Before we went to Ireland, I had flown on a plane approximately 3 times. Once was a short trip from Kansas City to Wichita when Vanguard airlines had cheap-o flights and my sister and I got to fly back from a trip to our family in Iowa when we were young. The other time was from Dallas to Des Moines, and back, with the husband to see my grandmother for the last time. These were all fairly short flights. So I was a little anxious about making 4 flights in one week! Yep, we had to fly from Dallas to New York, then New York to Shannon in Ireland. Then of course do the same, but in reverse, to come home.
Our first flight was about 3 hours long on a small, little plane. It was an uneventful flight. We had about a 5 hour layover in New York, and then boarded a much, much bigger plane for Ireland. This flight would take almost 6 hours and we would arrive around 8:00 a.m. in Ireland. Once we boarded the plane, the captain told us we would probably taxi for about an hour, since a lot of international flights leave at night. So we sat without moving for a little while longer when the captain came back on and said that a passenger hadn't checked-in on the plane, so they had to get their luggage off the plane. So we had to wait for them to throw all the suitcases off the plane and find this no-show person's bags!
Finally, we were moving and up in the air! I had planned to try to sleep as much as possible on the plane, but first they served everyone dinner. That took for-ev-er. Then they dimmed the lights for a bit and I snoozed off and on. It's hard to sleep in economy class seats when your 5'10" knees are shoved into the back of the seat in front of you, but I did manage a few cat naps. (This also helped me develop cankles from HELL!) Before I knew it they were turning the damn lights back on to serve breakfast! We had just eaten, and now were eating again. It was ridiculous.
So I didn't get as much sleep as I wanted, but it was ok. Now, the flights back made me hate how entitled people feel. On the flight from Ireland to NY there was some dude who would repeatedly push the flight attendant call button, which makes a dinging sound throughout the whole plane each time one is pressed. I thought maybe he was having some kind of emergency when he pressed the button like 20 times in a row. But apparently he just wanted more Coke. The rest of the plane hadn't even been served yet! And from what I had seen, they really don't give refills on your complimentary beverage.
But the people with the biggest entitlement issues were on our 4 hour flight from NY to Dallas. There was a couple on an exit row. If you don't know, exit rows have TONS of leg room. As soon as everyone got on, the man started complaining that his seat was too hard. Mind you, we were in economy class on some rinky-dink little plane. So he told the flight attendant that they wanted to be moved to the front of the plane. She said she would be right back and when she came back she told them they could sit at the back of the plane. Well, the man said he wanted to sit at the front and if they couldn't do that, they would just stay there. Hello, front seats are better and cost more! If he wanted to sit up front, he should've paid the price! Anyway, this man wasn't done bitching. The flight attendant started to explain to them about the exit row they were on and what to do in an emergency, when the captain started speaking, so this complainer man started saying in a very rude tone that he couldn't hear what was being said so she needed to be quiet. So she came back and started to explain again after it was quiet and the man again was just very rude and insulting to her. He was just going on and on about his hard seat and the flight attendant being stupid and not knowing anything, so my husband and I piped up and said we would trade seats with them. Hello leg room! That was agreeable to all, so we stretched our legs out and enjoyed the extra room! Then the man started to complain that he better get a pillow and blanket. Again, 4 hour flight...they don't do that! Then he saw the first class people getting meal and the rest of us get pretzels or peanuts, and he wanted to demand a meal. Seriously?! Again, pay the extra money if you want to be up front! Otherwise, shut the hell up!
