Airline Stories

While walking through Miami International Airport recently, I reminisced over some of the best (or most notable) airline stories I’ve collected throughout my career. We’ve all got them: the good and the bad. I’ve accrued the air mileage equivalent of 112 trips around the world over the past quarter of a century: plenty of opportunities for standout experiences (and learnings) while getting from Point A to Point B and back. Here are a few favorites.

Leo Burnett First Class. When I first started at Leo Burnett, the policy was to fly their people - regardless of tenure or position - First Class. This came with a complementary fat envelope of travel cash: a bygone era, for sure!

I remember as a snot-nosed 22-year-old, making my first trips to NYC and LA (my client was Heinz Pet Products), how grateful (and maybe a little embarrassed) I was to be flying FC.  Prior to that, my idea of FC was a seat belt and a window cranked open in my parents’ Ford station wagon!  While both of those times have long since passed, it still signifies to me the extent to which Leo valued their talent.

I’ll Have Two Bottles Please British Airways. While living in London, I often traveled business class to other European cities from Heathrow.  It was in London that I truly learned how to “drink” in the best, most sophisticated sense of the word (cocktails, Bloody Marys, champagne, port). Every flight from London was a revelation. One memorable incident to which I was both witness and participant: a flight crew served two drinks, a complete meal course and coffee/tea service … in 45 minutes flat.  Every single traveler asked for two bottles of wine, and the fact that it was only 1pm deterred no one. It was as the British say, “brilliant!”

There is No Improv in Airports in China. After a particularly long week in Shanghai and Beijing, several of us were on a United flight direct to Chicago on a late Friday afternoon. We arrived at the airport only to find out the flight was cancelled right before takeoff.

Determined NOT to spend another night in China or the weekend there, we all set off to figure out how to get home the Improv Way: you know, that mix of strategy, alchemy, diplomacy and sheer inventive doggedness only experienced travelers can conjure. However, the agents at China Airways (or any Chinese airline – we tried) weren’t versed in our brand of travel Improv.  Our request to “just get onto a flight” was met with sheer fascination. They said “no” 100 times. However, I suspected they were also curious about why three crazy Americans were imploring them to keep trying ... so, they kept sticking with us to make it happen.  Had we given in after the 37th time, we might have had to enjoy that extended stay, but frequency in China is the magic.

We ended up on a flight to Chicago via LAX (fine enough!) and landed in Chicago only about 5 hours later than planned.

3 Hours to Moscow Airport, 3 Minutes to the Gate. I was on business with a colleague in Moscow. One thing to expect while travelling in Russia is an infrastructure that … has room for improvement, let’s just say. The highway to Moscow International Airport could have been imported from a less developed country.

We left for the airport after a morning meeting, allotting a generous 2 and a half hours for the trip to MIA. It took three.

We arrived only to find ourselves amidst a crowded, whirlwind, crazy mess, with only a few minutes to get though passport control and security, then navigate the terminal to our gate. I was undaunted and ready to take the challenge on. My prime motivation?  I just didn’t want to spend one more night in Europe if I didn’t have to – one of the more unromantic bits of fallout when you travel +70% of the time.  We went through a gauntlet, both physical and emotional, to make that flight: a melee of anxiety, perseverance, hurdled luggage and more than a few skipped lanes just to get home.

While I can recommend similar approaches in many airports, this sort of “seat of your pants” adventure through the Moscow Airport is not for the faint of heart. If at any point we had run afoul of security, we could have easily been detained and questioned for at least a few of our precious, dwindling minutes. Nevertheless, we made it: plane boarded, connection (Frankfort) made, another story for the books.

Just one of those things in India. As far as adventure goes, one jaunt from Bombay to Dehli on my way home to Chicago takes the Grand Prix.  I was traveling solo and didn’t realize I was really gambling with my time when I took an internal flight from Bombay to Delhi in order to catch the AA direct to Chicago.

I thought I had plenty of time with a 2-hour connection time once I got to Delhi. What I hadn’t accounted for was one of the unavoidable realities of Indian travel: flights rarely take off on-time in India, and are often just cancelled. Additionally, while only 15 minutes apart by bus/car or other transport (more on that later) the domestic Delhi airport and the international airport are not the same thing. At all.

My original flight was cancelled to Delhi, however a colleague I was fortunate enough to meet along the way gave me his seat: to this day I’m thankful for this generosity.  Although we took off late, I still thought there was an hour or so to spare. However, when I arrived, the shuttle I’d been expecting was nowhere to be found. Compounding this inconvenience: I realized, too late, I was in the wrong airport. Faced with no other option, I relied on the Improv Way: I hired a Pedi Bike to get me to the proper terminal.

A fine way to travel … however in this case, it was 1:00am, pitch black, my chauffer spoke not a word of my language, nor I did speak a word of his. Additionally, I had no idea where I was going, never mind if would I actually get there!  Sometimes when traveling you just say a Hail Mary and hope for the best, which, in this case happened to include at least a successful negotiation: halfway to my destination, the driver informed me the trip would cost $100. Too much, I thought; we settled on $40. I got to the gate, drenched, relieved and thinking this is a story I won’t tell my partner Marylyn at home about for a while.

Are there any common denominators to any of these trips? No, not really. Maybe the need to persevere, to make it up as you go along and be willing to put your trust in others to help you solve a problem. Mostly, it’s just about wanting to get home.

For all of you road warriors out there: safe travels there and back home.