[Rhodes22-list] ss report: Waiting for Detelin

[stan]

thanks - that is amazing - had no idea - too busy trying to build boats to 
keep up with the times.
    sounds like the lady who said not allowed to give out the passenger 
names is also behind the times.

ss

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <R22RumRunner at aol.com>
To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 8:32 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] ss report: Waiting for Detelin


> Stan,
> Next time take you laptop computer. All the information you were looking 
> for
> is available on the Internet, including names of people on flights and
> times. :) By asking real people real questions, you just piss them off.
>
> Rummy
>
>
> In a message dated 3/25/2008 3:34:31 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> stan at rhodes22.com writes:
>
> (for  when the List gets too quiet)
>
>
> "Dido" is no longer with  us.  He has moved on (with our blessings) to a
> better job with  "Regulator" on the other side of town.   Rose and I had 
> gone to
> the  airport to pick him up.  He was coming in from Dulles on the last leg 
> of
> his usual flight pattern from Bulgaria.  The flight was scheduled to 
> arrive
> at 6:02 and I played it safe by arriving at ORF at 5 pm.  (Rose  had 
> finally
> found out that ORF is code for Norfolk International.    What a beautiful
> Airport.   I would have named it JKI (Joyce Kilmer  International).   The
> architectural firm had been handed an  unspoiled waterfront section of 
> town with the
> instructions to save every  possible tree.   And so they did.   The 
> entrance
> road,  winding around water ways and under tall leafy limbs, makes its way 
> to a
> beautiful terminal, in turn connected by a long covered moving sidewalk to
> parking and baggage buildings tucked in this gem of an airport, whose 
> warts I
> was soon to discover.
>
> The first thing I noticed when the  moving sidewalk ejected me into the
> arrival and departure chapel's upper  terminal floor was the yellow notice 
> advising
> that United 7239 was going to be  one half hour early.   I had never heard 
> of
> a flight being  early.   Well not a one hour flight being a half hour 
> early
> !   Even I, who had the US Navy Air Corp on my resume, knew  something was
> wrong in Denmark, or at least in Bulgaria.   All of  the terminal schedule
> displays were in agreement:  United flight 7239  arriving from Dulles was 
> going to
> be a half hour early.   Good thing  we came early.   With my computer 
> disturbed
> by the math, I kept  checking and rechecking the displays until, low and
> behold, the yellow sign  disappeared and the flight was now listed as 
> being on
> time.
>
> Rose and I settled into the first two seats this side of the security 
> border
> so no arrivees could pass us undetected.   Flight after  flight unloaded.
> No Dido.   Having lost trust in the  schedule displays I continued 
> checking for
> changes.   When a flight  arrived the sign would say, "Landed".   No such
> sign for my now  overdue flight.   In fact all of a sudden my flight 
> completely
> disappeared from all screens.   Surely, with all these bright faced, 
> tagged,
> uniformed airport personnel randomly flying around inside the terminal  I
> would quickly find out Dido's fate and the fate of United's 7239, off the 
> screen
> somewhere between Washington and Norfolk.
>
> The  easiest person to ask was the attendant at the security gate.   He 
> said
> he works for a different company and has no idea.   I noticed a  sign that
> said this way to "Information", a few football fields to the  east.  The 
> lone
> attendant, whose uniformed chest was loaded with military  medals, said 
> that he
> worked for another company and according to his computer,  that flight had
> landed on time.   He was not interested in  understanding why the schedule
> displays had missed this; they worked for a  different  company.   I had a 
> bright
> idea.   I would  take the external elevator for its full one floor run to 
> the
> United ticket  counter underneath me.  It was a two second trip but I 
> concluded
> the view  made the cost of this glass walled theme park ride worth every 
> penny
> that it  must have cost.
>
> At United's ticket counter neither of the  two parallel lines of potential
> flyers was moving so I bullied my way to one  of the three attendants. 
> He said
> he worked for a different company  and left.  The second attendant 
> admitted
> working for United and said that  that flight had not landed, that the non
> moving lines were waiting to take  that flight back to wherever it had 
> come from
> and that there was much snow in  Chicago where that flight from Dulles
> originated and that that plane has just  now made it into the Chicago air 
> and that it
> would be very late tonight before  it landed in Norfolk since it still had 
> to
> make it to Dulles.  At least  she didn't work for a different company. 
> She
> worked for United - I  would go with her.   And I would be a good citizen 
> and
> go back and  bring the Information bunker up to speed.   But another look 
> at
> his  computer confirmed again, at least for the Information attendant, 
> that 7239
> had landed.   He explained that the company he works for has t
> o  go with the company the computer works for no matter what the company 
> the
> ticket lady works for says.
>
> I asked him to call  the pilot's lounge and see if they knew anything and 
> he
> said he can not do  that.  The tower?  He said he can't do that.  Chicago? 
> He
> said he does not have that number.  He said I should go back to United 
> and
> ask them to verify their story.   So back I made it to the  United ticket
> line.  They seemed to be busy giving refunds but I went to  the front of 
> the line
> and the helpful lady went back to the computer - the  flight was somewhere 
> in
> the air and she had no fixed time of arrival yet and  that I should go 
> home
> and come back later.  Home was hours away in NC so  I decided to make one 
> final
> visit to Information who stuck to his story that  the flight had landed. 
> I
> asked if there was some sort of court of  appeals I could take my case 
> to - he
> said no such higher  authority.   In a fit of humorous creativity I asked 
> if
> there was a  lower authority I could go to, like "baggage".   To my 
> surprise the
> Information attendant was impressed, so off I hiked to the tiny
> United baggage office which turned out to be conveniently located at the
> farthest end of the complex.  By now most of the airport was closed down 
> and all
> the commercial booths were under tarps but the United baggage office 
> light
> was on and the office door was open and there was a nice lady behind the
> counter shuffling luggage.
>
> I told her my story of  getting different endings for flight 7239.   She
> looked at me with  amusement and said she worked for a different company 
> and could
> tell me  without any ifs or buts that that flight had long since landed 
> and
> that she  personally had taken its unclaimed bags off the carousel.  And
> further  more that she could tell me that Detelin had not been on that 
> plane.   I
> exploded, "What, you know who is on each flight?" and she  said, "of 
> course".
> My god, I had stumbled onto the Central  Intelligence Agency of the entire
> airport operation cleverly headquartered in  baggage.   I would go back to 
> the
> United counter and tell them the  flight they were looking for had 
> actually
> landed long ago and that is why they  could not find it.   By now I had 
> found
> that by taking the walking  sidewalk in the wrong direction I could run 
> and get
> to the other end much  slower which was great for my exercise program. 
> On the
> escalator  part of my trips I would go up the down stairway.
> My  exercising exercise got me late to United ticketing territory.  It was
> closed and its two non moving lines had moved.   Somehow this  darkened, 
> quiet,
> peaceful part of the airport inspired an inspirational  thought.   I would
> ask the CIA bag lady for the passenger names on  the next flight from 
> Dulles
> that was due in at 11:30.   Brilliant.
>
> A flight had come in from somewhere and the  bag lady was doing her thing.
> She did not seem pleased to see  me.   By now I was well known by most of 
> the
> airport's night  crew.  The Information guy waved to me as I flew by his
> booth.   I said to the bag lady, "tell me if Detelin is on the 11:30 
> flight".   I
> think this is when my bearded face finally came into  full focus and 
> reminded
> her of the oath.  "It is against the law for me  to give out passengers'
> names."
>
> Now I am not  dumb.   I have seen "All the King's Men" two times.   I 
> know
> how Bernstein and Woodward handle these kinds of  situations.
>
> "I don't want you to tell me the names of any  of the passengers" I said, 
> " I
> just want you to tell me if I should wait for  the 11:30 ".
>
> The bag lady,  relieved by my professionalism, whispered, "wait for the
> 11:30".
>
>
> What does one do at an airport for six and  one half hours, other than use
> the gym.
>
> Rose and I  noticed a lot of loving.  As each flight unloaded, as soon as 
> its
> passengers crossed the security line, someone on the insecure side grabbed
> them and kissed them - sometimes for indecently long times.   What  the 
> hell,
> I would grab the solo traveling ladies and hug and kiss them.   then say,
> "Oops, I am sorry.  I thought you were someone  else".   (With Rose 
> sitting there,
> this was my fantasy so let me add  that each time I broke off with the
> hugging and kissing and got to the part  where I said, Oh, I thought you 
> were
> someone else, there were expressions of  disappointment.)
>
> It looked like it was going to  take a day to pick up Dido but 11:30 came
> just in time.   The flight  was on time.  Dido was the first one to cross 
> the
> security line and I  found myself saying, "What are you doing here so 
> early.  We
> did not  expect you for another two days.   Rose, on the other hand, 
> quietly
> got off her now well warmed seat and hugged and kissed Dido - for an
> indecently long time and he opened his bag and gave her a beautiful 
> Bulgarian  wool
> blanket.   And what does the one who did all the hard  investigative 
> exercising
> and fantasizing get?
>
> Well maybe  the short lived satisfaction that goes with   "mission
> accomplished"....
>
>
> I'll sign this one  with a Spitzer since the end sounds like one - or 
> maybe
> Carter.
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