An airline story.

[trof]

I was an airline pilot.
TWA.

I'm standing in front of my hotel in Baltimore, waiting for the limo to the airport. A chauffered Lincoln pulls up with a refined looking dowager in back. She looks at me in my uniform and asks me (nicely) to please get her bags out of the trunk.

I cannot resist. I say "Sure thing".
I get her two suitcases out and set them on the sidewalk.
About that time the bellman comes out.
She looks at him.
She looks at me.
His uniform has way more braid and doo-dads than mine.
She looks closely at me and then sees the TWA wings.
"Oh dear. Oh my. I'm SO sorry."
"No problem, mam. Happy to help out."
One of my cherished memories.
;-)

[Worst Username Ever]

1. Lol, what a great story.

To a lesser extent, don't ever wear kahkis and a red shirt to work and then stop by Target on the way home.

[kick-ass-bob]

18. I've done that.

I thought about being mean and having them report me to the management, but simply said "I don't work here"

:D

[Floogeldy]

2. That's funny

B-)

[Padraig18]

3. Hehehe.

You're a nice guy.

:)

[LilKim]

4. Would love to see a picture of your uniform

You in it, even. But a picture of a generic TWA uniform of that period (when would that be?) is also good.

[trof]

6. 1968-1999.

The TWA uniform was pretty understated.

(This isn't me.)
Basically a 3 button "midnight blue" suit with stripes and wings.

My last 10 years I flew for Nippon Cargo Airlines and THAT was a snappy uniform. Double breasted, brass buttons, and all.

[aQuArius]

10. A CAPTAIN!

looks good!

[uppityperson]

5. Thanks for the sweet story for today.

[democracyindanger]

7. No tip?

[trof]

8. If the damn bellman hadn't come out

I could have picked up a couple of bucks.
:-(

[Padraig18]

9. Do you have any Ozark stories?

I've been told by some former employees that the company was somewhat, ermmmm.... 'different'.

:)

[trof]

11. Just this:

When TWA bought Ozark, it was probably the best thing that could have happened to their workforce. And then the bitching started. Oh well.

The Ozark guys were mainly flying domestic out of STL.
I flew international out of JFK and BOS, so I didn't know any of them.

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. The following little story

was reported in a newspaper a few months ago:

One of the cabin crew - presumably, meaning the pilot or co-pilot - came out of the pilot's cabin and announced to the passengers:

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is widely acknowledged that **** Airways has some of the finest cabin crews to be employed by any airline anywhere in the world. I regret to say, however, that unfortunately we are not one of them".

[trof]

13. cabin crew=flight attendants

cockpit (or flight deck) crew=pilots

[Joe Chi Minh]

16. Thanks, trof.

[ScreamingMeemie]

14. You must stop telling pilot stories....

Or Bouncy Ball and I are going to develope gigantic, undeniable crushes on you. ;) :hi:

[trof]

15. "There I was, on my back, bandits at 12 o'clock."

The above is the standard "once upon a time" line that all fighter pilot stories start with.

[Kingshakabobo]

17. LOL

:)