JetBlue to the Rescue

And I’m back after a two week break. Probably my longest break from writing for a while. Back when this was just a writer’s journal and not a public blog there were times when I would go months without writing. The blog has been good in forcing me to keep a regular habit. Now I just have to get back into the habit. Luckily I won’t be traveling quite as much (or with such horrible hours) as I’ve been so hopefully I can get back into the swing of things. And speaking about travel….

So the big story right now is about the JetBlue Flight Attendant (or as I like to call them “male stewardess”) freaked out on a flight, swore at the passengers over the intercom, grabbed a couple of beers and escaped the plane by utilizing the emergency slide. While I have to give the guy a thousand points for style I have issues with him and the passenger who started this. As someone who now spends much too much of his time in planes and airports I figured that I need to give my take on the story.

First off, the passenger who started this was an idiot who deserves some sort of punishment. Basically, this was a case where the plane had landed but had not reached the gate and the guy was out of his seat, opening the overhead bin and doing all of those things that you are specifically told not to do. The flight attendant goes to stop him and gets a carryon bag slamming on his head for his trouble. As someone who has had that happen to me on a flight I have to say that it hurts like hell. My bigger issue is that as anyone who flies knows that it really doesn’t matter when you get up. The amount of time that you can save is maybe a minute or two at the most. So the guy acted like a prick for no reason other than to do so. Guy deserved to be sworn at for that alone.

Now did Steven Slater, our slightly demented flight attendant, make a good choice in opening the emergency slide? In a word, hell no. Here is what his action caused: 1) Delayed the people on the plane from getting off the plane as it must be weird to move the plane with the slide extended, 2) risked injuring or killing ground personnel who had no idea what was going on, 3) took that plane out of service as they had to repack the slide and test it for safety, 4) delayed every single person who was supposed to be on the next leg of that flight and 5) broke a ton of federal laws. So what he gained in style points he will lose as part of his jail time.

Look, flying sucks. The seats aren’t comfortable, we’re packed in tight and I had to spend fifty bucks this weekend just so I could check a bag back and forth. But the entire process gets me from point A to point B safely though occasionally I have to take a side trip to point E which always seems to be somewhere in Nebraska. For the most part I can just put on my headphones, read my Kindle, and ignore everything. It is the best way to fly.

Wednesday Night Music Club: Wonders of the internet. I can find a 1996 video by Suzanne Vega I remember watching on VH1 the last time they actually showed videos. Oh what a world we used to have.