I just can't understand it...

NoWingsAttached

Unobtainium Member
Joined
May 21, 2006
Messages
4,871
Location
Columbia, SC
Aircraft
Air Command Tandem w/ Arrow 100hp; GyroBee w/ Hirth 65hp; Air Command Tandem w/ Yamaha 150hp
Total Flight Time
>350
I dropped off the face of the earth this spring. Time was, last year, when I had oodles of time to contribute, work on my gyrocopter stuff, even start a little website and a PSRU project. No more.

Last Wednesday I took time out of an average 16 hour work day to begin to clean out the hundreds of unopened emails in my Hotmail in box, the one I've had since the dawn of the internet.

My brother overseas always fwds those chain jokes with the naked babes and silly photos. I came across one titled, "MOM". I figured expecting a wrinkled old lady photo with very saggy parts and glasses, and some quip to go along. It said, simply,

"Mom has been in the hospital for a week, no one can get in touch with you. Call so and so...she got run over by her own car."

I always call mom on Tuesdays. Sometime it goes to voice mail and I catch up the follow few days or so. This is what had happened again recently, she never plays back VMs so I never think anything of it if she doesn't call me back right away.

Turns out her garage door opener wasn't working properly. Condo association didn't fix it when notified. She got out of her car to open it. Neighbor found her sometime later pinned under the running vehicle, half inside the garage, car in drive.

She was burned third degree over 27% of her body, down to bone on her ankles. Can't remember a thing about it. She's in the ICU at U of Mich Burn Center in Ann Arbor. I bought a ticket on AirTran, now Southwest, for the next day, July 3. I get to the Atlanta airport 75 minutes before flight time and check in. Get to gate, find the flight is late and the gate is moved. Hurricanes in NC delayed incoming traffic from VA.

Now the flight is announced on the board to leave at 10:45pm, not 9:15pm as scheduled first. I grab a brew and return to the new gate at 10:10. Hand the boarding attendant my pass. He scans it and says I don't have a seat. He calls over another attendant and hands the pass to her. She is a hundred pounds over weight and waddles off with my pass in her hand without giving me so much as a sideways look, let alone a word of explanation or anything else.

I'm not going to go through all the bloody details, but here is the basic story: EVERYONE working for AirTran was nasty. Everyone. Yes, the Captain, who arrived 20 minutes at the gate after me was nasty. Ticket counter? All nasty. Any smiles? Not a one. Each and every one treated me like they were annoyed that they had to deal with me.

They let 5 stand-by passengers, all of them nasty, board the plane ahead of me. A nasty family of 4 showed up AFTER me and they removed four of those nasty stand bys, and boarded the family of four. In spite of a LOT of patient fussing from me, escalating as the time ticked away to pushing from the dock, explaining my circumstances, the plane took off with me still on the ground and the fifth nasty standby in MY reserved seat!

When I pressed the attendant for an explanation and when I was going to get to Detroit, he stuck his nose up in the air and said, "Oh, you'll get there alright. Tomorrow."

This was after the nasty attendants put a nasty standby vacationer in my pre-purchased seat and left him there so he could get to Las Vegas, and made me wait another day to go to my mother in the ICU Burn Center...

Return trip I was keenly aware of the attitudes, er nastytudes, of each and every nasty worker at SouthWest/ AirTran. Not a single person of my kind working on the ground for the airline anywhere in sight.

Not a single smile. Not a wish to have a good day, a nice flight. Same old thing, like they were being put out to have to put up with the likes of me.

On the flight up to Ann Arbor I had half of my personal seat space squatted over by an obese nasty woman who weighed 300 pounds and blubbered over/under the arm rest well into my seating. On the return trip I traded in points for business class seating.

Guess what? I got to sit next to ANOTHER 300-pound nasty fatty who gave me a snide look and a had a snotty 'tude, and made me sick to my stomach to have to sit next to "it".

She and her family were all returning from Vegas.

Never again, Air Tran.

Never again Southwest.

And I may never look at a nasty stranger again, the same way I did just a week ago, for the rest of my life.

Now back to the car. My other brother who lives in Michigan tried a dozen times, a dozen different ways, to leave the car in drive and get out of it to open the garage door. He couldn't let his foot off the brake without it immediately moving forward. He couldn't get out of the car, it was already moving that much!

I am trying to make sense of the world. It is not making any sense to me at all anymore. It's upside down, inside out, all twisted up and knotted. I keep thinking this multi-year bad streak is going to end and things will start to straighten out to "normalcy" once again, but it keeps going on like this...

How does a little old lady get run over by her own car? It sounded at first like she just left it in drive, got out, it creeped fwd and knocked her down. But we cant' seem to recreate it like that at all. It won't work, the idle is far too fast to let that happen. Good grief, did someone run her over on purpose?
 
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sorry to read your predicament nowings,,, there are many nasty people in the world but when its a paid service provider there are no excuses. these people need to look at how the majority of people on the planet live and appreciate their situation and be a little bit humble. Our generation has had a very good run and has little reason to be nasty. Weve had no wars no great strife no plague, plenty of petrol to play with and have been able to borrow from the future to fund our decadent gyro flying life style, not to mention the endless food.
was in a departure lounge once and said to wife I hope we dont end up sitting next to that obese woman, but you guessed it we did. However it was only a three hr flight and she was very interesting to talk to, she had been in Australia living in a truck with her husband as he drove road trains in the northern territory.
my sons wife is obese at age 45, couldnt walk more than a few hundred metres if a bull was chasing her and the kids are the same, very sad.
Any way nowings thats my rant on this rainy day, hope MOM has a speedy full recovery,
regards Bruce
 
Greg,

So sorry to read about your Mom's accident. I pray for a complete and speedy recovery. It is especially difficult to deal with the nasty people in the world especially when one's mind is preoccupied over an injury of a loved one. You were the better man by not being equally nasty in return.

Get an attorney for you Mom because this kind of event shouldn't have happened and your Mom suffered negative consequences as a result.

I'm sure those Air Trans employees know in the near future they'll become ex-employees and are taking it out on everyone. Let Southwest customer relations know about what happened. Write a letter and when you make the call find out the names of the people you need to e-mail or snail mail the complaint to.

I've never flown Air Tran, however I've flown many times with Southwest and my experience with them has always been positive and pleasant. Southwest has always hired veterans since the Vietnam War. They know how to do things right.

Wayne
 
This sounds like Airtranners who know they won't be around after consolidation. Southwest has always treated me exceptionally well. Contact Southwest customer service.
 
Greg- Sorry about your mom. Thoughts and prayers your way and towards nasty people that could make the world better instead of worse.

Stan
 
Sorry to hear about your Mother Greg, hope she recovers!!
 
Greg, I'm glad you did finally did get to Michigan although a day later than planned. I have no clue why the airline wouldn't allow you to board with a pre-paid ticket and a boarding pass. I flew Air Tran a lot when between Atlanta and Flint Mi when my mother was in a nursing home there. This was before the merger but the planes were new 717s and the service was very good not accounting for the crumby TSA folks. Sorry S.W. wasn't up to there normal good service.
I hope your mother recovers soon. I'm sure with you by her side she'll be a happy camper.
 
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