We arrived in Tokyo after a 24 hour trip, almost to the minute. Wilmington, Charlotte, Los Angeles..Tokyo. We have both been excited about our reservation on Singapore Airlines. No. 2 son had upgraded us to business class on SA’s giant A380. It holds 450 passengers. SA will always be dear to us after our two week ’round the world tour on that airline.
But ya gotta hear about our trip from CLT-LAX. We were in coach, flying free on points. We were in row seven, behind first class. When it became time to depart this huge, elderly man comes up the aisle muttering very loudly and followed by his diminutive Asian wife. She was imploring him to stay but he barked back at her that he paid $150 more for his seat and didn’t get it so he was leaving. At one point he did start to retrace his steps, heading back. After a minute he again stormed past me muttering that this was no way to treat a veteran. So, they both left but stayed in the jetway, I could hear them yelling. After ten minutes the little wife came back and began asking first class passengers if they would sell their seats to her. A flight attended put a stop to this and ushered her out of the plane.
Ok, the crazy couple is gone. In comes the American Air supervisor. He’s a another huge man. He walks to the last row in coach, signals a passenger, he in a black tee shirt, to meet him in the galley. They talk for seven minutes, or so. By now we are thirty minutes late in departing. The supervisor leaves, the passenger sits down. Then two guys come in, occupying the seats made available when Huge Man and Diminutuve Asian Wife depart in a huff.
We take off. After an hour the emergence bells go off everywhere. It was loud and unmistakable and scary. The flight attendant in first races, I mean races, down the aisle towards the back. Holy crap! I’m on the aisle so I’m looking back there. Mr Black Tee Shirt is in a conference with all the flight attendants. The clanging sounds stop.
I’ve got this figured out. Black Teeshirt guy is a US Marshall and that’s why the Supervisor was confabbing with him. This calms down. I walk up to first for coffee and give my hypotheses to the flight attendant. Jerk. Me, not her. It seems my US Marshall ideas was all wet. Black Tee Shirt guy was smoking in the head and the alarms went off. Yeah, but what about the supervisior speaking to him for so long? Teeshirt Guy was complaining about his luggage! Anyway, the flight attendant told me, Marshalls almost always fly first class.
By now I had made friends with five or six people around me, regaling them with my theories. So I had to return to my seat and set the record straight. It was humiliating.
Oh, our flight was only ten minutes late into LAX.
