Well, I must say that hearing from the bright lights of FT is a privilege.
I've been reading many of your postings (Bouncer, Plato90s, eastwest, CFM3RD and others) for quite awhile, and you are seasoned vets of sky travel & Life. Your opinions are from "those who know" and thus carry the weight of consideration.
The problem with getting arrested is just that: you're busted, you go directly to jail, you do not pass Go, you sit for hours, (and if it's a weekend you will rot until Monday when the courts re-open), you get a bologna sandwich with water, you are in a stinking cell with concrete benches to sleep on & open toilets to utilize alongside unsavory, violent dudes & lots of surly, hateful cops & jail guards. In short, it's a completely de-humanizing experience that I'd rather not go through in my life. And yup, as you may have concluded......Snake's done been there & gone through that in several places in the US of A for various idiotic younger-dumber-days activities. So I do know of which I speak. In addition, you will always have to answer "yes" when you are asked if you've ever been arrested & then you will have to explain yourself. Guilt or innocence is irrelevant re: "the question."
Contrary to our popular TV culture, you are presumed guilty in our society. After all, you HAVE been busted. The system now holds the rights to your future progress / lack of progress in Life.
Let's take a quick look at my path not chosen with FA Eva: so...busted. That means hiring a lawyer at, oh, say, $200.00 per hour. And that adds up quick, quick, quick to major coinage. You won't get it back, i.e., no refund when found innocent. It would take years of battling AA & their corp attorneys to even get on the docket, and by then...well, ya gotta consider the pros & cons, know what I mean?
I digress. I basically HAD to get to LA on time, or close to, on time. My wife's an actress / dancer & I was trekking to LA to see her on opening night at her gig at The Ahmanson Theatre (Chandler Pavilion). So, getting busted & going after the wacked-out FA & AA in court at a later date was not an option for me. I had to suck it up, and just somehow get my butt to LAX. (Hell hath no fury like a wife who cannot locate husband at important high-fluff Opening Night-yah-yah-event!) Yes, I was upset with the situation with AA & FA Eva Braun. Yes, I was angry, aggravated, felt impotent to affect my own destiny.
I had to really make the huge effort to force myself to stay calm. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, eh? (To paraphrase Clint.) And sometimes that means just somehow finding the way to survive the moment & enter the fray again on another day...
I'm not saying it was easy. It was a b**ch. Very, very difficult to inhale crap from a person like FA Eva. She does not belong in the air, but rather behind the Clinique counter (se94583, right on the money with that snapshot analysis...!).
I did write a letter to the AA CEO (Carty?). I received the standard AA "these are our policies" blitherings in return. And yes, I did slather on the praise for the DFW Ground Supervisor in the context of my complaint letter to AA re: FA Eva. That Ground Supe was a cut above & had all the right moves from the PAX standpoint.
So here's my strategy, tell me what you think:
Although my favorite airline is Continental ("and on the eighth day the fliers were blessed with Gordon Bethune"), here it is......
I will fly AA until I reach the various elite statuses. I should reach the basic level of preferred status by March 2002. I will then be treated preferentially by the AA people, and I will revel in each & every upgrade & each & every free drink, etc. I will enjoy all of my free perks from the AA organization, and I will say "ahhhhhh yes" when I receive my bonus miles. I will take & take, in short, all of the benefits that I possibly can from the airline that crapped on me.
I will then cease flying AA & revert to an airline that is humane, civil, & professional in its treatment of the paying clientele. I will eventually stroll away from AA with my right hand held high in that universal gesture of disapproval ("Da Bird") & they will recieve no more of my cash.
Si?
o
No?
Best regards,
Snake Pliskin
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Only one thing endures & that is character.
- Greeley