The Man. from Singapore. Part 1.

I will try to keep my posts much shorter than I will in these first few.  

Let me begin by saying that when I was growing up I had a seriously happy relationship with the domestic airline brands. I have traveled at least 4 times per year across the country on domestic flights since I was 6 years old. Flying meant you were going somewhere different! New people, adventure, good food – just so you know, I’ll never claim to be cultured, I grew up across from a corn field, really love a great steak, but somehow airplane food was tops – because I just relished the experience.  Or maybe it was all of those individually wrapped little items…

No one yelled at us back then either. Here’s what happened to The Man from Singapore.

I’m just sitting in my window seat staring vaguely over the aisle amid the chaos of boarding, I hear the crescendoing directive from the bewilderingly angry stewardess speeding toward my row. As she stomps, she’s bellowing “STOP BLOCKING the aisle! You need to MOVE into your seat to allow everyone to be seated. We are NOT LEAVING the gate until everyone is SEATED!” As she gets to my row a man across the aisle pops up from his window seat meekly saying he needs to open the overhead for his laptop (mind you, we’re still boarding the plane here, seat belts have not yet been fastened). She thunders by, definitively slamming his overhead and roars, “You can get it after takeoff!”

Frozen in his unsuspecting stance, halfway standing, facing the aisle, an arm up on the seat back in front of him, slack jawed, The Man is facing me stunned. I, though hardened by previous encounters with or witness to manic/rude/hostile Stewardess or Airline Representative, was also stunned. And I felt really really bad for The Man. English is not his first language and I wondered what must be racing through his mind at that moment - “WTF” must translate to something interesting in all languages.

He is so shocked that nothing changes about his jaw-dropped expression as he slowly moved his neck to watch her stormy path to the back of the plane, then briskly past him again, to the front of the plane to lay some sweetness and light on everyone over the intercom. I make an attempt to get the attention of another, Less Angry Stewardess who ignores me. The Guy Next to Me pipes up in commiseration and pity for the still-stunned Man across the aisle, citing his own past experiences with abusive Flight Crew on United.

Time is now passing in a slow whirl of disbelief and indignant rage.

The Less-Angry Stewardess decides not to ignore me anymore, returns, and asks if I needed something. I say the Man across the aisle just needs his computer. She helps the Man and he looks over at us and halfway smiles. It isn’t until after the flight that I meet the Man from Singapore. He gives me his business card, he is on his way to visit his daughter at MIT, and thanks me for saying something.

I’m still enraged about the whole situation – not just due to current circumstances, but because this has been building in me for several years. How can we continue to give these ill-natured, crooked (a future discussion), disinterested airlines, like United and American, more and more of our money for worse and worse treatment?

I mean, the icing on the cake from this past United flight set (round trip from San Diego to Springfield, IL via Chicago – this is a multiple-post trip, let me tell you) was when I found out they don’t have blankets and pillows anymore. I always try to bring my own but this time left my blanket in my suitcase by accident. The “no blankets” policy must have started a while ago, Less-Angry Stewardess looked surprised that I didn’t know. I should have guessed.