I'd like to thank jen_litgirl for her editing work and suggestions on this piece. If it's well received I'll write parts II and III.
As the city passed by outside the taxi window I thought to myself, it's going to be one hell of a stressful, yet boring day. I was on the way to SeaTac and a flight home. I'd just spent a great week with friends running around Washington State and Oregon. We'd been to the Olympic mountains, Mount Rainier, down to Crater Lake for an evening, and had gone clamming and oystering in Puget Sound. But, the fun was over and it was time to leave.
Just so you know, I hate flying, but Tacoma is too far to drive from Scranton, PA. Understand, I'm not afraid to fly, I simply hate it. At 6 foot 5 inches and 226 pounds, economy class seating is downright uncomfortable. Even sitting straight up my knees are pressed against the seat in front of me and if the person leans their chair back, it's painful. I'm also a tight wad and hate to spend money on things I don't think are of value. I can afford a first-class ticket to Washington-Dulles but the price they want for the time in the air is simply not worth that kind of money so I suffer in economy.
I made the decision to leave early for the airport and now, sitting in the taxi, I wondered if that was the right alternative. I had the choice of sitting in the hotel with nothing to do, stressing about the things that might happen in traffic, at baggage check-in, or at TSA, or leave early, get through all that, and then wait on the other side for the plane. Either way I'd be waiting so I decided to leave early.
The ride up wasn't bad. There were no dreaded traffic jams and we arrived at the unloading zone a little before 10 a.m. for my 12:56 p.m. flight – almost three hours early. Baggage check-in went smooth and there was only a slight delay going through the TSA security check point.
Once I got on the other side of security I decided to check on the status of my flight and then go look for something to eat. My aggravation and frustration levels went up when I found the DC flight on the board, delayed; we wouldn't be leaving now until 1:45 p.m. I was already at the terminal three hours early, now it was going to be four. What really worried me though was the fact that I only had an hour and ten minute layover in Dulles before my connection flight to Scranton took-off, so this was going to cut the transfer really close.
I also knew that the 10:10 p.m. departure for Scranton was the last flight of the evening out of Dulles and if I missed it I would be stuck till the next day. There wasn't much I could do about the situation so I took a few deep breaths, tried to relax, and then went looking for lunch. After eating I walked down to the lounge and waited for my flight.
Eventually a voice came over the intercom and announced that they expected our plane to arrive at 1:09 p.m. and they wanted us to board as quickly after they got the plane ready because they had a 1:45 p.m. scheduled departure. They asked anyone that had oversized or excess carry-on luggage, which might have to be checked at the door, to come forward now so they could take care of that before boarding. I didn't think anyone would move but was quite surprised to see several people head for the counter. I thought to myself, maybe this can work.
The plane arrived as announced and they actually got everyone off, cleaned the cabin, and began the boarding process in a relatively short period of time. As the attendants made the boarding announcements I started moving toward the gate earlier than my ticketed section. I hovered near the door and when they announced that section six passengers could start boarding I was one of the first in the aircraft. I made my way to seat 22C, an aisle, and was happy to see that no one was in 22D or 22E yet. Maybe I'd get lucky and have the row to myself. After storing my bag in the overhead bin I sat down, fastened my seatbelt, and prayed that no one else would sit in the row.
The crowd of people moving past began to thin and then there were no more people coming on board. I felt myself smile and think, alright, this isn't going to be a bad flight after all. A few minutes later the flight attendant announced over the intercom that she needed everyone to get in their seats as quickly as possible. We were almost done with the boarding and if they got the baggage loaded down below, we would make our 1:45 departure.
Shortly after that announcement she came back on and said they were boarding three more stand-by passengers and then they would close the cabin door and get ready for departure. My heart sank a little, knowing in my mind that one of those three, maybe two, would probably end up in row 22 and all my leg room would be gone.
As I watched the first person come around the corner at the front of the cabin, my heart sank. He was huge. The guy was probably a couple inches shorter than me, but he must have weighted at least 270 – 280 pounds. He was pretty muscular, but still really big. In fact, he was so big I couldn't see the other two passengers behind him as he came down the aisle. I knew if he had a seat in my row we would both be cramped and uncomfortable for the entire flight. When he was about three rows in front of me, he stopped, looked at the seats open next to me and then looked at his ticket. I thought to myself "shit, this guy is going to be in the row right next to me." As I started to unbuckle my seatbelt and get up, he looked passed me down the aisle and walked on by. I was ecstatic, and then it got even better.
Right behind him were two young, petite women looking right at the seats in my row. The first girl walked up and said:
"Hi, we've got the two seats next to you, mind if we slide in."
I unbuckled my seatbelt and stood, "Sure, no problem. Here, let me help you store your overhead bag while you get in." I put the first girl's carry-on in the overhead bin and then asked the second if she wanted some help.
"No thanks," I've got some stuff in here I want to use during the flight so I'll just put it under the seat."
We all sat down, and after settling in made brief introductions. The girl sitting next to me was named Anni and her friend in the window seat was Eva. They were college juniors going to University in Seattle and were heading home for a couple of weeks before the fall semester began. As we chatted I learned that Anni was from Hartford, CT and Eva lived in Buffalo. All of us were a little worried about the delayed departure and how it would impact our ability to make our connecting flights. Anni was in a similar situation as me, she only had fifty-six minutes between the scheduled arrival and her connection whereas Eva had nearly an hour-and-a-half.
At 1:48 the flight attendant made another announcement that we were all set to go, and as soon as they finished loading the bags we'd pull away from the gate. Well, a few minutes turned into ten, and then twenty, and we finally backed away from the gate at 2:21. As we waited for final takeoff the pilot made an announcement that it would take about 4 hours and 36 minutes to get to Washington-Dulles once we lifted off.
I did some quick calculations and realized that would put us in at about 9:50 p.m. If we got to the gate quickly, and my connecting flight was in the same terminal, I might still be able to make it home tonight. As I was contemplating this possibility Anni interrupted my thoughts:
"Excuse me Dave, are you going to watch a movie during the flight?"
"Hmm, maybe, why?"
"Well, I've been reading the inflight magazine and it says for flights over four hours movies are $7.99, however, if you use your card to swipe three or more terminals you can get a discount and pay only $5.99 each. Eva and I are going to watch movies, and if you watch, I could use my card to swipe all three terminals and get the discount. Do you have six bucks to give me and I'll use my card to pay for all our movies?
She gave me a great big smile I couldn't resist so I dug out $6 and then she used her card to swipe all three of our terminals and pay for the movies.
After putting her card away, she reached over, put her hand on my knee, looked me straight in the eye, and said:
"Thanks, you don't know how much it means to me that you were nice enough to help us get that discount."
"You're welcome Anni. I was going to watch the movies anyhow and saving a couple of bucks never hurt anyone."
The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful and I can't even remember the movies I watched. The girls only got up once to go to the bathroom and the lady in front of me never leaned her seat back. I was feeling pretty good when the flight attendant announced that we were starting our descent into Washington-Dulles. As we got closer the attendant came back on and made an announcement about our arrival and connections.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we will be arriving at Gate C-14. As you know, many on board have some pretty short connection times because of our late departure out of Seattle, the airlines would ask that if your flight is terminating here in Washington-Dulles, or if you have more than forty-five minutes till your connection, that you remain in your seats and let those passengers that have shorter connection times deplane first."
