The Joys of Airline Travel -NOT

The Joys of Airline Travel – NOT

Fellow passengers can be friendly, pesky or just downright awful, annoying and a menace.

A recent flight delivered one of the latter into the middle seat in the row in front of us. As usual, the plane was very near full, and it was a Friday evening after an especially stressful week for airlines with volcanic ash disrupting flight schedules, and the subsequent delays often annoying to passengers.

BUT........you can do little to solve the issue, and safety does come first.

However, the male [ cannot describe him as a gentleman] seemed to be a little more than well charged as he got on the flight, which had been delayed well over two hours – time seemingly spent imbibing at the bar.

He was raucous, calling to a fellow passenger who was known to him a few rows in front and generally a bit disruptive to those around him. He was a large framed guy, and with waving his arms around and bopping to music it seemed a bit chaotic in the row in front of us.

But wait.......there is more!

Soon we were airborne, and out came a pizza along with about a dozen oysters. The latter were consumed promptly in conjunction with a citrus liqueur as oyster shooters, and the pizza also promptly was eaten. Then the airline meal, all the while hopping and bopping in the seat with the headphones on and loud.

We then had some clear air turbulence for a while and I wondered if his bopping in the seat was causing some of it......he was that vigorous. That incident slowed the meal service for a little while but as soon as service resumed, he was after more beers.

About three hours into the nearly five hour flight........he promptly passed out, rather than went to sleep. Peace ensured.

Prior to landing it was a major effort to wake him to raise the seat back for landing. Very bleary eyed it seems. But awake enough to call for the steward and hand her the bag of oyster shells – she looked absolutely stunned. That was priceless and almost worth the previous annoyances!!

As the guy next to him in the window seat said..........lucky it was only five hours and not a sixteen hour flight to north or south America.

There have been quieter evening airline flights.