My flight from Dallas to Baltimore on Sunday, April 17, 2016 was cancelled due to severe thunderstorms. I needed to be in DC on Monday and I searched for all possible flights and came upon Spirit Airlines. Enthusiastically, I booked it.
The flight was to leave at 1:29, and I was there at 12:00, way ahead of the time. The line was super long with over a hundred people to check in their baggage and pay for it.
Even if it took 30 seconds to process each person, I would not have made it. I found out that the line was the spirit airlines flights going to Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans and other cities. Line was just not moving and the time was 12:37, and I was to check in at 12:44 and there was no way, I would have made it.
I decided to ask people and see if they would let me ahead in the line, I showed the departure time on my ticket, and they were way too good and let me get ahead. Finally, I jumped the last ten to the front one, he said go ahead…
Within a few seconds the 10th man in the line, screamed at me for jumping the line, I was guilty and chose to remain silent. He was not happy; he was in my face… He showed me his ticket and he was flying in the same flight… He complained to the counter…they were too busy listening to him…the people who permitted me did not know what to do either. I was feeling bad standing and debating what to do, this was not me, this was wrong, normally, I am the one who stands up for such violations, and here I am doing it myself… in those few tense seconds, the ticket counter called me to check my baggage, it was 12:59, they checked me in and I looked at the watch, I had 30 minutes to dash through the security and then run from terminal 15 to terminal 32, that is another thing I shouldn’t do.
So I dashed to the security… and the people in the line made me the way to go ahead, as there was another lady in front me with the same problem… and … I ran… and made it to the terminal, we still had 6 or 7 minutes left as the flight was delayed. I decided to stay behind the column to avoid seeing that man, if he were to make it.
My seat was at the tail end of the plane 30F.
I thanked God for giving me the place to hide, I was ashamed of myself.
I was the last one to deplane… and I took my time to get out, and then hung out in the terminal till all people checked out their baggage… I did not want to face the man in case he tells me like it is, I was wrong, what can I say? I took my coat off, and even took my glasses off and flattened my hair to look different.
Way back some 18 years ago, I took my kids to Taj Mahal in India, the line was forever, but there were kids who stood in the line and sell the spot for a few bucks… I was tempted to do that, but my kids refused to take that spot… they did not want to cut through the line, I was proud of them.
I’ll never do this again, I had to hide feel humiliated… I have always wondered how do politicians live with that?
Have you done something like this?
Mike Ghouse
www.TheGhouseDiary.com