I sat next to Stanley Fischer of the IMF on a BOS-LGA shuttle once. He was sitting in a middle seat, and before the plane doors closed, he made a cell call where he started his conversation with "Hi this is Stanley..." At some point in the flight, I asked him if he was Stanley Fischer, and he said that he wasn't, and asked me who Fischer was. I told him, and he asked me if "this guy Fischer was a good guy". Of course, at the end of the flight, he had a car waiting for him with the driver holding a "Fischer" sign...

I met Meg Ryan at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo. Looks just like her in the movies, and her non-acting personality is very similar to her on-screen persona. She's tiny, though.

Family Sightings:

My uncle worked counter for years for the old Eastern Airlines in Atlanta. As he moved up in seniority, he was eventually assigned as a “shepherd” to various celebrity passengers passing through Atlanta – he was a great guy, very social, and a real “Southern Gentleman”. He had great stories, but his two favorite celebrities were Elizabeth Arden (the real one), who sent my aunt these enormous make-up kits each Christmas, and Carl Sandburg, who my uncle said was one of the nicest people he ever met – they exchanged Christmas cards until Sandburg’s death. I always thought that would be a fun job, until I got older and found out that there were probably too many jerks in the celebrity class.

A few personal fleeting sightings:

Tony Curtis in FLL, with his current girlfriend and two other people. He looked pretty ridiculous in a pink muscle shirt and black leather pants. The girlfriend, on the other hand . . .

Gladys Knight –ATL-BNA FC – boarded last, but left almost last (?). Spoke very nicely to anyone who spoke to her.

Vernon Jordan – FC on several ATL-DCA flights during the Clinton transition – sat next to him three times – he remembered me on the third. Actually seemed to prefer not working on the flight, and had a couple of very interesting conversations.

Rosalyn Carter – FC on ATL-DCA

And a surreal experience:

ATL-Norfolk, VA on the Sunday morning after Thanksgiving a few years ago – I get to the Delta gate area in ATL and notice 8-10 very interesting gentlemen milling around. Finally recognize two of them – Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes from WCW/WWF, etc. and a number of other very large guys. The surreal part – they’re very nicely dressed and greeting each other with family chit-chat (“how are the kids,” “did you have a good Thanksgiving,” etc.). We get onto the plane and I’m the only non-wrestler in FC. Ric Flair breaks out his laptop and starts running spreadsheets of some sort, and the monstrous guy next to me breaks out his Palm Pilot and starts working on his calendar, etc. Turns out they were headed to Norfolk for a Sunday night match/show. Kind of like seeing Kiss without the makeup.



[This message has been edited by fcrit (edited 07-28-2001).]

I was in NYC on business. A business colleague from Richmond that I barely know was also in town, and called at 10pm on Monday night to say, hey, let's try to find something fun to do. I am in NYC about once a month and NEVER see any celebs. Long story only slightly shorter, we found a club, got in with no reservations, got a great table 5 minutes before the show, and it turned out to be Les Paul, the guitar legend. Well, 90 minutes into the show, Les announces that there is a celeb in the house and would he please come up and greet the crowd. As he stood up from one table in front of me and I recognized him, my jaw dropped and I turned to my friend to announce *it is PAUL f#$%% http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gifng MCCARTNEY!!* He was with his then-girlfriend, now-fiance, Heather Mills. He chatted from the stage a bit, then after the show agreed to mingle with the crowd. He was totally kind, sweet, gracious and very present with all of us there. I chatted with him, stooped to getting an autograph, and later floated back to my hotel. I actually met and chatted with the cutest Beatle!

Last week, at DIA working a Bake Sale to raise money for the Avon Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk in Colorado, JACKSON BROWN and 2 other people approached the table. He tried hard to find something to buy, chatted for a bit, and then finally dropped some cash in the donation jar.

I am on a roll lately, so hope I get some more fun soon.

Don King (and entourage) IAH-LGA on CO.
Elayne Boozler LAS-LAX on HP.
George Carlin (and assistant) IAH-SFO on CO.
Gov. Whitman (and security) EWR-DCA on CO.
Bruce Springsteen (and his well-known personal assistant/security person) EWR-MSP on NW. (Bruce recognized me at almost the same time I recognized him.)

I elected to bother none of them.

A friend was once downgraded on CO to make room for Barbara Bush and her Secret Service escorts.

It's called light reading. Seems like a peaceful enough thread.

Hi Nathan Detroit,

It's nice to see someone from my hometown here (although, I moved from there in 1950 when I was 3, and we lived in an apartment above a store on the main street). The town is LITTLE bit fancier now than when I lived there.

Of course it's senseless drivel... that's what makes it amusing.

I finished reading this thread on Sunday night and thought "gee, I never see anybody famous while I'm travelling." The next morning, I'm almost sound asleep in the first row of an awful AA F-100 to Albany, and I hear an unmistakable voice... I thought about the thread and thought I was hallucinating from lack of sleep.

Sure enough, it was a local writer named Lester Munson who writes for Sports Illustrated about sports and law (he's a lawyer by original trade) and appears frequently as a panelist on various TV/radio programs here in Chicago.

He was with his wife who had a tremendously large hat box, and they were probably headed to Saratoga Springs for the start of its season. Since an F-100 has only 8 F seats, they ended up in the second row of coach. I gave him a slow "hi I know you but I'm not going to bother you" nod when he walked past me, he returned the nod, and I went back to sleep.

Granted, he's not as famous as McCartney and Jackson, but the timing was just funny.

I saw Sean Lennon, son of a man who said,"Imagine no possessions", but wouldn't dare let anyone touch the $250 million he accumulated before his murder. And with him a Bijou Phillips, who is acting in some recent and current movies, from LAX to Dallas-Fort Worth. They did not sit in First Class. The only reason why I could think of was Yoko Ono, Sean's mother, won't let the boy spend too much money because they, horrors, may lose their possessions. Gee, IMAGINE!!!!! The pilot announced their names when we pulled to the gate, telling them to meet a gate agent in the red coat and cart to go to their next gate. They may have been late or it could have been special celebrity treatment to prevent mobbing. But then, why announce their names? Anyway it confirmed my sighting. Does anyone know if Bijou Phillips is related to John Phillips of the Mammys and Pappys?

[This message has been edited by ubangi (edited 07-28-2001).]

Okay my turn. Haven't had many in the past few years, but here goes.

WN flight from San Antonio to Tulsa. Herb Kelleher. When the F/A's started making a fuss over him, he told them to ignore him and pay attention to the paying customers. (He also sat almost at the very back of the plane, must have had a high number on his boarding pass)

Several times at LAX, I have seen (but not bothered) Kareem Abdul Jabbar. When someone is Seven Feet Tall it is hard not to notice him.

And on a Flight out of Indianapolis about 15 years ago, there were several NBA Stars returning to San Antonio after the All Star Game. Most noticeable was George Gervin in F/C (again at 7 feet kinda hard to miss) but he was not on the roster for All Star Game. And in the aisle seat of the very back row was Dennis Johnson of Celtics (who did play) because F/C was full and the plane had a seat that was at the end of the aisle (although next to the Lav) that he could sit in and have room for his legs. But after the door closed, they did find him a seat in F/C. He humbly went forward shaking hands as he went.

Sat next to Rob Morrow (Dr. Fleischman from Northern Exposure). He had a garment bag that he laid flat in the overhead taking up an unnecessary amount of space. I had put a pillow from the overhead on my seat, turned my back briefly, and he had taken it. He had the window and the flight attendants fawned overhim, over the top of me...

Sat across the aisle from Gary Hart during the Donna Rice scandal, he wore dark glasses for the entire trip from DEN to IAD but it was him.

Yep.. It's his daughter.

I sat next to the bald guy from MASH about 5 years ago on a TWA flight SEA-JFK

Ben Affleck a few months ago JFK-LAX. Then AGAIN a few weeks later LAX-SFO. I think he's following me.

The skinny redhead from the NBC show Sisters at the LGA Admirals club a couple weeks ago. That's it for me, travel related anyway.

Flip

While I've always enjoyed and respected Nathan Detroit's opinions on the board, I couldn't help but notice the irony of his criticizing the topic of this thread: namely the focus on spotting people from the entertainment industry. It seems awfully ironic given that he, himself, takes his name from a character in a play -- i.e. a character found in the entertainment industry. I just thought it should be noted!!

I never seem to see any "celebs" then saw 2 in a week. Bryan Adams in the PC EWR, and Shirley McLain on a flight to ALQ (didn't recognise her until the FA started asking her if everything was alright http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

27th Dec 1999, I sttod beside Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley as they waited to go through security at LGW. I assume it was Liz Hurley, but she had lots of clothes on and wore sunglasses. This latter is somewhat superfluous in Britain in winter, but made sure all of us looked. Hugh Grant had the most appaling skin, and was carrying all the hand luggage.

How about Prince Andrew? Does he count. Sat in the row in front of him for a LAX-KOA flight on UA. He was in the window seat in faded jeans and a t-shirt. Congenial but beefy looking guy on the aisle was on the manifest as "PCFA" (Passenger Carrying Firearm")