After a 4-hour delay, I was finally strapped in my seat with 135 other passengers of the flight from Medan to Jakarta. It was already past 11 PM when the pilot revved the jet engines and brought the airplane up into the night sky.
It was the worst – and the most dramatic – delay I’ve ever experienced. My wife had warned me of the disadvantage of taking the last flight out. “It will be delayed,” she said. But being the positive, happy go lucky person, I somehow believed that the airline had learned its lesson and would do its best to avoid delays. Boy, I don’t think I’ve ever been more wrong in my life before.
I received the text from my staff at the office informing about the ‘change of flight schedule’, from 7 PM to 9.40 PM. I was incensed. “They cannot do this! They must take responsibility! I have the right of having the airline arranged a better flight for me!” thus my ranting went on inside my head. Yes, the regulations require an airline to transfer a passenger to a better flight upon request, should a more than 90 minute delay is inevitable. But since it was a ‘change of schedule’, technically it was not a delay, and the airline managed to weasel itself out of its accountability through that loophole. Only a 25% refund was provided, and I had to pay full fare if I wanted to change to another airline.
I had no choice but to grumblingly accept to stay with the flight.
I arrived at the airport a few minutes before 6 PM. Although the check in counter for the ‘changed schedule flight’ would not be open until 7 PM, the staff kindly led me to an open counter of a different flight to check in. Satisfied with the boarding pass in my hand, I headed to the executive lounge.
About 2,5 hours later, I was bored beyond measure. I hoped that I could browse on my HSDPA modem, enjoyed a free buffet, and relaxed, all the privileged of the executive lounge. I somehow had too much fried rice-fettuccine and pastries that within half an hour I was full. My HSDPA connection was rottenly slow. The PA system endlessly calling passengers to board, it was difficult to have a decent and relaxing rest.
At 9 PM, I left the executive lounge to join the other passengers in the waiting hall. I entertained myself on my smart phone, commenting on my friends’ posts on Facebook. At 9.20PM, the appointed time of boarding, there was no call. At 9.40 PM, the departure time, still no call. I walked up to the gate to approach a group of the airline staff who were busy teasing one another, and asked something in the line of, “When do we depart from this wretched place?”
The young woman turned to her friend, mumbled something, and turned to me with an uneasy demeanor. “I don’ t know how to tell you this, Sir, but we won’t be boarding until 10.45 PM, at the earliest.”
That would translate to 90 more minute of delay. There was an unmistakable sinking feeling inside me, very close to despair.
“I hope you can understand,” she quickly added.
What else could I do but to muster a herculean effort of an understanding?
As I sat down, another passenger, a big, dark, bald and unshaved man took my place at the counter. Unlike me, he was not in an understanding mood. He voiced his displeasure. He raised his tone. He ranted mercilessly to the helpless desk staff. A crowd began to gather around the scene. The man still went on and on, slashing at the staff’s lame attempts at making reasonable excuses. He kept going at it for about 15 minutes before he went back to his seat with an unsatisfied air.
I quickly changed my Facebook status.
On the background I could catch the man’s loud voice. I thought he was continuing his angry outburst. I looked over my shoulder and I saw him talking into his mobile phone. Then he turned to other travelers, telling them that they should trash the airline’s office to attract the attention of TV news crew, so everybody would know what the airline had done to its passengers.
What an angry, big, dark, bald man.
10.15 PM. A Boeing 737-300 taxied into the apron. It was our aircraft. I quickly gulped down the snack I got from the airline, picked up my heavy backpack, and sat at the front row, near the gate. After a few minutes, I left my seat and stood in front of the gate, determined to be the first to board the plane. Other passengers quickly formed a line behind me.
About 15 minutes later, the gate was opened, and I picked up my steps toward the plane. As I entered the door, I saw a young flight attendant standing, squeezing her eyelids several times to stay awake. I promptly gave her the nicest smile that I had left. She smiled back at me and greeted me warmly.
Being done at stowing my backpack securely in the overhead bin, I took my seat and looked around at the rest of the cabin crew. I saw pretty young faces, wearing uniforms designed to flaunt their beautiful forms. They swiftly went about their tasks of assisting passengers into their consigned seats and put away their cabin baggage. They did their best to maintain a professional posture despite of exhaustion.
I could not help thinking, “How can anybody be angry at them? They are doing the best they can at their job. And to be perfectly fair, what happened is beyond their immediate influence.”
One hour into the flight, and after a box of snack and a cup of mineral water, everybody was content. Even the big, dark, bald man seemed to have forgotten about his anger, and talked to the stewardesses about (presumably) the airline merchandise they are selling.
How can anyone stay angry when seeing this excellent crew?
I honestly disliked the airline for failing to keep its promised schedule. But I must admit that they did have a highly professional crew.
And here we come to the moral of this story.
Sometimes, things (or s**t, as some people say) just happen. There is nothing you can do about it. There is no point of worrying about it. You cannot keep it from happening, and you cannot stop it from completing itself. When s**t happens, focus on the task at hand. Nobody can stay angry at you when you do that.
And being gorgeous while you are at it won’t hurt, either.
