Instant Karma by Donald J. Perry
originally posted 18 September 2004
|
I chose an exit row seat (12F) and settled in with a book for a recent cross-country flight.
Next thing I know, a lady asked me to move to 14D. NOTE: the seat is really 13D; but I
I suppose it is in airlines' best interests to minimize triskaidekaphobic episodes...
Her major selling points: the seat was also exit row, and she wanted to sit with her male traveling
partner and her daughter. After a moment's contemplation, I agreed. I reseated myself, silently
grumping next to the large man to my right as his girth forced me leftward into the walkway. Soon
thereafter, I received the first of what I imagined would be many, many bumps from passersby, which
reminded me why I'd chosen a window seat in the first place...
Ugh...
I then thought about how I'd have felt if I would've been separated from my family on a six
hour flight, especially given the child's apparent age. I began to feel better about my small
sacrifice and endeavored to ignore any personal discomfort, knowing it would eventually end.
As I relocated my space in the book (When Pride Still Mattered, a biography of Vince
Lombardi I highly recommend), a gate agent approached the large man and allowed him to relocate to
a window seat further back, ostensibly due to an earlier request (the plane was literally packed
otherwise).
I was suddenly free to move about my seat cushion (and out of the walkway)!
|
|
|
