to him touching her, complaining about how the gate attendant made him check in his third bag, and reminding everyone that he had been to the bar. Thankfully, after getting off, the remainder of the night passed without incident.