This does not mean I will never fly with them again. I suppose I will if push really comes to shove. It ain't Delta, Southwest or Alaska! That's for sure.
Actually the reason I did fly with them is because they were the only nonstop flight available for me at the time.
Anyway, the flight to Florida was pretty uneventful. I paid an extra for a carry on bag and a few other things and in return got a (semi) reasonable boarding priority. This means I got on board with room for my debris and got to fit it into the overhead easily enough. We took off and landed OK and I got off easily enough.
The ride home kinda sucked.
While boarding I realized the woman ahead of me was slow upstairs. When she turned her head I noticed it was kind of a 'putty face'. She had a women with her coaching her and teaching her what to do. The woman sounded like an emotional basket case that could be triggered very easily and would over react to anything. I made a quick mental note that if she was next to me I would be very kind to her but very standoffish. (She sat somewhere else, much to my relief.)
This actually didn't bother me too much. She had to get somewhere, too.
Just before takeoff someone from the airline came on and questioned the guy sitting next to me that was carrying some kind of oxygen unit and the airline person questioned him about it. They left and returned with some guy that asked him more questons and when it was said and done he was told he could not fly for some reason or another. I overheard something about his unit not having enough oxygen or some damned thing.
Fine. He had to get off. He was center seat, I was aisle.
Apparently (former) Sp/5 Piccolo did not snap too fast enough so the guy told me I had to get up. (Well, no $hit) Why should I pop to? I didn't see any officer insignia on his collar and no stripes of E-6 or above on his sleeve, either.
I snapped, "I'm not stupid" and took my time getting up because my old bones had gotten too comfortable and let the poor old guy get out. He told his wife to stay on the plane.
He got up and left with the airline person.
The part that irked me the most is that if there was something wrong it should heve been settled long before he boarded and not at the last minute where it would create a delay.
He was a nice guy and if I thought it would have done any good I would have spoken up but I was wise enough to know it was a losing deal, likely for both of us.
His wife was a delightful woman that told me about meeting her husband at a dance when he was in 8th grade and she was in 10th and how his parents had to sign for him to marry her when he was 17.
It was a wonderful high school sweetheart story and they had been together for over 50 years. She was good company and I kept an eye out for her when we landed to make sure she got off the plane OK and knew where to go to pick up her luggage.
Apparently her husband was going to go home, fire up the family car and meet her there. It's about 16 hours driving time according to Google.
When we were aloft I overheard what sounded like a drama queen chick say, "He hit me in the face. I want an officer." I thought nothing about it. I did take a look at the guy next to her and he certainly didn't look like the kind of guy that would smack someone for no good reason. When I heard her something registered to me. It sounded kind of hinky to me but not having been an actual witness to any kind of assault the tone of her voice left me wondering what really happened. There was a whiny I want my own way spoiled brat tone in it.
I shined it on and turned back to the old woman next to me and entertained her with the story of having to have my beer bought for me by a 19 year old kid with a bogus ID.
Fine. The airplane landed and we got to the gate that was out in Outer Slobovia somewhere, meaning I had a long walk. We made the taxi to the gate and we were all ordered to stay seated.
Of course everyone was on their feet eager to get off and it took quite a few minutes to get reseated. A lot of people were unwilling to sit down because they are stupid and don't understand that the fastest way off the airplane is to sit down and shut up. Then they can get up after whatever the problem is and get on with their business. They are going nowhere until that happens. Once we were seated five or six cops representing more than one agency came aboard. headed straight to the drama queen's aisle and carted the guy off.
He said little and made no scene at all much to his credit and left quietly with the officers. My guess is the pilot had called ahead for the lawmen to meet the plane upon landing.
Then we were permitted to debark.
When I got to the gate I hung out a bit to see that my seatmate was OK and to show her where to go to pick up her luggage. Apparently it was too far for her to walk so she got a wheelchair. That made sense because we were a long haul from the luggage carousel and she didn't look like a high school athelete anymore.
There I saw the girl giving a drama filled story to some police officer that made me question the legitimacy of the incident. I got a bad feeling about that one. From what little I saw it looked like the guy was getting the shaft over nothing.
I did notice the officers didn't ask for any witnesses so when it is all said and done my best guess is it will wind up as a "he said, she said" and go nowhere other than putting a dent in the poor slob's wallet for a lawyer. Without any evidence he'll walk after his wallet gets plundered by the legal beagles.
I actually can't blame the airline for this. With the current legal system and the believe everyone policy most likely is the policy now everywhere is 'Don't get in the middle of anything. Let the police settle it' which makes sense these days and in this political clime.
Still, I wonder. The first thing that came to mind when I saw the little drama queen talking to the cop is that the poor guy that got carted off had somehow led her to believe he had voted for Donald Trump so she decided to frame him in retaliation. To me she looked the type.
On the other hand the guy didn't look like a Trumper. Then again, what does a Trump supporter look like?
I don't know why that came to mind but it's not as far fetched as it sounds. It would not surprise me in the least in this day and age.
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Five or six cops? Sounds useless to me because if the guy had decided to make a fight of it the police could have only brought one officer to bear on the guy because their only approach to the guy was in the aisle.
I suppose they would have tried to force him way back into the tiny galley and rat-packed him there but what do I know. What I do know is it would have been a real mess if he had decided to resist.
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In the FWIW department if the guy was being falsly accused and it was a case of filing a false report then the chick should be charged.
There seems to be a lot of SWATing and other things of this nature going around these days and it is not going to stop until it starts to get costly for the perps. Jail time instead of some small lame fine is tha answer.
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Once I got home the calls started asking me if I got home OK which is a pain in the a$$ because I just wanted to get some sleep. Much to the wife's credit, she didn't call because I had texted her when I was in the driveway after I got home.
I suppose I should have just shot out a blanket text to my entire family instead of just my wife.
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I'm cringing because there's a chance I might have to fly Spirit in a couple of months. From what I have heard, sometimes the show there is even better than the 0300 floor show at a Waffle House that's next to a strip joint!
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