For those of you not familiar with airline personnel's personal travel benefits, I'll explain. As airline employees we received "passes"- in other words, we could travel on our airline for free (or with a small fee), but it was standby- meaning we only got on if there were seats available after the paying passengers got on.
The passes were available for employees, their spouses, children under the age of 18, and their parents. There were certain rules, back then. We had to dress appropriately, business attire. Men and boys wore dress pants, dress shirts with ties! And- we had to have perfect manners! No disruptive behavior, thank you very much!
Now for my tale of woe!
It seemed that every other weekend I was traveling with my young sons to St. Louis from Detroit- to spend time with my husband's family. Often my husband would be in the cockpit or be on his way from a different destination- so it was just me and the boys- age 6 and 2 1/2!
One one particular flight we sat 3 across. Since my oldest Loved flying I let him sit by the window. The middle seat sat my 2 1/2 year old, with me by the isle. (I know- what was I thinking!!) What I was thinking was that I could keep everyone corralled that way. Anyway- on to my story.
Once in the air, we were served beverages. My youngest had apple juice. He was trying very hard to carefully sip the juice and not spill anything.. he was a very careful little guy, trying to be respectful of the rules of "staying clean and neat"!
All at once the 6 year old looked at the youngest and got a mean grin on his face. Reaching over he popped the glass out of the youngest's hands!! Just in time I caught the glass- no spills, thank goodness! I was furious!
I said to the 6 year old that "WHY?! You are a mean little bastard!" (I will add that I normally didn't use that sort of language, but rage at his meanness over took my good humor!)
What happened next seemed like slow motion! My six year old unbuckled his seat belt, stood up, turned around, and announced to the rest of the airplane "My Mother Just Called Me A Mean Little Bastard!!"
The man directly behind him was reading a news paper- and immediately pulled the paper up to cover his face- but I saw him laughing! I was not laughing! I grabbed the 6 year old's shirt and Hissed "Sit Down -NOW!"
I was thinking I was watching my passes disappear and my career being in jeopardy! I wanted to take the 6 year old to the bathroom for a quick pop on the butt- but didn't want to leave the 2 1/2 year old alone!
Needless to say- I was humiliated! But that was not quite the end of it! A Flight Attendant came by to offer another beverage. My six year old proceeded to tell her the same thing!! "My Mother Just Called Me A Mean Little Bastard!!"
She paused for a moment and said "I know your mother! If she said that I'm sure you deserved it!" (God Bless Her!) I believe his face fell a bit and that was the end of that!
I'm fuzzy, after all these years. what sort of repercussions were involved- but I don't believe we had any more "IN Flight" drama after that!
Now that 6 year old is a Captain for an Airline! We talked about that memory recently. Yes- he remembered! Of course now we can laugh about it- but back then I had to keep from throttling the kid! Oh My!
The now grown Captain has 2 children! I reminded him that there is indeed something called K-A-R-M-A!! Lol! But he is a Wonderful Father and- yes- spoils this Mother! So all's well that ends well. And I didn't loose my passes, nor my job!
And that's my worst true nightmare of traveling on passes with children!
Until Next Time Dear Readers!
Life Is Indeed An Adventure, And Parenting Is An Adventure In Itself!!
4 comments:
I was travelling (1985) with my 8 year old son (DC-10) in coach, full load, from DAL to SFO. We were seated in Zone C, middle section but he was 5 rows in front of me. (A F/A Mother's nightmare). Upon landing I could see from where I was seated that we weren't in SFO. We taxied somewhere and just sat there. Nothing was said. At one point my son got up to make a aft lav visit but came back almost immediately. Finally the Capt. came on PA and said we had a (positive) bomb-threat. After what seemed an eternity the Capt. gave the Easy Victor command and the evacuation started. There was no way I was going to evacuate a double lane slide before my son so I waited until he got to my row, grabbed his hand, got to the door and jumped yanking his hand with me making him go, with me, head first. We were all put into a hangar, secluded from the world, just waiting for something to happen. I finally got up and walked into operations, where the crew was (yes, they knew me) and watched TV. There, in all of his glory, was my 8 year old son being interviewed on a local TV station. I must admit he sounded like an old pro news reporter. In retrospect, mothers should always be seated with their children.
Dear Unknown- What a story! Wow! And I agree, parents and children should always be seated together. On my airplane I made sure of it! I'd even bribe passengers to move with extra miles or a bottle of First Class wine, or two free drinks! Thank you for your story!
Love your stories... Keep them coming!!!
Dear Anonymous Reader- Thank you! I will keep the stories coming as long as I have ones to share!! Thank you for your comment and compliment!!
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