A View From The Keg…

I am on my way to the April 28th James Mabry Band show in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. I have been on my way now for some time – which is to say it’s taken a bit longer than expected. The reason? A broken airplane. Now tell me, how many of you want to hear that during a flight delay?

I thought something was a bit strange when I was told the gate for this flight (which I take pretty often) was 9 – not 21 as is customary. Well, after waiting for about 30 minutes, we were told there had been a gate change – to 21! I hadn’t planned to be part of a foot race this day, so I was wearing sandals (which make it much easier to move through security). Even so, I managed to lose only a couple spots in the Southwest “cattle call” line. I was feeling pretty happy about that, when the ‘broken plane’ announcement was made. After asking if there was another flight available any sooner than the approximated 1 hour delay, (and finding none), I settled in for the wait. Soon after, there was another announcement that detailed the needed part’s route from Cleveland (I think), and that it was a navigational part that has a 30 minute installation time. I must say, I was glad it wasn’t a nose gear, wing flap, or some other more complicated piece of machinery! Things were looking better than I thought.

At this point, I’ve got to say that Southwest was very good about offering options, keeping us informed, etc. And, most importantly, they were great about getting the job done – ahead of schedule! That being said, we were still about an hour later than expected. Not too bad in this day and age, I think.

After this experience, however, I find myself dreading flying more than I ever have before. You see, prior to my flight in March (which was cancelled, forcing me to drive to the OTWC gig), I have been on only 2 delayed flights before. Yes, that’s right – 2!

The first was when I was a kid and my grandfather passed away. We had to fly to my father’s home town on Christmas day through Chicago O’Hare – a feat not for the weak of heart at any time, I tell you. But on Christmas, and in a snow storm? Well, let’s just say that the ensuing 8 hour delay was probably more fun for my sister and me than it was for my parents.

The second flight delay I experienced was during my time with Paul Reed Smith’s Dragons. We were doing a gig every Tuesday night at the Hard Rock Cafe in NYC. Most of the time, I took the train with Paul, which is a very comfortable and sane way to travel between Washington, D.C. and New York. On one particular occasion though, I had to fly. I met our guitarist Michael Ault at Reagan National for what I though would be an uneventful, 45 minute flight to the gig. All seemed well, though I seem to remember it raining pretty heavily. We’re on the plane and pulling away from the gate, when the announcement of a ‘gate hold’ is made. Now, I’d always thought a gate hold meant you were sitting at the gate. But in this case, it meant sitting in the middle of the runway for well over an hour. At one point, I turned to Michael and said, “Man, this never happens to me”. In a very sad voice, Michael replied “It happens to me all the time”. And we’d always wondered why he was often late to the NYC gig!

Believe me, I have flown a lot over the years. One year, I clocked close to 500,000 miles between touring, visiting home and recording trips around the globe. So it’s not as though I’m a neophyte. Nor do I believe that I’ve been lucky, though I’m sure many of you are thinking just that. I think the reason for my so-called good fortune is this: I did the bulk of my flying in the 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s – and things were very, very different then. Especially in the 70’s and 80’s. I’ve taken flights to Europe that were less than half full, where I could stretch out across a row of 5 seats and sleep the whole way (on several occasions). I used to fly the Eastern shuttle from DC to NYC when you filled out your ticket yourself (by hand), walked onto the plane, and then paid for the flight in the air ($35.00 one way!). I think I’ve flown every airline that’s no longer in business, too (Pan Am, Braniff, Piedmont, and Eastern, just to name a few). In those days, flying still had some of the cool left in it. Now, there isn’t much of a difference between flying and riding a Greyhound bus (which I’ve done several times, too), other than security.

How can we expect an industry that moves so many people in so many different directions everyday to get it right every time? It’s an impossibility! And though we seem to only hear of the increase in delays, lost luggage, and the loss of creature comforts, I’d like to go on record as saying that – in my experience – they do a pretty good job. In this day and age of increased security, unassigned seating, and mounting fuel costs, I think it’s amazing that more airlines aren’t going under. Or that the government hasn’t jumped in to re-regulate them. Heaven forbid!

When I started writing, I did so with the intention of complaining fervently about the current state of the airline industry. As I’ve been writing and mulling it over, I find myself just wanting to say “thanks”. Thanks for getting me from point A to point B all these many years without too many problems. Keep up the good work. Oh, I’ll still dread flying more than I have in the past. But this has more to do with the way the world is today than with the airlines messing things up. After all, planes are only mechanical, and people are only human.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 at 2:35 pm and is filed under General Observations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.