My Gawd!! Why Me???

{this is being written at 10:15pm on the way to LGA]

Since the last posting - I got another call from Delta to tell me that there had been another flight change, and my heart began to pound - this is it thought I, but, good news, the new estimated departure time was set back from 10:20pm to 9:00pm. Great. My son-in-law, Dr. John Bendeck, drove me to the airport and I would guess it was around 7:00pm when we got there.

I checked in but was unable to get an exit row seat. No matter. I cleared security without any problem and was at the gate at 7:30. Ate a rather nasty looking turkey sandwich and just killed time online. This airport has free wi-fi.

About 8:30 our plane arrived. I asked one of the arriving passengers what the problem had been and she said there had been a mechanical problem. The flight had originated in Atlanta. Hum, so it wasn’t the New York area weather problem that I had thought.

The gate agent said we would depart at 9:00 and that was great, so we boarded about 8:50. I estimate the plane to be 75% full. Then there was a delay, with no explanation.

Then the Flight Attendant (female) asked two very very large black people, one male and one female, in the front of the plane to move to open seats in the rear, “at the request of the Captain,” she said. The female moved back, muttering, but the male went absolutely ballistic, cussing and yelling and saying that the Flight Attendant was a racist bitch for making him move to the back. He finally moved back but continued to yell and cuss. He went postal. To make a long story a bit shorter, the cops came and he was physically removed from the plane. It was quite a scene. You could feel the hostility directed toward the Flight Attendant by the remaining blacks on board. And, it has continued. Very uncomfortable, to say the least.

We pushed away from the gate at 9:48 and were airborne at 9:55. I am writing this and wondering what else is going to go wrong.

In the middle of the flight I took out a 3 x 5 card and wrote my name, address, phone number, seat number and a statement that the Flight Attendant and crew had done nothing wrong, that the passenger was 100% at fault, and gave it to the Flight Attendant to use, if necessary. She said she deeply appreciated it.

{written in the apartment]

The rest of the flight went OK. We touched down at 11:26pm, actually only 2 hours 45 minutes late. We assembled at the baggage carousel and after a short wait the bags started to arrive, including my duffle. Thank God.

Then yet another glitch. When I went to the transportation desk and called SuperShuttle I was told that there would be at least an hour wait for the next van but they would credit my account if I wanted to seek other transportation. No way was I going to wait another hour, so I opted for a taxi.

Of course, the taxi line was long but the wait wasn’t actually that bad.

Bottom line, at 12:33am I opened the door to the apartment. Man, did it feel good to be home. I have unpacked, sorted through the accumulated mail, had a Fresca and am now finishing this. Will post and crash around the usual 2:00am.

Have nothing planned yet for tomorrow or Wednesday. On Thursday I have the Neil Diamond concert at Madison Square Garden and on Friday a classical music concert at Lincoln Center.

Whew!! Glad today is finally over.

Billi Pod
wanjr@aol.com