Rip Taylor (host of the $1.98 Beauty Contest), going JFK-LAX a year or two ago.

I've flown with bigger celebrities, but he was the most amusing name I could throw out there.

:-)

The passenger in the next seat in a first-class bulkhead row, several years back, was a well-built young man I didn't recognize. I took out my early "luggable" computer and started working. He was fascinated and started talking about how he could use it in grad school. I said it's a tad heavy - 16 pounds. He said that wouldn't be a problem for him.

Turned out it was Dave Johnson, half of the "Dave and Dan" decathlon competition before one of the not-so-many-ago Olympics. He threw 16 pounds, on a regular basis, further than I could probably carry them!

Flew USAirways CLT-MIA. Met Rap Star "Genuine". He was dressed like a Rap Star and I was a little taken back when he first entered the plane...Never met a Rap Star (but then again, I did not know he was). I kind of got the idea he was someone famous when people kept stopping next to me/him and asking for his autograph, picture, and giving him numbers... (yea, that was a pretty big clue http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ).

Then this gentleman next to me started talking. He was very well spoken, very nice, and actually a very nice down to earth person. I think I'm going to check out his music and videos. I was shocked and amazed. I would have never guessed it, but it also taught me a valuable lesson (again) in life...Don't judge a book by its cover...

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"We are dimming the cabin lights to enhance the beauty of our flight crew" - Actual Quote from USAirways F/A: CLT-BNA.

Chairmans: USAir, Gold: NWA, Diners, HH, Gold: Marriott

The person that most of the people have mentioned here is Jesse Jackson. He should have many miles. He was in the same plane than me 2 weeks ago: ORD-SJU. A few years ago, I saw Frank Thomas at the AA terminal MIA-ORD. I was the first person that saw him and I told my friend that I saw him. She is not a baseball fan so she didn't recognize him. I wanted an autograph but I respected his privacy and didn't ask. Later some kids recognized him and he was very nice and posed for pictures with them.

Christian Amanpour (CNN) flying First on BA going into TLV the day after the nightclub suicide bombing.

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speedbird001

ATL - MSY: Roy Jones, Jr
ATL - LAX: Ken Griffey

(both DL flights)

Colin Powell - In the Admirals Club at LAX a few years ago. I sat directly across from him as we shared on of those little round tables.

Mel Brooks - Back in the 80's on a PSA flight from SFO to LAX. He was raving about how great John Candy was in Spaceballs. I would have to agree!

Pat Boone - In the Admirals Club in SEA about 5 years ago. It was just before he tried to become a heavy metal artist-now sad!

Genie Francis(Laura from General Hospital)- Sat in front of me in FC from LAX to ORD on AA about 6 years ago. She was holding her newborn for the entire flight. I was hoping her husband would be with her (Jonathan Frakes, aka Riker from Star Trek), but he wasn't.

Patti LaBelle - In the Admirals Club in ORD waiting to be ticketed on her flight to ATL. She was silent the whole time as she was apparently saving her voice for a concert later that day. She was carrying a big bouquet of roses and wearing a big felt hat! I guess she wanted to be incognito.

Martina Navatarola - In the airport in Zurich rushing to the AA counter just before her flight to ORD was leaving (I was on the JFK flight an hour later) She yelled that her flight from Austria arrived late and could she still make the flight to ORD. She was with her g/f, they both made the flight.

Gregory Peck - He sat in front of us with his wife in FC from LAX to ORD on AA. My friend recognized him first, those eyebrows gave him away, even at 84. Once F/A went up to him and said how much his acting meant to her family, what an icon he was, etc.....

Boys II Men - They all sat with me in FC on QF from BNE to AKL in 1994, at the height of their fame. Of course, I didn't know who they were (One sat next to me and we talked a bit) Only while we all went through customs did I notice who they were. I never had screaming teenagers anxiously wait MY arrival!!

Pete Rose - I saw in in FC, I was in coach, on a DL flight from BDL-PBI. It was about one year after his expulsion. Just sat there the whole flight with a baseball cap on, no it wasn't the Reds, but can't remember the team.

That is all for now that I can recall. Until the next celebrity sighting.

Maybe not truly celebrity, but amusing nonetheless: In April, in SJU, hanging around the airport a while waiting for a bump.. Several contestants for the Miss Universe pageant arriving.. Walking thru terminal with their "entourages", and EVERY ONE dressed in tiny dresses with superhigh heels, complete with their crowns, banners, and arms full of roses.. LOL, couldn't have been a comfortable flight from Argentina... Got a kick out of them being escorted into the little buses to transport them to the Westin, where we had been staying and watching other contestants carefully sunbathing by the pool.. And YES, amusingly enough, they were ALWAYS smiling....

[This message has been edited by Fishbait (edited 07-24-2001).]

I also saw Johnnie Cochran in F on a DL to CVG, being talkative and friendly.
i've seen Oscar Robertson on CVG flights several times.

i see Jim Bunning (current senator and former major league baseball pitcher) almost every week in the CVG CRC and flew with him to DCA several times. Once he exhibited the least "politic" behavior. The wman next to him in F, late 20's business traveller, very politely asked him to support a increase in funding for medical research on a condition that affected a family member. He completely ignored her.

i've also seen many members of congress on CVG/DCA flights. Rob Portman (my rep) was always in coach and was polite the 2 times i spoke to him about legislation(although in both cases we disagreed)

I've run into several sports teams- the Reds
at CVG, the Houston Rockets in the Cleveland Marriot, the Montreal Canadiens in Toronto, aand the Texas Rangers at the Baltimore Marriott during a false fire alarm.

Last night, CVG - ATL on Delta, Robert Iller from the Sopranos. He was apparently just making a connection in Cincinatti.

OK....

Jaclyn Smith - PHL - ATL (Oh My Gawd! - she's prettier in person than she is on TV)

Robert Wagner - DFW - SFO (Pretty Quiet, very polite)

Robin Cook - ATL - somewhere (Very short, takes his shoes off and puts his feet on the wall)

Bruce Hornsby SFO - ATL (surprised I recognized him. Wife is a big fan, so I got an autograph)

George Schultz (ex Secy of State) - SFO - LAX - no color to provide

Terry Bradshaw - LGA Crown Room. Great story... A while back the LGA Crown Room was self service. I was wearing a dark blue suit and pouring myself a drink when up walks Mr. B and says, "I'll have a Dewars and Soda (or something like that)." I looked at him and said, "Well, I'm having a Vodka over ice and this is a self service bar."

The poor guy turned bright red and started apologizing profusely.

Also:

Chris Miller - ATL - NYC - Falcons / Rams QB - He was going to NYC to party for St. Patty's Day.

Andy Benes - ATL - SAN - - Pitcher - Poor guy sat in front of me and some guy recognized him and talked his ear off the entire flight.



[This message has been edited by Diver90 (edited 07-24-2001).]

Few years back on CO - Comedian Paul Rodriguez. The man really is hilarious.
Also, a bunch of professional wrestlers in FC on a DL flight from ATL to PHX. These guys are huge and covered in tatoos, but then they sit down, take out their reading glasses and pull out the wall Street Journal. Amusing to say the least.

When I was a kid, I sat in 1st class with Ricardo Montelban on a flight from YYZ to ORD. I was too nervous to ask him for his autograph, but my father, who was riding the jumpseat, did get his autograph. He signed it "to my amigo."

jk

Although I once flew DTW-NRT where fmr president Bush had the upper deck, I never really saw him. So my only real sighting was actor/comedian David Cross in the DTW WorldClub.

Anyway, which celeb would you REALLY want to sit next to for three hours??

I'd love to yak with Julia Child, myself.

Although I once flew DTW-NRT where fmr president Bush had the upper deck, I never really saw him. So my only real sighting was actor/comedian David Cross in the DTW WorldClub.

Anyway, which celeb would you REALLY want to sit next to for three hours??

I'd love to yak with Julia Child, myself.

I was on an NFL QB kick a while back.. it started on 12/30/00 right after the Colts lost to the Dolphins in OT in the playoffs. I was on a flight FLL-ATL and Peyton Manning sat right next to me. Even he commented on the lack of legroom on the 764. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Then I sat next to Trent Dilfer MSP-ATL. He is much larger than Peyton.

Dan Marino FLL-ATL.

Ryan Leaf FLL-CVG

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I found myself standing next to Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas at LAX once. They were holding hands and looking a bit nervous with all of the people around, so I kept my mouth shut.
Have also seen a number of Seahawks at SEA over the years, including Cortez Kennedy (BIG guy) and Brian Blades.

I also saw the guy who sang "Don't Worry, Be Happy" at SFO once, but I can't for the life of me remember his name. Can anyone help me???

dup http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif


[This message has been edited by Westcoaster (edited 07-26-2001).]

dup

[This message has been edited by Westcoaster (edited 07-26-2001).]

Fishbait, thank you for jogging my memory!

I was staying at El Convento in Old San Juan in the late 80s. Imagine the grin on my face when I realized that ALL the contestants for Miss Puerto Rico were staying at that same hotel -- with their severe matrons watching them like hawks!

Latin women... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

RAD

jerry glanville on the red-eye lax-mco after the game in oakland on his way to tampa for the superbowl. the guy next to him talked his ear off the entire flight.

steve garvey sfo-ont on my first summer from hell flight

marcus allen (sat next to him, didnt know who he was until the f/a pulled my aside and told me) red-eye lax-mco

eric karos (sp?) and two other baseball players, one girlfriend and a dog on the lax-mco red-eye prior to spring training. eric and his seat mate were up chatting all night with both lights on. i guess they didnt have to go to work the next day like i did.

some girl who was flying to the eco challenge somewhere, this was on a delta flight mco-lax. she was learning to scuba dive on the plane by reading a book about it.

one of the characters on the sopranos. mco-lax. i dont think he is acting on the show. he seemed very much like his character. loud, overbearing, wife-beater undershirt, etc.

those were all in first.

orlando predators cheerleaders, mco-lax. they road in coach in the back couple of rows. so much for the glamorous life of a cheerleader

Bobby Ferrin (sp?) sang "Don't Worry, Be Happy".

Let's see -- a couple of years ago I was on a WN flight with then-governor George W. Bush. He was surrounded even then by muscular young men speaking into their cufflinks.

Only other "celeb" would be singer Shawn Colvin on a DL flight.

Don't Worry Be Happy was sung by Bobby McFerrin.

He's actually a really talented classical musician, as well. Until very recently I believe he was the conductor of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

I've seen him a few times around town.

This is a nit but it was Bobby McFerrin.

Several years ago on an elevator of the King Eddy in Toronto, this stately African American woman in a beautiul garb came on. She spoke a few pleasantries and had this amazing presence.

Only later that day, while perusing a local events magazine, did I find out that Maya Angelou was in town!

I sure felt stupid!

Nobbi

What senseless drivel.

Then why are you reading it? This is the fifth page - surely it didn't take you that long to figure that out!

I met Sinbad (the comedian) outside at the American departure terminal at ORD one mid-November either two years ago or three, before Thanksgiving holiday. I was arriving and went up there to meet my folks who were picking me and my wife (then girlfriend) up.
I had to go back to the baggage terminal to get my other bags and on the way there, saw Sinbad. He was standing out of a black limo, along with a beautiful and leggy black woman, stuffing a couple of size 17 (looked like it!) shoes in a bag and dropping one liners in every other sentence, making people around him and the limo drivers laugh outloud. Since I am deaf, I couldn't understand the jokes one bit but couldn't resist smiling from the laughter in the air.

At one point when he stopped talking, I went up to him, introduced myself, and told him that I always wanted to watch his comedy specials on television but couldn't since the specials were never captioned. He told me not to worry and that he would make sure that the shows would be captioned from that point on. I thanked him and left. I was elated to meet him and really hoped that he meant what he said.

Sure enough, a month or two later, I was clicking through the channels and happened to come up in the middle of one of his specials and, guess what? It was captioned!
Boy, he really earned my respect and gratitude! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

It seems that you must be deriving some sort of amusement and/or entertainment by the mere fact you have posted your indignation on the subject so late in the thread.

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.