AdAstraPerAspera
Veteran
Many of us who work in the industry have realized that a typical WN flight can be filled with just as many businessmen and women as trash. This is no-doubt due to the fact that Ma & Pa Kettle book the cheapest flight no matter the carrier, and WN (surprise!) is very often more expensive! (I fell out of my chair when I saw what WN's online discounted fare to from MCI to RDU was, one summer!)
Yet some people (in the industry!) refuse to believe this. They must not be cabin crew or they must sleep through every flight they commute on.
Here's a story to illustrate:
Last week, I was non-revving to DEN on an airline (not southwest!) and seated in the row behind me was the TEXTBOOK Ma & Pa Kettle lookalikes, right down to their shoes. It wouldn't have bothered me at all if they had kept to themselves, but I wasn't prepared for their behavior later. First, they talked LOUDLY so that everyone within six rows could hear their inane banter. They were in their sixties, and from what I could hear (everything!) it was obvious that flying was something they didn't do very often. your typical "dammn, what a purty plane." "whut noise d'ya guessin that was?" and mindless small talk to the guy sitting next to them, "boy our drive up from branson sure was long!" (not making any of this up.) I wouldn't have minded any of that if they hadn't practically screamed it to everyone within earshot.
So we were above 10,000 and suddenly I feel a jarring that could only have come from the row behind me. Apparently, a gentleman from a couple sitting next to me (also in their sixties) had attempted to recline his seatback, which was met with force from Pa Kettle. He tried it again and the same thing happened. The guy whirled around to see what the problem was. The conversation went something like this:
Guy: "Excuse me?"
Pa: "You can't recline into me, there's no room for my knees"
Guy: "I'm just trying to take a nap...!"
Pa: "Well go lay down in the aisle then if you want to get some sleep, but I'm 6'2" and that's not gonna happen"
At this point the gentleman's wife, incredulous, spoke up: "Well, my husband's just as tall and he doesn't seem to be having a problem!"
The gentleman, pride still apparently intact, decided to let cooler heads prevail and hushed up his wife. They were both pretty pi$$ed, and I could still hear her seething, but the guy told her he didn't want any more made of it (apparently seeing the pointlessness) and tried to sleep anyway. I felt bad for them, too, and I decided to make small talk with her a little later. She was super sweet to me, and apparently was an ex-Continental F/A!
Anyway, this entire experience made me wonder just how often this happens. I am a new F/A, but I have never (yet) witnessed a war over a seatback?
What right does someone (no matter how tall) have over someone else's recline? Neither party ended up bringing this to the cabin crews attention, but I wonder, what if they had...perhaps this is more common than we realize because it is never made into an issue, yet surely it still ruins someone's flight.
I apologized to the couple and hoped their vacation went great. I said I hoped their connecting flight was better than their first.
- astra
Yet some people (in the industry!) refuse to believe this. They must not be cabin crew or they must sleep through every flight they commute on.
Here's a story to illustrate:
Last week, I was non-revving to DEN on an airline (not southwest!) and seated in the row behind me was the TEXTBOOK Ma & Pa Kettle lookalikes, right down to their shoes. It wouldn't have bothered me at all if they had kept to themselves, but I wasn't prepared for their behavior later. First, they talked LOUDLY so that everyone within six rows could hear their inane banter. They were in their sixties, and from what I could hear (everything!) it was obvious that flying was something they didn't do very often. your typical "dammn, what a purty plane." "whut noise d'ya guessin that was?" and mindless small talk to the guy sitting next to them, "boy our drive up from branson sure was long!" (not making any of this up.) I wouldn't have minded any of that if they hadn't practically screamed it to everyone within earshot.
So we were above 10,000 and suddenly I feel a jarring that could only have come from the row behind me. Apparently, a gentleman from a couple sitting next to me (also in their sixties) had attempted to recline his seatback, which was met with force from Pa Kettle. He tried it again and the same thing happened. The guy whirled around to see what the problem was. The conversation went something like this:
Guy: "Excuse me?"
Pa: "You can't recline into me, there's no room for my knees"
Guy: "I'm just trying to take a nap...!"
Pa: "Well go lay down in the aisle then if you want to get some sleep, but I'm 6'2" and that's not gonna happen"
At this point the gentleman's wife, incredulous, spoke up: "Well, my husband's just as tall and he doesn't seem to be having a problem!"
The gentleman, pride still apparently intact, decided to let cooler heads prevail and hushed up his wife. They were both pretty pi$$ed, and I could still hear her seething, but the guy told her he didn't want any more made of it (apparently seeing the pointlessness) and tried to sleep anyway. I felt bad for them, too, and I decided to make small talk with her a little later. She was super sweet to me, and apparently was an ex-Continental F/A!
Anyway, this entire experience made me wonder just how often this happens. I am a new F/A, but I have never (yet) witnessed a war over a seatback?
What right does someone (no matter how tall) have over someone else's recline? Neither party ended up bringing this to the cabin crews attention, but I wonder, what if they had...perhaps this is more common than we realize because it is never made into an issue, yet surely it still ruins someone's flight.
I apologized to the couple and hoped their vacation went great. I said I hoped their connecting flight was better than their first.
- astra
