That Strange Person Seated Beside You

[medhead]

Obviously the one million+ Americans (you won't read about this in the mainstream media) who marched on Washington DC last Saturday (12/9/09), to protest against comrade Obama, do not agree with your comments here.

Can we assume that the other 299 million Americans who didn't march do agree with the comments?

 

[ozimax]

Am I the only one that immediately thought "This sounds like the beginning of a joke.... There's a Baptist Minister, a Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic Priest sitting together on a plane...."

A Baptist minister was walking down one side of the street, and a RC priest was walking up the other side. The priest called out, "Good morning, son of the devil!" The Baptist minister replied, "Good morning, father."

Sorry, it's all I could think of at the moment.

 

[ozimax]

Can we assume that the other 299 million Americans who didn't march do agree with the comments?

No idea, (and I have no strong opinion on it either) but my point is this: I don't form my views from the mainstream media.

 

[Bob]

Not strange - but fascinating to sit beside Joni Mitchell on a flight from YYZ to LAX in 2005. The previous time I'd seen her was when she performed in Brisbane in the late seventies. Lots of stories about what happened on that tour, why she was disenchanted with the music industry, where her gear came from for one of her album covers, her grandchildren, what her life was like now, etc. She was surprised that I was a fan - she said that for some reason lots of her male fans are gay.

On a (slightly) similar subject, did anyone else see Joan Baez perform at Lang Park in about 1973 for the princely sum of $3?

 

[estate]

The most interesting seat-mate was on a BNE-SYD flight in late 2006. I was in the middle seat with Gordon Tallis in the aisle next to me. We had a bit of chat, I asked him about his famous Brett Hodgson tackle and a few other things about the game.

But the best part of the flight was the female FA who was young and pretty and was completely awestruck by him. Flirting, being chit-chatty, and she was doing her best to sound like she knew about the game asking lots of questions... Until she asked which team he was playing that weekend.

(For those who don't know, Tallis retired at the end of the 2004 season)

 

[Warks]

Somewhere around 10 or so years ago the conversations on planes seemed to stop. I don't know if that was me or the zeitgeist. I can recall having good chats on the one hour hops. With short flights it's not that dangerous to engage people in conversation as the end is in sight. However, on international flights or at least flights of 4 hours plus I think most passengers dread Mr Have-a-chat sitting down and bending their ear for the forseeable future.
In J I've had a few good conversations but no one has felt obliged to keep up the repartee for the trip, a bit of chat at the start, sleep, a chat in the morning maybe and goodbye. I did find it disconcerting when a woman passenger I was paired with ignored me completely - weird when you share that space. Mind you I haven't flown J for about 5 years.

 

[Flashback]

I actually had exactly the same thought about the joke, and, do you know what, I really know such a joke. Would love to share it with all and sundry, but I fear it would be breaking the posting rules.
I have really enjoyed the contributions to this thread. Keep them coming!

You can post the joke here: http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/playground/a-bit-of-humour-6330.html

 

[notzac]

Not including when I've been flying with someone else - the only time that I can recall having had a chatty seat mate was on a SC run LAX-SFO. I was originally seated in the second row, but moved up one to let an elderly couple sit together. Seat mate turned out to be an avid FT'er, so was fascinated with my having paid for F on AA (SC runs being quite distinct from mileage runs, which he was perfectly familiar with).

My very first trip on the A380 got me a seat mate that was definitely not interested in conversation - privacy screen went up the moment I got to my seat. To each their own! I guess I don't usually offer any conversation, so I'm just as guilty..

 

[Evan]

I can't recall anybody that strange but met some interesting people, sometimes i keep to myself, other times i like to talk if they are interested. Just depends what the flight is i guess.

I seem to often find hung over people sitting near me some i have even seen out the night before completely by chance.

 

[straitman]

Obviously the one million+ Americans (you won't read about this in the mainstream media) who marched on Washington DC last Saturday (12/9/09), to protest against comrade Obama, do not agree with your comments here.

The US media did report this but the reported numbers were a long way short of one million +, though 'The Mall' did look fairly full:!:

 

[Mal]

I expect some of my seat partners would have their own stories of their experience of a strange seat partner :shock:.

Yeah, I'm still waiting for the day I read about myself on AFF or FT as a "horrible" seatmate or similar !

 

[straitman]

Yeah, I'm still waiting for the day I read about myself on AFF or FT as a "horrible" seatmate or similar !

Would you recognise the story as being about yourself though:?:

 

[Mal]

Would you recognise the story as being about yourself though:?:

Depends on whether the flight/seat number and or photos were provided

And of course what they're complaining about!

A funny example of something similar was when someone complained about a Lounge guest printing out too many pages on the BA board at FT - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...-club/981793-some-people-have-no-manners.html
later on, a new member called "printingandbreakfast" joined to give their side of the story!

 

[Rae]

Hubby and I were in J on a flight from LA to Sydney or Melbourne 18 months ago and as we took our seats I whispered to hubby "why is that weirdo sitting forward grinning and staring at us?" Hubby replied, "um, that's Orlando Bloom". Sorry - was I supposed to care and ask for his autograph or something? Miranda Kerr was with him but she spent 90% of the flight out of her seat elsewhere.

I had a right strange one yesterday from London - Toronto. Privacy screen went up the second I sat down and he was most unhappy when FA told him he had to put it back down until after the security brief. He was a very very important person - I could tell from the big list of things to do he was writing. 1. Drycleaning. 2. Call X to congratulate on engagement. He banged about disturbing me all through the flight, had an awful flatulence problem and obviously didn't care that letting go might bother anyone around him.

 

[medhead]

Not a seat mate. But got off the flight ADL-OLP yesterday. Big Merv Hughes was sitting at the "terminal" mostly likely waiting for the return flight.

Seems he was there tlaking about Men's health issues.