This was last week in ATL waiting to board a weather delayed late night leg to DFW.
Everything was running late due to the storm system that came through last Thursday evening, so planes were waiting for gates and the terminals were packed. Once we got a gate assignment for our flight, sure enough there was a very large, very loud guy planted at the boarding gate whining to everyone about how badly Delta sucked. After the first 15 minutes waiting there (arriving plane was just pulling in to unload), there probably wasn’t anyone within 50 yards who hadn’t had to hear how this guy was a 2MM DM and how tired he was of Delta not knowing how to run an airline. Seeing the flight crew standing there staring daggers at him, he at least had the sense to say that he was talking about flight ops, and not the folks working the flights. He never used the phrase DYKWIA, but he did everything else possible to make sure everyone knew it.
By the time the arriving flight unloaded and we got a new gate agent to start our own boarding, 100+ of us had been standing there listening to this guy whine for over an hour and he was getting zero sympathy from anyone. When the flight crew started through the boarding door, he yelled out that they needed to get down there and get the cocktails ready after making him so late getting home. FAs took it well and didn’t react, but you could tell that whatever he ordered it was going to involve spit somewhere in the mix.
Finally they call Premium to board and he’s first in line to scan his pass. GA tells him 1D and he freaks out that it’s a bulkhead seat saying “no F’ing way he’s flying bulkhead, he paid for 2C 3 weeks ago and dammit that’s where he’s going to sit!” GA looks at his boarding pass again and says “I’m sorry sir, but your ticket isn’t even for this flight. It’s 1D on the first flight out the next morning.” Now he explodes and we finally got to hear the magic words . . . “DYKWIA? I’m a 2MM DM who’s flown 150,000 miles so far this year and that’s just the backup flight they booked in case I couldn’t make this one.” GA politely let him know that this meant he was standby on this flight and was only confirmed on the one the next day, and to please step aside so the rest of us could board. The whole boarding area started laughing at the karma being dealt out.
You know, I watched every single person board that flight from my seat (1C, of course), and he never did get on board. I did see several other people board that I know were standby, so he must’ve either refused a middle economy seat or he finally lost it and got to meet ATL security.
It’s now a week later and I still smile at thought of how this guy got exactly what he deserved.
