smantl01

Writing this from on-board delayed AS388 SEA-SJC (in SEA, orig departure time scheduled 615am). Pilot advised us that we have a "slight mechanical" due to an avionics issue that'd been called in when the aircraft came in from FAI.

Anyway - drinking my bottled water in 3D, and Bill Ayer drops in to the front galley. Introduces himself, "Hi, I'm Bill", and proceeds to thank the FA's for the wonderful job they're doing / their dedication to AS. Then chatted a bit w/ the crew about the overnight power outage that disrupted flights in LA, PHX, LAS, and how the airline was taking it in stride fairly well. http://www.alaskasworld.com/NEWS/2006/07/18_outage.asp

Signing off, live from AS388 (hoping the mechanics will finish soon!!)

-Steve

Alpha Golf

Is he in F or Y?

worldwidedreamer

There are a lot of bad guys out there in the world today targeting Americans, and particularly American airlines. On several FlyerTalk boards, I see people mentioning subsequent to the fact that famous person a or b was on a particular flight. I actually find it quite reassuring to know that say, the drummer from Smashing Pumpkins flies NWA.
I must ask myself whether describing a high profile passenger on a plane before it lands might expose everyone on board to a security risk. As well, it increases the risk that some crazy person will do something stupid to the prominent person at the arrival airport.
The CEO of Alaska Airlines is a great guy, but he's not Michael Jackson, so in this case I'm not particularly worried. At the same time, if John McCain or John Kerry was on the flight it might be more troubling.
I'm sure that this particular thought did not cross the mind of the OP, he just wanted to show Bill as a great guy, but what does everyone else think?

AS Flyer

Personally, I think this is just a little paranoid. Frankly, I don't think terrorists are watching Flyer Talk to see if they can take advantage of just such an opportunity. One never knows, but I highly doubt that the scenario you suggest is going to be a problem.

rjque

Yeah, if terrorists were truly interested in taking out celebs, they could target any LAX-JFK flight on United. It seems that there is always at least one celeb on board.

dliesse

And as far as the mere fact of a "celebrity" being spotted, who cares, anyway? It has meaning only in connection with some other news, such as in the OP.

I also agree the follow-up question is on the side of being paranoid. If anyone has the ability to react in what is (hopefully) a very short time, the flight's already in trouble.

worldwidedreamer

Ok, it sounds like I'm being just a tad bit paranoid. At the same time, I value my relative anonymity.

formeraa

Maybe so, but celebrities automatically give up this right. By virtue of making a lot of money, you get publicity and are instantly recognized.

eastwest

Slightly OT: Bill came up to ANC a while back to meet with employees and I missed it because I was outside working back to back flights. I sent him a follow up email asking some pointed questions about our pending (now ratified) contract and he responded at length and within a day. I appreciated it.

Glenn Johnson is the VP of Operations and he is in ANC at least monthly. He meets with us and fields questions too. Tough and sometimes unpleasant questions are rapidly fired at him by us and he takes it all quite well. He answers what he can, and doesn't dodge them. He always greets me by name and shakes my hand when he sees me. I know he's not reading my name off my badge because he's seen me without it and he knew who I was.

The accessability of AS upper management is awesome! ^

smantl01

I should've clarified, Bill simply "dropped in for a minute" from the jetway to say hello/thanks to the FA's. He did not actually fly on this flight; my apologies for the lack of clarity.

Seattlenerd

It's perhaps worth pointing out that any easily identified celebrity probably has a lot more to worry about from some unbalanced pax on the same flight then some remote threat. To say nothing of being hounded by fans.

That said, I've been on the same flight as Ayers before (and even emceed a charity auction for his kids' school, unbeknownest to me until I saw him during a break). We've talked a couple of times and I've been quite impressed.