Redeye Retribution
Jun 16th, 2011 by MPC Press
Nobody wants to waste a Sunday on a plane, so the San Francisco-New York redeye is often the best option to meet the demands of a Monday morning meeting on the East Coast. So there I was in seat 37F, fortunately a window seat, but on a completely full flight. I considered myself lucky, with a slim 40-year old man next to me in the middle. After settling somewhat comfortably into my seat, but before the plane had left the gate, a lady approached our row from further up in the coach section, introducing herself as the wife of the man next to me. She asked if I or the aisle guy (on the other side of her husband) were interested in moving to her seat, 15 rows up, in the middle of row 22, so she could sit next to her husband. Now why would I give up a precious window seat on a redeye flight, for a middle seat, especially if sleep is my goal? And was it really right for this woman to put us in the slightly awkward position of saying no to her request to sit next to her husband? I was actually offended. Wouldn’t they both be sleeping on this flight anyway? While I said “no” to her request fairly quickly, following up with, “I’m sorry, I have enough trouble sleeping as it is,” the aisle guy actually gave her his seat. I did feel a twinge of guilt, but it lasted about 60 seconds and I shut my eyes. Moments later, the plane left the gate, and all was well, or was it? Almost as if to say, “you will pay for almost destroying the chemistry of this lovely couple who now sits next to you,” a baby in row 36 started screaming for the next two hours. Ouch. Maybe next time I’ll give up my seat.
