Thank you, and likewise, it was great meeting you. It's always great to meet a United Global Services member and learn more about why they fly.

Safe travels

A few bad apples shouldn't spoil the bunch of all New Jersey travelers... speaking as someone born and raised in NJ who would never even think about acting in such a manner as these people.

Here's one I forgot to share from the summer. DYKWIA's come in many forms, sometimes even as kids...

Flight delay because there is a line of thunderstorms between us and the destination with no good options around it. I make a PA in the gate area explaining why we haven’t boarded yet. A young kid (maybe 16) and his mom walk up to me afterward, mom says “he’s a pilot and he wants to have a word with you.” I turn to him, he has Foreflight open (Foreflight is an app that primarily general aviation pilots use for weather, navigation, etc) and says “Weather at the destination is VFR….” I ask to see his iPad, turn on the radar feature, and slide to the left. “If you see a way around this line of weather you come get me.”

His mom said I was dismissive, and that his son was going to the Naval Academy to fly F-18s and I should take him more seriously. I explained that at 16 he was not a licensed pilot, but a student, and still had much more to learn. Upon landing, he made a point of telling me my landing was firm! (I mean it was, but still....)

I can imagine an encounter like that might have followed a far more pleasant path with the appropriate attitude. There's a big difference between telling an expert they're doing it wrong and asking about something that seems confusing. That old saying about vinegar and honey comes to mind.

Both he and his mom were pretty obnoxious. The sad thing is, had he approached me differently, I would have loved to have chatted about flying and how awful the Navy is compared to the Air Force. :)

There's a certain irony in that statement, given they've just taken you seriously enough to tell you you're doing your job wrong. 🤦‍♀️

I've got sooo many stories. Way back when I was flying DC-9's (yeah, I'm that old, but I was only an FO then) I had an irate passenger take me aside and show me an altimeter he had on board with him. He demanded to know why I flew the entire flight at 8,000 feet, and how unsafe that was. It was all I could do to not wet myself with laughter. I was able to compose myself and explain how cabin pressurization works.

Anyway, these stories aren't in the true spirit of the thread, so I apologize for the divergence. Now back to your regular programing....

If there isn't already a thread for these, please start one! If there is, please add to it! And let us know how we can buy your book when you've written it. :cool: :tu:

Please, please, please tell me that this flight passed over the Rockies.

”I demand to know why you flew us through that mountain!”

EWR Polaris lounge today.

New one for me. Family of 7 in Polaris lounge, 4/7 wearing socks walking around the lounge. One also decided to take socks off and pick at their feet while sitting in one of the chairs.

Boarded my flight, different person walking around barefoot on the plane (Row 7)

Fun start to the year. (Though maybe passenger hygiene deserves its own thread)

Ick, ick ick.

I wear the slippers on the plane (and shoes in the lounge and for takeoff and landing). I took my best friend on a trip and we were upstairs on the 747 (miss that plane) and she knew I would periodically get up and walk down the stairs and round the plane and back again. She decided to do the same thing (and I was asleep) and she went in socks - not the socks they give you in the amenity bag as she wanted to "save" them but her own socks. Also, wanted to "save" the slippers. I wake to her shaking me awake as she has trodden in someone's vomit when walking round the plane. She did not have a spare change of clothes. I did and lent her my socks telling her to wear the slippers next time. I mean the bathrooms are disgusting enough and sticky underfoot. I have no faith in the cleanliness of the carpets on planes. I request the mattress pads because the seats are not cleaned well.

Reverting to my original comment, ick, ick, ick.

I'd say this kid ticks all the boxes of a high functioning autistic individual.

Possibly, but what about the mother? In my mind she's the one that misbehaved in this scenario.

In the interest of bumping the thread, I'll share a YDKWIA (you don't know who I am) story...

This was on a CRJ-200, MKE–ORD. I'm seated in 4C. A lady boards and sits next to me in 4D. Two other passengers, business types in suits, sit in 4A and 4B. (I may be a business type too but I usually wear jeans on the plane.)

The FA comes down the aisle with snack boxes to hand to 1K/GS. Looks at the lady next to me for a half second, then back to me, and quietly and a bit apprehensively asks, "Mr. Nakamoto?" Now I am a 6-foot-tall, fairly Germanic looking man. I gently shake my head and say "um, no." She says, "I didn't think so."

FA then looks across the aisle and sees that a man who is much more apparently Mr. Nakamoto is in 4A. It turns out Mr. Nakamoto was supposed to be in 4D, but the lady next to me had taken the wrong side of the plane, so he just took 4A rather than ask her to move. (And after all, it's a 19-minute flight and the window seats are all equally unpleasant. Even more to 4A's credit, passenger in 4B was a large man on a small plane.)

No big deal and we all had a good laugh over it.

Devil's Chariot...
 

Snack boxes on a CRJ-200?