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")

Heading to EWR: three guys who looked like they were in a band.

one was named Mr. Stephens and with me and the other two dudes were asked meal choices first.

Teh other was nobody but teh blonde guy got my interest (no it's wasn't Geo1004.)

Had a British accent and kept humming to himself. I think it was crazy Billy Idol.

Today I got to fly the USAIR shuttle DCA to LGA with former President Bill Clinton on board. I was in 7a while he was somewhere in 1. Since he was the last person to board and the first person off (and I was reading Up in the Air) I almost missed finding out who was the person that rated Secret Service.

The interesting thing about the Shuttle is that since there is no first class everyone is seated like coach class in any other airline 3 across. (With the exception of those that rate Secret Service like Clinton and Dick Cheney's wife. I think they buy or block out middle seats for them.)

I've seen televsion hosts (James Brown of Fox Sports) stuck in the middle seat and authors (Suze Orman, financial writer) have to fight for overhead space. Just like one of the people!

I wish he was following me!

I've had my share.

In the '80s:

Hulk Hogan in the Republic Airlines lounge in DTW, watching a Lakers playoff/championship game. Very courteous to the lounge desk personnel. Nobody messed with the very cute woman with him.

Mike & Kitty Dukakis on a NW flight ORD-BOS. I didn't know they were there 2 or 3 rows behind me in coach on a packed 727 until near the end of the flight. They were returning from a trip he took to China while governor of Massachusetts, with an entourage including a lot of local press. I recall we made it runway to runway in 1 hour, 15 minutes, cleared straight in, as fast as a good flight DTW-BOS on a DC9 with tailwind.

80s or 90s:
The Temptations and entourage including girlfriends and wives. Lead singer sat next to me in coach, a large guy with lots of gold chains. He grabbed the FA's butt, once. She must have suspected that he'd done it before and been read the riot act, so she didn't recite chapter and verse of how he'd be met by a federal agent if he did it again, but she did give him one good glare before smiling and pretending nothing happened, as did he. Alan Dershowitz (might have been in 80s) mentioned only because everyone else thinks OJ's defense team is celebs.

90s: a long dry spell for celebs, I guess. A couple of folks from Wall Street Week in different places, a bunch of various college and pro athletes I didn't particularly know, an Indycar owner with trophy wife, a female presidential historian.


1999 or 2000:
Senator John Kerry and aide, on a 100% full Metrojet cattlecar of all things, MIA-DCA (or was it IAD?). Aide tried to get them reseated, a very, very large guy was aisle next to them. No go, all seats full so the aide just had to take the center seat. If I were a senator and my woman were a billionaire, I don't think you'd find me on MetroJet. Then again, I'm Chairman's Preferred, so I don't think he could reasonably expect to see ME on Metrojet, either!

Fall, 2000 on an 8-leg run to/from TPA:
Meryl Streep going BDL-PHL was in the last row of F, as were my girlfriend and I. Meryl had the A window, C was empty, my GF was in D, I had the F window. At first I thought she was Martha Stewart, then decided not, but still thought I recognized her. So I asked my GF, who kept whispering movie names to me until I got it right. Hat and sunglasses most of the way, and put down the windowshade as plane approached gate in PHL. Everyone in F recognized her as we were getting baggage down, everyone left her alone, she went out of her way to not say hello, smile, get out from behind a newspaper crouched in the window seat, or admit who she was. Sad she feels so threatened, nobody in F was going to bite or probably even ask for an autograph. I still wonder if she paid for the C seat just to keep it empty, I suspect she did.

Prius (John if you prefer, and yes I drive one.)

A couple of months ago I saw the Crocodile Hunter from SYD-LAX.

He was the first one off the plane and vanished really quickly. Crikey!

It made me wonder if celebrities have special immigration and customs desks because theres no way he had cleared the lines at passport control in the time it took me to get there.

A couple of years ago, as we were getting off a PBI-(TPA)-LAX flight, we saw Samuel L. Jackson ahead of us on the jetway. He must have been in F, but I'm not sure if he got on in PBI or TPA. The fun part was walking about 10 feet behind him up the entire Delta terminal and watching all of the double takes as people passed him going the other way.

I also had Jim Palmer (baseball hall of famer) in front of me in coach on a CO flight IAH-PBI a couple of years ago. Someone asked nicely for his autograph and he declined, so I thought that was kind of rude, but I guess it's his choice.

Sports celebrities autographs are commonly sold in mall shops for money, maybe he thought that this person was trying to take advantage of that, or perhaps he had an exclusive contract with some company to sell his autograph? Just wild guesses.

ObCelebSighting: Several years ago, while on a layover in STL, I saw quite a mob around a gate. I went over and saw Richard Simmons and his handler (a lean, tall man, holding the bags) coming off the plane. He looked and was mumbling something about being exasperated, apparently the flight from LA was late. Of course he was in flaming yellow/red colored bodysuit, etc. Well I was walking back toward my puddlejumper terminal and I noticed that he and his handler were right behind me on the moving walkway (this was at the end of the former C concourse). I was walking right with him. So, I whipped out my cellphone and called my mom. I said, "guess who I'm standing next to?". (she is quite a fan of his) Somehow (don't ask me how), I got the idea to ask him if he wouldn't mind talking to my mom, that she is quite a fan. He said sure and I gave him the phone. So picture this: me walking next to Richard Simmons, on the phone to my mom, as people are coming up and staring. On the way down the concourse, he approached a girl with a Pizza Hut single pizza and begged a bite off of her (of course, she gave him one). I can't believe I didn't take a picture of this, but my mom can attest that she talked to Richard Simmons for about 4 minutes one night.

Oh, and once I saw Tom Arnold in line at the McDonald's at the UA gates at DCA. He was by himself, ate his McD's, and got on a flight to LA. He had sunglasses on, no one approached him. I think celebrities never fly through IAD. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Three coolest sightings of mine:

1. Robert Duvall--about a year and a half ago. I was flying home from Hawaii. Duvall was on the LAX-Dulles leg. He looked about 75, but I think he could have kicked anyone's butt on the flight.

2. Barry Williams--three years ago. I was flying from ORD to RIC. He was shilling his "Growing Up Brady Book." He was a jerk.

3. The coolest one yet. Two months ago I was flying IND to ATL and saw that Jared guy who lost all the weight eating Subway subs. In case anyone is curious, he ordered a Diet Coke and didn't eat his Delta snack mix.

[This message has been edited by dbmaury (edited 08-01-2001).]

Full circle .. go back to the first post in this thread from Beckles and then read this one.

I was on the start of a really long trip a few months ago at LIH (Lihue airport in Kauai, Hawaii) waiting to board the UA 757 red-eye to LAX when I spotted (or rather thought I spotted and heard the voice of) Johnny Cochran in a nylon jumpsuit accompanied by a nice looking woman. I was hanging around the counter waiting for my upgrade to clear .. He was told by name to hang around for an upgrade too. My upgrade cleared before his.

On the plane, it was obvious that his partner was in 1A or 1B (can't remember which) and if I switched my mid-cabin aisle seat with hers, that two couples could sit together, including J.C and his partner. I didn't mind switching into my favorite seat, so I offered without being asked and he thanked me profusely and called me a gentleman and a scholar. As we shook hands I couldn't help but to think to ask Mr. Cochran: "If it doesn't fit .. must I change where I sit?".

-David

ok .. I didn't really ask him that but the rest is true.

-David

Naomi Campbell on a BA from JFK in first, when she went to sleep she put on some kind of huge plastic mask om her nose... The FA came to me when she was in the restroom and said: "do you know who that is?" I said: "Yes, but do you know who I am?", he appologised and left....

Mel Gibson with wife & kids at a fun park in Australia.

The Queen - in the street outside my office here in London (does that one count ?)

Natalie Imbruglia at my local pub in London.

OK .... none were on planes, I know.

Oh ... and one more ..

Akibono (I think that's how you spell it) the champion Japanese sumo wrestler - in an elevator at a hotel in Melbourne (can't remmaber which one - it was about 5 years abgo now !!). And yes - only my girlfriend, Akibono and me could fit in the elevator that was meant to be able to carry 15 !

Sugar Ray Leonard on a flight SJC-LAX a few months ago. We had already pulled away from the gate when the pilot announced that we had to return to the gate to pick up an additional passenger. I was at the front part of steerage and so I could see him enter. He boarded, greeted the crew and then quickly took his seat in the right side F bulkhead window seat. I guess being a VIP/celebrity has its priveldges.

Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from Star Trek) was on a flight SJC-SFO once. She had already pre-boarded the flight much earlier as I did not see her board, and I was one of the first passengers down the jetway. She was sitting in the left side F bulkhead window.

Once while waiting in the LAX Terminal 4 AC for a LAX-LHR, Pat Riley was there with his family. When the LAX-LHR flight was boarding, Mrs. Riley (his mom) was called to preboard.

Flying out of LAX, there are all sorts of celebrities. I guess living in Los Angeles where celebrities are a dime-a-dozen, I kind of don't notice them anymore. When I remember a few more, I will edit my post.

Hello,

I guess not many celebs fly on US but the only major celeb on one of my flights was Bobby Hull (former pro hockey great) on 1997 US flight from PIT to RIC. He was across the aisle in FC from my wife and me.

He read the entire flight. Our takeoff was probably delayed several minutes as many US ground personnel came on board for autographs that he graciously provided.

Cheers,

Va.SquireFlyer

Richard Simmons at LAX ... very hyper

Sat next to Gordon Ramsey (celebrity chef in London) today LHR-GLA.

Was pleased to see my *A status got me an aisle seat in business class. His celebrity status (or perhaps reputation for having a foul temper) got him a middle seat.

Also had to chuckle to myself as I watched a two-star Michelin-rated chef choke down an airline breakfast.

EFREM: I began at page 5. ANNABANANA: not
indignant at all, just an observation of the times. HEDOMAN: agreed, just more of the light lunacy that passes for entertainment these days but still drivel and drool. SCROG: come back and I'll stand good for lunch. ELMHURSTNICK: We agree that it is senseless drivel, just like my taking time to reply to all you nice people. PREMEX 2000: is it not just possible that ND is my real name? Besides, Gs&Ds was anything but drivel, thanks to my late namesake. FINALLY, and not to date myself, I don't even recognize 80 or 90% of these "celebrities." Try me with FDR,
Truman, IKE, Gary Cooper, Nixon, The Band of Brothers (not a musical group), Rita Heyworth, Betty Grable, Jack Benny, the late great Red Skelton, and that generation. Now there were some real celebrities, with talent and taste thrown in for good measure. But HAPPY DAY to one and all....and God bless you, too, Tiny Tim.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by AAaLot:
[B]Richard Simmons at LAX ... very hyper

Really? I am sooooooo jealous!! You win the celebrity contest.

I had a double sighting last December at LAX. I first spotted the then Secretary of State Warren Christopher in the temporary Delta Crown Room after my flight was delayed four hours. Then, when I boarded my flight, I found myself seated next to actor Jeffrey Jones (he played the Emporer Joseph in "Amadeus", and the principal in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off") from LA to Tampa.

Sure I have my share or more of aircraft/airport encoutners, won't go into details for lack of space.

Most memorable while not an airport was in November last year, the seventh I think, whaever the day is the Americans amongst you do that voting thing (while I live here now, I'm still an Aussie, so I pretty much ignored the election until it turned into the mess that it did).

After a day of meetings around New York I jumped a taxi back to my hotel, the cab driver was clearly upset by this and tried to convince me not to go to that particular establishment. Sure enough when we started to get close traffic was a mess, nothing was moving etc etc...

Finally get close enough to walk to the hotel, arrive to find a police//media/fire dept blitz going on... two forms of identification to get past security to get into the hotel...

So Hillary and Bill are there preparing to give a victory speech, the hotel is packed full fo democratic faithfull all going berserk as it is still early in the evening and the media are still calling it a Gore victory.

Couldn't miss out on this one, the place was amazing. I went and freshend up and came down to the bar to watch proceedings. Of course I couldn't get into the ballroom where Hillary and Bill were scheduled to speak, but there were plenty of party faithfull in the same boat as me and the bar was plenty interesting...

Of course you all know what happened that night, so I won't go there, but when they gave New York to Hillary the place went nuts. Both Hillary and Bill had their tunr on stage upstairs, the place went more nuts.

Just when I figure it's all over and think about retiring for the evening Hillary and Bill decide to eat and come downstairs, handlers of course, but they came around the bar for a few minutes and helped us "celebrate" before heading to the restaurant.

Needless to say that in addition to very brief in person encounter with the "happy couple" there were plenty of other democrat celebs and media folks by the dozen there.

Sure it was a major coincidence I was in that city on business on that day and chose that hotel, but what I had intended to be an early and quiet evening with total indifference to the US Elections turned into a truly remarkable evening literally at ground zero.

A VERY memorable experience, but not very related to airlines, sorry.

When traveling for football during college, we had the following celebrity encounters:

October 1996 - DFW American Airlines Terminal
Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConahagh (sp) browsing the gift shop

September 1997 - DEN->LAX
Huey Lewis and the News
Huey signed my game plan and sat in First Class while the News sat in coach.

Also ate next to Ice Cube in Vegas, and flew to Omaha from Denver with Hulk Hogan.

Beckles-
What a great topic. I have met/seen many celebrities at fundraisers and others walking the streets of Manhattan, however, I will only list those celebrities that I bumped into or saw in an airplane or airport.

Rick Morranis YYZ-LGA. Wow was he upset with me for coming over to him. He was actually flying coach (bulkhead) maybe that's why he was in such a bad mood.

Rick Springfield LAS-LAX. Didn't know who he was until the FT came over and said how she is such a big fan.

Ricky Lake walking through LAX. Her asssitant cut me off at the x-ray machines as she was running late to pick her up.

Fabio LGA-YYZ. He was very nice. He waited to take a picture with me and my sister.

John Stamos and his GORGEOUS wife Rebecca. JFK-LAX. There were sitting in the first row of coach far righthand side of the plane, were the last people to board. He was very nice. Unfortunately his wife was sick and slept most of the flight. But got my picture with him.

Cate Blanchet LAX-SFO. Sitting accross from me up front. I went over to her with my camera in hand after the flight because I thought she was Robin Wright, Sean Penns wife and she said sorry I am not Robin Wright. The woman sitting next to her walked by 30 seconds later and informed me it was Kate Blanchet. Ahhhh.

Typically I have noticed that celebrities for the most part board last, 5-10 minutes before the schedualed departure.

By far one of my biggest thrills in life was meeting Lou Holtz in the Columbus Airport while we were waiting for a flight to Orlando.

We both graduated from the same school so it was fun to talk about our memories of the place and talked a lot about one his former bosses and a God in my eyes, Wayne Woodrow Hayes. Mr. Holtz could not have been more polite and gentlemanlike. BTW: he sat in Steerage.

I was sitting next to Keyshawn Johnson in the Delta Room at LAX but didn't realise it until they called his name over the loudspeaker to tell him that his escort was ready. Needless to say all heads turned his way.

On a flight from DAY to IAD in early June 1998, there were about 10 WWF wrestlers on my flight. "Bam Bam Bigelow" (sp? - I'm not a wrestling fan, so I'm not sure if this name is even exactly right) was seated just ahead of me and was very nice, he helped me put my carry-on in the overhead compartment, and was not at all what I expected from a WWF wrestler with tattoos all over his bald head.

During my old FedEx days I was always on the LAX-MEM non-stop on NW:

Morgan Freeman (what a great actor) in 1st
Linda Hunt across the aisle from me in coach.

My wife and I were on Am West from LAX-LAS in January and at the last minute Lt. Uhura (Nichele Nichols?) from Star Trek took the bulkhead in the front of coach. She was with two younger ladies who looked like they could be her daughters. They were all in big furs. They looked like they should have been in first the way they were dressed... but hey, it WAS a Vegas flight!

For all the flying I have done, and so much of it from LAX, I think I am low on the ratio. Just think how many famous people are on our flights that we never even know!

Kevin

On a return flight to New York, I was tickled to be upgraded to first class. As it turned out the gentleman sitting next to me was not only charming and conversational throughout the flight but after we landed he was kind enough to help me with my bags and he instructed his driver to take me home. It made me wonder if this happens everytime you get upgraded to first class...The gentleman was Carl Bernstein.

Just don't get those Texas guys together, like Durwood and Joe West! They'll kill you with war stories! But catch 'em in the pub after the game and they are sure to buy you a beer or two! The pro guys get a bad rap but are the nicest guys off the field!

As for sightings, we were at The Vatican visiting the Sistine Chapel in May of 1992 and there was this 'halo' in the middle of the room. It was Marilyn Quayle being shown around by the Italian Premier's lovely wife whilst Potato Dan was in G-7 meetings. Of course, being the proud civil servant that I was, went right up and said hello and she introduced herself and her hostess while the Secret Service guys were spuming all over their shirts! No guts, no glory.

Then there are the 'pro' wrestlers I always seemed to be seated next to out of CLT. Rick Flair is sure a short little s**t and Roddy Piper is just as dumb in person as on the tube. But the greatest flight was many years ago out of Dallas with Dusty Rhodes. Man, what a great flight that was. Real down to earth guy.

Can start a thread of pro baseball players that I ejected when they were in college ball, but that's no fun.

I was recently at UA checkin at SEA for a flight to PHL via ORD and (eventually, with help from my travel companion) recognised that the couple checking in next to me were Graham Kerr (aka The Galloping Gourmet) and his wife.

Later, we discovered that they were one row ahead of us on a flight from SEA to ORD. Both of them were quite friendly.

Rudolf Scharping* (and bodyguards...) in the LH Senator Lounge in FRA last sunday evening (9:00 pm), waiting for his flight to Berlin.

--------
* : German Secretary of Defense, currently in trouble because he flew 44 times with the (official use only) aircrafts of the german Air Force to visit his new girlfriend, Kristina countess Pilati, in FRA.
Paid flight, this time ...




[This message has been edited by ahrz (edited 09-08-2001).]

On a Sh*ttle flight from LAS-DEN about year or so ago my brother in law and I were behind Sandy Koufax (he was in 1D, we were in 2CD). There happened to be a little league team on board and as soon as the seat belt light went off, every kid on the team came up and asked him for his autograph. He was a great sport, extremely patient, spoke to each kid for a moment or two, and honoured every autograph request.

The embarrasing moment came towards the end of the procession when a kid came up and asked the guy in *1C* for his autograph (the kid has no idea who SK was, he just saw his teammates getting and autograph, and figured he should have one too). The guy in 1C was flumoxxed, and asked Sandy what he should do, Sandy said "Sign it, he obviously won't know the difference anyway". Sandy then took it signed it and sent the kid packing.

Sean

[This message has been edited by skofarrell (edited 09-08-2001).]

I was on a flight from ORD-LAX (to connect on to a LAX-HKG and HKG-BOM) in 1st when I sat next to Ernest Borgnine (won Oscar in 60's, was in that helpicopter TV show). He was amazingly nice and talkative. He has been in over 60 movies and 1000's of TV shows.

On a flight from LAX-JFK in 1st, I sat next to the supermodel Veronica Webb. I had no idea who she was, but she had prolems with her onboard phone and asked to use mine to make a call. She gave me her Plat Amex to use to dial for her, which is when I saw her name.

I'm pretty celebrity-immune, but I wish I'd sat next to Ernest Borgnine (just saw two OLD movies of his -mid 50's-) or near Sandy Koufax. Koufax is not exactly known for being talkative with the media... how many Sandy Koufax interviews do you remember seeing. Anyway, nice to know he was nice to the kids.

Last year, on the way to the FAQ in Montreal, on AC in F, I sat near Richard Belzer (of "Homicide" and "Law & Order SVU"). On the way to Canadian Immigration (a 25-minute queue everybody had to endure) I told him that I thought "Homicide" was probably the best police drama on TV, ever, and that the only problem with "SVU" was that there wasn't enough Detective Munch (his character). He thanked me and said that there would be more of his character in the new season (last season). And there was.

Rich,

My brother-in-law was so embarrassed by the kid going to the wrong guy, that he actually got up and went to the lav. He said "I can't watch this" http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Last September in the LHR T4 BA First Class Lounge, I had the opportunity to "chat" briefly with Michael Caine while we were both washing our hands in the men's room. As I recall the "chat" was about the price of real estate in cities around the world, or something to that effect. Seemed like a regular chap you could go hoist a few pints with and have a great time.