Musings at Altitude

The plane today was packed…a 767 with no empty seats going from Denver to Dulles.  Because of my “high mileage flyer” status, I was able to board first and then watch as everyone else herded their way onto the plane.  We were on a 2-3-2 configuration, so thankfully, most of the seats were either aisles or windows.

When the plane was about half full, an older couple stopped at the seats a couple rows in front of me, and the wife kissed her husband good-bye and headed across the plane to the opposite aisle and back towards the back.  The passenger sitting next to the husband saw the kiss and heard the good-bye, and he watched as the wife headed towards the back of the plane.  As she got to her seat, the passenger looked at the husband and took the seat next to him, obviously not wanting to give up his aisle seat in one cabin for an aisle seat further back in the plane.

I was stunned at the actions of the passenger obviously not willing to trade seats, so I made my way back to the wife and asked if she wanted to move forward, and I’d trade with the guy next to her husband opening that seat for her.  She thanked me and said, “It will be quieter back here”!  I smiled and returned to my seat, somewhat stunned still by the guy that stared at her all the way back to her seat, knowing what the right thing to do was, but then rejecting that path and sitting back down.

It didn’t take long before another awkward situation occurred.  When the plane was nearly full, another man and wife boarded the plane, and they struggled finding their seats.  They were obviously new to flying, struggling to find their seats and then obviously concerned when they realized they were sitting apart from each other.  The husband passed me two different times before I realized he had the seat next to me.  During the time I was watching and listening, he seemed very agitated and he spoke no English.  He helped his wife find her seat a few rows up in front of me in the middle and he came back and pointed to the seat next to me.  When I realized what was happening and saw how distressed they both were to be sitting apart, I asked if he’d like me to switch with his wife.  He couldn’t understand what I was saying, so I made eye contact with his wife and pointed for her to come to my seat and I’d take hers.  She smiled for the first time since they boarded that plane and walked up and said “thank you” about 5 times as she took my seat.  As she was getting into the seat, the guy across the aisle from me said, “We don’t see people being nice much anymore; thanks for doing that”.  I smiled and took my new seat, wondering if one of those that had noticed the two different ways of handling a very similar situation would then in turn do something nice for someone else that would need it. 

Airline travel today is ripe with opportunities to do the right thing and to be nice to someone else.  It seems like every trip has someone that has been displaced from loved ones or greatly inconvenienced because of the max loads and disrupted travel.  Amidst all that chaos and confusion, wouldn’t it be awesome if passengers thought of others first rather than themselves.  And in doing that, wouldn’t it be cool if the overly stressed and often times very unhappy cabin crews saw those acts of kindness and then in turn also responded to the next challenge with a positive and nurturing attitude.

We never know what any given act of kindness can do, but we certainly know what not doing an act of kindness can do.