Planes, Planes, and an Automobile

I thought that another travel focused entry was called for and it might be time to discuss some of the fellow travelers I have met while flying on business, some celebrities, some just interesting.?I suspect that everyone will have their own stories.?Please share in the comments.

1.??????Comedy in Coach

The first is not really someone I “met,” but certainly someone who left a strong impression.?I had boarded a Continental Airlines 727 in Newark for a flight to, I believe, Cincinnati.?Boarding was just about over, and the pilot was greeting everyone with the typical PA announcement – “we want to welcome everyone to Continental Flight 523 with service to Cincinnati, and continuing service to...“

The announcement was interrupted by the suited gentleman beside me, who unbuckled his seatbelt, stood up and exclaimed – “damn, I’m on the wrong flight!!”?He gathered his briefcase and started up the aisle to exit the plane.?I just heard him add, as he crossed the coach/first class partition –“and it’s the second time I did this this week!”

I always harbor the fear that I’ll get on the wrong flight but figure, it would likely be to a better destination than the one I am headed to for business and put that concern aside.?In any case, I often wondered how often it happens.?With this fellow traveler, obviously, more than once.

2.??????Fear of Flying

On a flight from Newark to Atlanta, I had a seat in the back of coach.?I noticed that a young woman was sitting in the middle seat as I situated myself in the aisle seat.?She started a conversation, sounding a bit tense.?As we taxied to the runway, the flight attendant had to remind her several times to raise her snack tray, on which she was wringing her hands.?She explained that she was afraid of flying and as we turned to start our takeoff roll, she became more agitated.?Suddenly she grabbed my hand – “do you mind, it helps me calm myself if I am holding someone’s hand.”

“No problem,” I replied, apologizing in my mind to my wife and debating whether to ever tell her this story.

She held on, with a death grip, till we reached cruising altitude.?She then let go and explained that she had been on a flight some years earlier when there was some engine trouble and the oxygen masks had dropped down as they lost altitude.?Since that experience, she had been uncomfortable flying, despite sessions with a therapist to overcome her fear.?I tried to continue the discussion to distract her.?While the best idea would have been to get off topic, I couldn’t help myself.

“How often do you need to fly for work?” I asked sympathetically.

“Practically every other day,” she replied. “I am responsible for HR training at my company’s many U.S. locations.”

?I was flabbergasted.?It was like a person afraid of snakes working the reptile cage at the zoo, or someone suffering from acrophobia washing windows on high rise office buildings

As the incident predated Zoom remote meetings by more than two decades, my only recommendation was simple. “Find another job.” ?

I often wonder if she did.

3.??????Flying Can Sometimes Feel Like a Circus

On a flight to San Francisco to present seminars at the Bruel & Kjaer office in the late 1980s, I was reading the latest issue of InfoWorld (at the time a large newspaper format weekly), when I was tapped on the shoulder from behind. I turned to see a fairly wild haired man, who asked if he could borrow the issue when I was done.?He offered his issue of MacWorld in exchange.?Since I was an avid Mac user at the time, that led to a conversation.?He introduced himself and his colleagues and explained that they were travelling back from a performance.

“Performance??What do you guys do.”

“We’re a juggling act, The Flying Karamazov Brothers.”

At the time, I don’t think I had heard of this act, but likely thought, “juggling??, weird!”?It was only later that they would appear on Broadway and multiple television shows.?They were fantastically talented at juggling.?Among their repertoire is the "Terror Trick", in which they gradually introduce nine items—a cleaver, a torch, a salt shaker, a ukulele, a skillet, a fish, an egg, a block of dry ice, and a bottle of champagne —then juggle them all at once only to end up cooking the fish and the egg in the skillet and drinking the champagne. In another routine, the audience supplies objects for them to juggle and that could get pretty exciting.?They melded comedy and music into their otherwise circus like performance.?

They were also huge MacIntosh fans.?He told me that they had once been hired to entertain at a big party Steve Jobs was throwing for Apple employees.?The arrangement was that they were paid in the form of four Macintoshes, one for each Karamazov!?This was before the Mac hit the store shelves and they had been using them to map out their act for several years.?The next time they played Broadway, I bought tickets.?It was a terrific show.

4.??????Flying is the Safest Way to Travel

Sometime later, I was waiting to board a flight to Atlanta and noticed a tall man in the waiting area that looked familiar.?It took me awhile to connect him with a name and then the realization came.?It was the Amazing Kreskin.?Frequently seen on TV in the 1970s, ?Kreskin is a mentalist and makes "predictions". He does not claim to have?paranormal?or?clairvoyant?powers and does not like to be considered a "psychic". One of his best-known tricks at live shows is to find his own check for his current performance. If he doesn’t find it, he doesn’t get paid for that day. He instructs the audience to hide an envelope containing his paycheck, while he is escorted off stage and into seclusion by other members of the audience. He then re-emerges and hunts through the audience, almost always being able to ferret out the correct location.

I approached him and thanked him for his entertainment over the years. Even knowing that he didn’t claim to be a psychic, I felt incredibly safe on a flight where someone who “foretells the future” was also flying.

5.??????A Classy Flight From Copenhagen

On a return trip from a meeting in Denmark in the mid 1980’s, I was pleasantly surprised when SAS upgraded me to Business Class. I didn’t fly that frequently on SAS so this was an unexpected treat. ?I remember that one of my colleagues also received an upgrade, but when my manager boarded he walked past us and continued on to the cheap seats, giving us a quizzical look, which I returned with an “I don’t know” shrug.

After we reached altitude, I struck up a conversation with the regal looking woman sitting next to me. She explained that she was the wife of the former Danish Ambassador to the Uniter Nations. I only vaguely remember what we discussed, my employment at Bruel & Kjaer as it was an important company in Denmark, and life in New York City, I suspect. What I do remember was her comment. “I could fly first class (SAS flew three classes on these flights), but they are too attentive up front, and I can’t get a moment to just read or relax.”?Years later I was reminded of this exchange when watching a Seinfeld episode contrasting Jerry’s first-class experience vs. Elaine’s coach experience on a flight to NY.

I will take first class over coach or business anytime.

6.??????Washington Detour

The final story takes us on a business trip from Newark to Atlanta to Washington D.C. and back home to New Jersey.?I had flown down to Atlanta for a meeting of Application Engineers at Bruel & Kjaer’s headquarters.?After the meeting, I skipped lunch and grabbed a cab from the office to Hartsfield Airport. I was headed for Washington to help at a B&K booth at an exhibition associated with an Industrial Hygiene Association meeting.?I had just enough time to catch my flight and didn’t bother to grab anything to eat.?Having skipped breakfast that morning, I was running on multiple cups of coffee alone.?

Due to weather conditions in the D.C. area our flight was delayed, and we sat at the gate for 4 plus hours. At first, they shut down the engines to conserve fuel, but it became hot in the aircraft and eventually the engines were started to run the HVAC system.?Since we might be released at any moment, they didn’t serve snacks or drinks, or let us deplane (as in Peoria- see my earlier issue).

We finally got into the air in the early evening. As we approached Washington D.C., the pilot got on the P.A. and explained that there still was “weather” in the area, and we were put into a holding pattern.?Some time later, he explained that a lightning strike had knocked out power to the tower at Reagan Airport (National Airport at the time if I remember correctly) and all flights were being diverted to other airports in the area. Reagan Airport, which also had a flight curfew, was closed for the night. The plan for us was to land in Richmond Virginia, wait for the weather to clear in D.C., then fly to Baltimore Washington National Airport (BWI), where buses would meet us to drive us to National Airport.?It sounded like a plan for a disaster.

With all this time, I had struck up a conversation with the gentleman in the adjacent seat.?He was originally from Italy and worked for a U.S. company that provided moving services for corporate employees.?Since we were both in sales and traveled, we had many similar experiences and a lot in common.?We both had survived these travel delays before and we swapped stories.?It made it seem less aggravating. ??

Once we landed in Richmond, it was clear that this was going to be a long night.?The tarmac at the airport was “littered” with diverted aircraft, sitting on the runways and ramps waiting to take off to their final destinations. A buzz of conversation was rising in the aircraft.?By this time, we had been on the plane for 6 or 7 hours and many passengers were not looking forward to the hop to BWI and a bus ride to Reagan. Someone asked the flight attendant if we could just get off the plane there in Richmond.?The answer was no.?But the requests grew and finally, the pilot came out of the cockpit to discuss the situation.?One issue was that we (and many other planes) were parked on the tarmac, and it could be dangerous making our way to the terminal.?There were insurance and FAA issues, but he said he would investigate.

In the meantime, my new Italian friend had called Hertz and reserved a car at the Richmond Airport. He asked if I had carried on my luggage and would want to join him for the drive back to Reagan Airport if they released us. I decided to accept his offer. ?In the intervening time, the pilot had contacted the airline and ground control and had finally received the okay. Passengers with only carry-on luggage would have one chance to leave the plane and make their way to their eventual destination on their own.?Seventeen passengers took the option. We provided our names and when the ground crew rolled up a stairway, we deplaned.?It was quite a sight, planes scattered on the access ramps.?Two flight attendants led us to the terminal, post haste, and when we all entered there was a mad dash to the car rental counters.?Even though my new friend and I had a reserved car, we hustled down the corridor together.

After taking care of the rental paperwork, we headed out to the lot to pick up the car. It was an Oldsmobile sedan. We threw our bags in the back seat and headed out of the airport property and on to Interstate 95. It was now after one in the morning and traffic was light. I was happy to have an Italian driver at the wheel, knowing they make up many of the great Grand Prix drivers. This feeling was confirmed when I looked over at the speedometer, and saw it edging above 90 mph.?It stayed there for the trip up I-95. We made it to Reagan in just over an hour, about half the normal drive time. My friend dropped me off at the Metro station and I boarded a train into DC.

I arrived at my hotel a bit past three AM and checked in. I asked the desk clerk if I could still get room service as I hadn’t eaten all day. He said that he was sorry but that the kitchen was closed.?But there was a saving grace. It was a DoubleTree hotel and he still had two of their signature chocolate chip cookies left. He offered them as consolation. I took them up to my room, gobbled one down, brushed my teeth and headed to bed. After all, I had to be at the booth by nine - in just about four hours.?

Though long-distance travel for work could be fraught with delays, detours and (sometimes unpleasant) surprises, it did provide an opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds and experiences which made it always interesting.?In addition, it always helped convince me that my whole career was real, and not just play acting.?I remember often thinking - If I was being paid to travel 3000 miles to make a presentation to a valuable customer, this must be real.?