Airplanes

Here's a little rant.  You've been warned.

I remember one of my first plane rides as a child, not to brag, but I was really well behaved.  I probably talked too much, but I stayed in my seat and didn't fidget, I think Stacey was on the plane ride too, and I don't remember her acting up either.

So a family of 4 was on my flight home from Abq tonight.  Mental note - Monday nights from Abq to Oak are PACKED with non business travelers.  So what started out as an early arrival turned into a delayed flight.  First, Southwest overbooked the flight and no one realized this until everyone was on the plane.....so 3 lonely soles wandered the aisles to no avail.  They eventually got 1 of the guys and 2 of the passengers to take the flight out tomorrow (but all they are getting is a $200 SW voucher.....not worth it).

Since the plane was packed I got to sit by a little girl and her mom (brother sat in front of sister and dad sat somewhere off to the right).  Now, I enjoy kids.  I adore my neighbors and frequent my friends' blogs about their kids.  I like to babysit....blah blah blah.  Basically, I'm not one of those people who instantly groans when they have to sit by kids on an airplane.  But let's be honest, I'm going to get annoyed if:

1.  Your daughter stares at me for 65-75% of the flight.  And not a cute stare, she never smiled and even when I looked at her, she just kept staring.  Creepy.

2.  Your daughter kicks me as she's taking a nap.  Kicks me with her bare feet.  And you (mom) see this going on and say, "I hope that's alright."  It's not alright, but I can deal better than the average person.

3.  You ask me to switch places with your son - sitting in the middle seat in front of your daughter.  I politely say "I'd really rather not" and at least you let it go.  But really?  You already made a man move so you and your daughter could sit together.  I'm sorry, I'm not giving up my window seat for a middle, in front of you daughter, who proceeded to use the back of the seat as her own private punching bag (when she wasn't staring at me).

Here's the thing. She complained about how she doesn't like the Southwest seating policy.  Last time I checked, you can control which airline you fly on.  I bet southwest was the cheapest choice - which is why you get stuck sitting in random places throughout the plane.  Here are your choices - ride another airline, or compulsively click the "check-in online" button until you get an A pass.  It's not mean, it's just the truth.