I flew back to NYC tonight from Chicago. From an airline standpoint it was a decent trip, only 20 minutes or so late landing. Coming into LGA that’s not too bad at all.
Two things wrong with this flight:
1) It was packed. Unlike my flight out, there was not one spare seat here. Luckily I was able to snag a window seat so at least I had the bulkhead on one side.
2) The worst was the woman next to me. I knew she was trouble when she approached with a huge handbag, dog carrying case, and huge plastic bag of stuff. I buried myself in my book, having already on my iPod in my ears.
She was busy for along time getting stowed in the overhead bins, much to the dismay of the other people trying to board. Then she finally plopped into the seat next to me to situate. She could not stop bumping me (something she couldn’t stop doing the whole flight). She kept getting bits of food out of her bags under the seat, checking on the dog, shifting in her seat. It was crazy.
The worst was on decent. We still had a few minutes before it was time for electronics to be put away and I was jamming on some tunes and looking out the window at the pretty lights. She tapped me on the arm because she decided she needed to ask about what word processor I had used earlier because she didn’t recognize it as Word. Who does this? Short of an emergency (or needing to ask to be let out for the bathroom if you’re sitting on an aisle), who interrupts someone from their tunes on a plane? I was fit to be tied after the near two hours of jostling from her.
I kept my cool though and answered her questions. Sadly, in the midst of this, electronics had to be put away so iPod time was over so I had a hard time getting the Do Not Disturb sign back on my personal space. It made for a long landing process because she decided I could be a computer help desk for her various woes.
Oh well. The good news is I am home again after a successful work trip. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday and after work tomorrow I start a week of in-town vacation with Will. Yay!