BoardingWars

You’ve got storage wars, you’ve got cupcake wars, you’ve got pawn wars, now…you’ve got Boarding wars!! I’ve noticed a trend, ok, maybe it’s not a trend, maybe I just started paying attention to it. People like to create problems where they just don’t need to exist. People like to complain, about anything. When it comes to the boarding area, people seem to lose their manners and their minds. What is is about boarding an airplane that makes people line up as if they’re waiting for the hottest concert tickets? What makes grown men in three-piece suits push their way around people they assume couldn’t possibly have a higher boarding priority number than them.

People lose their minds and their manners during the boarding process. Recently, I took a flight on US Air and the agent announced that anyone in military uniform could board first. Before first class, before people who needed assistance, first. I was second in the priority boarding lane and the man in front of me literally went ballistic when a young man in uniform boarded first. He was verbally abusive to the gate agent, who completely kept his cool, he made a scene in the boarding area and I suspect people from all the surrounding gates could hear him.

What made this man lose it because 1 member of the armed forces in uniform was allowed to board first?

When it seemed like boarding was pretty much complete I still had a seat open next to me in first class. I went into the galley area and explained what had happened to the flight attendant. She said they could hear most of the commotion and wondered what it was about. I told her the seat next to me was open, and wondered if it was going to remain open could she move the Marine up.

She glanced through some paper work, and said, sure, I can move him up, and I can make a big deal about it when I walk by the Grinch  That made my day.

She went and got the young man and he was so happy and thankful to her. After chatting with him I learned he was on the final leg of his trip home from Afghanistan where he had been deployed for the third time and was there on this tour for 16 months. When the flight attendant brought him forward everyone in first class applauded, except the Grinch.

I believe that karma is a you know what and when we landed, the Grinch stood up and smashed his head into the overhead bin. I’m sure he saw stars, and I hope, but doubt, he thought twice about his earlier tantrum. In the end, people need to keep calm and maintain sanity when boarding an airplane.