Fix It Friday: Fellow Airline Passengers

     Sure enough, I found something worth fixing during my vacation. On the first day, too! We had to fly down to Florida, so obviously we needed to board a plane at the airport. There are seven of us (mom, stepdad, me, 13-year-old brother, 10-year-old brother, 7-year-old sister, and 4-year-old sister) so going anywhere tends to be...well, a hassle. Because I'm the oldest kid, I've always been called upon to help with the planning and carrying out of trips like this. This means that I get to share in the stress! Aren't my parents nice?

     So imagine us with 8 carry-on bags, herding 4 kids through security and to the gate. It's a rather tiny airport, but that doesn't make things much less insane. I mean, come on, it's my family. We got through the first flight with no major issues, then had to make a mad dash across Charlotte Douglas International. Man, I love that airport. There's a store there that sells chocolate-covered potato chips. How awesome is that? Uh, anyway, we got to our gate on time and even had time to scarf down some food (which, unfortunately, did not include chocolate-covered potato chips).

There was even time for a Flat Stanley picture!

     Thus far, it'd been smooth sailing. Well, flying, because we weren't on the ship yet. You know what I mean. When our boarding zone (zone 2) was called, we gathered up our bags and kids and started the line at the gate. Yes, I'm so competitive that I make sure we're first in our zone to board. That's just how I roll. Before we could give our tickets to the chick at the desk, though, some wannabe socialite popped in with a yappy purse-sized dog and a moronic-looking skater teen guy. (I hope he was her son.)

     "Sorry, we're first class." Yeah, well, your boarding time was quite some time ago, lady. Back of the line. My mom, being as awesome as she is, told the lady that she was really late, and that Mom was sure the 4-year-old wouldn't mind waiting even longer because of the damn dog. I, uh, take after my mother...a lot.

     "Well, yeah, but [the dog] had to go outside." This is when I piped in with the ever-so-clever "So?" I was rewarded with a pretentious glance -- yeah, you're so much better than me because your dog shits. I bet you didn't bag it up, either.

     People like this lady would, in my perfect world, be bumped off the flight altogether. If you don't make it to your boarding time, your seat is given to a standby passenger and you have to pay for another flight. No vouchers, no sympathy. They announce it overhead, and it's your job to make sure your mutt is ready to go.

     Karma did kick in a little bit here. The lady and her son did lose their first-class seats, because they had been given away as upgrades. Unfortunately (for them) this pushed them back to coach, right in front of me. Of course, because I'm mature, I handled the situation with grace. I dug my knees into the guy's seat, and my mom and I openly discussed how rude they had been.