Bad Flight Bingo

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Thursday’s flight back home from San Francisco wasn’t bad … but it contained all of the stereotypical elements of a bad flight.

My work travel has picked up a bit from last year, so it’s back in the air.  Wednesday morning I left Atlanta for San Francisco, Thursday night I flew back home. That gives me Friday to go to work, do laundry, see my wife and check my luggage for Saturday’s trip to Germany.

So Thursday got almost every comedian’s airline routine in less than five hours. Let’s check the score:

• Late boarding call
• Full flight
• No overhead space available before half of the flight has even boarded
• Cross-country flight in the middle seat
• Overweight passenger in the adjacent seat (bonus: stealing the armrest)
• Coughing passenger in the adjacent seat
• Late arrival
• No gate available upon landing

On the “bad flight bingo card” we missed crying baby, mechanical failure and lost luggage … but the last one was only due to the fact I only used carryon luggage (yes, I got my bag and one personal item in to the overhead space using skills gained watching my wife play Tetris).

Now that my boss and I got that out of the way, I’m looking forward to a smooth trip to Munich. I also need to design some downloadable bingo cards so you and your friends can play the game on your next flight.