I should have known something was up when the flight attendant was friendly and helpful. On a not-very-full flight from SAN to ORD, I was seated in a two-person row next to a khaki and polo-shirt clad gentleman who seemed friendly enough. Since I had the aisle seat, I was relatively comfortable, although it did occur to me that the man looked a bit cramped.
During the beverage service, one of the flight attendants sees our predicament and says “You guys look like you could use some more space. I think there are some open seats… Let me help you find one.”
She finds me a seat two rows back on the three-person side. A small woman is asleep in the window seat, with her belongings on the middle seat. I can sit in the aisle seat and not have to share an armrest. Wonderful. I am slightly more comfortable than before, and the man I was sitting with is probably 100 times more comfortable. I am thinking American Airlines has the nicest. flight attendants. ever.
I get to work reading the last half of The Kite Runner (indescribably excellent). Three hours later, I’m finished with the book. I happen to look up to my old seat and notice someone else is sitting there. Who would have moved to that totally not-prime seat? THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT.
So, I think it’s kind of cute that I was involved in a potential love connection at 40,000 ft. But is it a little skanky for the flight attendant to brazenly hit on a passenger on a commercial flight? It’s not like it was Hooters Air, right? What if this man was totally not interested? So now he’s got some crazy flight attendant with questionable ethics keeping him awake and hogging his arm rest… I mean, when you board an airplane, you are pretty much captive for several hours, and is that really the time you want to be making potentially awkward flirtations with a stranger?
I’m pretty sure that is a customer service nightmare waiting to happen, but who am I to say? All I know is that I didn’t get a bag of pretzels, and I’m pretty sure I know why.
