Airline mistakenly carries passenger on outside of plane

by Kent Wien on

Passengers have recently complained about their seat assignments and being bumped from first class, but this story just may put everything in perspective.

It seems that 26 year-old Christopher Griffin was taken for the ride of a lifetime while trying to be a good Samaritan. Griffin worked for the Big Creek Fish Company in Egegik, Alaska when a MarkAir Express Cessna 207 landed on the beach near the fish processing plant.

Griffin jumped in his truck to meet the airplane and offload any supplies it may have brought. After unloading about a dozen boxes from the airplane, the pilot started up the single engine Cessna and taxied to the end of the beach.

The plane struggled to turn around the in the muddy sand and the nosewheel became stuck. The pilot then asked for help. It seemed his plan was for Griffin to push down on the horizontal stabilizer at the back of the airplane, which would raise the nosewheel, while the pilot added enough power to get out of the sticky situation.

“Take your hat off, it’s going to get pretty windy!” Griffin recalled the pilot saying. That turned out to be understated a bit.
Griffin obliged and pushed down on the front of the airplane’s stabilizer while facing towards the back of the plane. This effort paid off and the airplane began to move. The stabilizer–the small wing at the back of an airplane–caught him in the abdomen, but he figured the pilot would stop once he was able to get out of the muddy area.

Amazingly, the pilot continued to accelerate until lifting off the ground. Griffin considered letting go even after the airplane was in the air, but decided against it since the “water was too shallow near the beach.”

The plane leveled off and turned back to another beach before landing again. The pilot, who no longer works for MarkAir, jumped out of the airplane and asked Christopher why he didn’t let go.

“Why didn’t you stop?” Chistopher asked.

The pilot then flew Griffin back to his truck–this time inside the plane. The pilot asked him to keep it between the two of them.

FAA spokeswoman Joette Storm said she wasn’t sure what regulation the pilot may have violated. “There’s no safety provisions for a human on the outside of an aircraft. I don’t think it would fall under our regulations.”

The CEO of MarkAir Express, Neil Bergt, tried to play down the hype. “I don’t think it was that much of an incident. No one was hurt and the airplane wasn’t damaged.” Bergt said.

I wonder how many frequent flyer miles would be appropriate for Christopher Griffin when he submited his letter complaining about his treatment. Or did MarkAir Express insist on charging him for the round trip flight?

Obnoxious passengers fly on Southwest; nobody surprised

by Grant Martin on

Earlier last week, seventeen women wearing leopard print thongs, clear high-heels and super tight pushup bras flew from Dallas Love field to Detroit for a stripper’s convention. Recalling the difficulty from prior experiences on Southwest Airlines, flight attendants and other staff were tight lipped and let them board the plane in peace.

The twelve members of the Church of Latter Day Saints onboard, however, were not amused. Witnesses report that after an LDS member said something “lewd” to a stripper, the young woman ripped the name tag from the gentleman, crushing it on the floor with the heel of her shoe as LED lights sparkled through the aisle.

A subsequent scuffle between the two groups erupted, with one half screaming obscenities, doing body shots and throwing sex paraphernalia while the strippers ganged up on several LDS members, pinned them to the floor and rubbed their bare asses on churchgoer’s faces.

Meanwhile the crew resigned themselves to the galley in disgust and gossiped about whether the captain or the copilot was hotter.

Asked about the affair, random peg-legged passenger Mike Barish commented:

“There was a scuffle, fighting and yelling on the flight? I didn’t notice. I guess I thought that it was normal.” He then stifled a yawn, shotgunned a Miller High Life and resumed breathing through his mouth.

Yuck. Fetus found in Continental airplane bathroom

by Grant Martin on

I’m still kind of grossed out as I write this. Yesterday, Continental Airlines janitorial employees found a human fetus in a lavatory bathroom after a flight between New York City and Houston had deplaned. It was almost an hour after the passengers had left the aircraft and cleaning had commenced before the workers found the fetus in the lav trash.

At that point authorities couldn’t track down the woman for questioning as she may have already connected through another flight, so the FBI is now involved and digging through the passenger manifest, trying to locate the mother.

Still, not the sort of thing that you want happening on your aircraft or in your lavatory, much less something you want to hide from the authorities. Hopefully the mother is ok.

Missing a laptop? Baggage handlers arrested with stolen goods

by Jamie Rhein on

As far as I can tell, I haven’t had anything stolen from baggage in my travels. I’ve had it opened with an official notice left inside that it’s been searched. As we’ve found out by messages about baggage handlers posted on Gadling–this post has 276 comments–others have not been so fortunate. Some people, though, may get their stolen goods back–not necessarily those who have told us of their woes, but other people.

According to this article at abcActionNews.com, three baggage handlers, employees of Delta Global Services that were contracted by Continental Airlines, were arrested at the Tampa International Airport for stealing goods. From my understanding, it sounds like the police suspected baggage handling funny business because a laptop in bag that was to go to Houston was rigged. The computer didn’t make it to Houston. Instead it was sold. When the new owner turned the computer on, it transmitted a signal so it could be traced. By back-tracking from the woman who bought the computer, the police were able to find out who stole it. Good deal!

Now comes the business of finding the people so they can be reunited with their belongings. Some belongings were still in the thieves’ possession. In case you’re wonder what your electronics are worth to the person who steals them:

  • laptops: $60
  • digital cameras: $50
  • iPods: $10

Delta flyers: Get double elite miles through June 30

by Grant Martin on

You’re probably tired of me yammering on about elite status and how useful it is and how I wear my collar popped every time I go through airport security. I apologize. But there are a lot of benefits to keeping loyalty in an airline that you just don’t realize until you’ve reached greener pastures.

If you think that you can’t get to the minimum 25,000 mile threshold to reach status and you fly on Delta Airlines though, this could be your lucky break: the Atlanta-based airline just started a promotion giving passengers double Medallion Qualifying Miles for any flights booked before April 30 and flown before June 30. Those are miles that specifically count towards your exalted status.

This means that if you only need to travel 12.5k miles in order to achieve elite status, which is a pretty fantastic deal. Even if you’ve got only a few trips planned before June 30, these miles will give you that extra boost to hopefully get up to 25k by the end of the year.

Clarification before you register though: this is for double Medallion Qualifying Miles, not Skymiles. So you won’t technically earn more miles with which you can fly places, proper. You’ll earn more miles with which you can accrue status. Follow? Think of them as points towards a goal that you can use to fly places. Kind of silly, I know, but all airlines do it. It’s a crafty way to divide earned and status-gaining miles so that you get the least amount of benefit. I can get to that in a later post of you guys want.

Register on Delta’s promo website and make sure you have your frequent flyer number attached to your reservation before you travel — otherwise you’ll have a hard time getting your miles — and double miles — credited retroactively.