Travel Ready
I don’t fly as much as used to. However, I’ve racked up many experiences and am well into my second half of becoming a million miler. There were the aborted takeoffs, the travel plans being canceled after transiting US pre-clearance, the rebooking of travel to get back on the same aircraft I just got off of, the single day transcontinental roundtrips, multiple celebrity sightings (Justin Bieber being one of those). There were mechanical delays, flight cancellations, up gauges and down gauges, medical emergencies, brand new aircraft, and aircraft on their final legs. I’ve both vomited on a plane and have been vomited on.
This week, I experienced a new first: a security breach on a plane.
Our flight was delayed due to a system issue (“computer glitch”). This resulted in the gate crew having to manually board passengers instead of scanning their boarding passes. Despite the delay, our small regional jet filled up and I boarded, eventually finding space for my roller.
Behind me, a lady was confused. “Where is 23D?” There were only 17 rows on the CRJ. She looked baffled. Others looked baffled.
“Are you on the right flight? Is that the right boarding pass?”
I lost myself in thought until an announcement came over the PA from the captain. Someone had boarded who didn’t have a seat and as a result, it was considered a security breach.
They didn’t know what to do so we waited to hear back with instructions from their dispatch team. Ten minutes later, our fate was sealed. All were to deplane, carry-ons with them, back up the jet bridge and into the terminal. The mom flying alone with the infant and the family with the toddler… if they needed their strollers they could let the ground crew know.
Off we shuffled but surprisingly, people took it in stride. No audible cursing, no impatient disembarking or boarding, just people filing their way off and then back on the plane again. No babies screaming, no pushing, everyone… cordial.
Two lessons I took away from this.
1. Manual processes lead to manual errors. Sometimes, those errors are big and they are compounded by tired staff trying to please tired people and being rushed. The gate agents spent a lot of effort verifying that tickets matched the name on passports, and that passport photos matched faces, but missed tickets matching people on the manifest. This belies the importance of checklists to overcome fatigue and having to remember things.
2. People are inherently good. The crew communicated fully and from my spot at the back of the plane, people complied and moved in an orderly way without complaining. The situation was bad but there was no fission caused by the frustration echoing on itself again and again. That said, if the crew acted differently, didn’t update the passengers, or were inconsiderate, it’s likely that things could have gone much differently.
