On a jetplane

On a recent journey across the empire, I found myself on a packed red-eye flight. Nothing surprising I suppose. These days most flights are seeing high load factors. As we settled in, sipping water, while waiting for the boarding to complete, a fellow passenger beckoned the flight attendant. "Err, excuse me," he says rather loudly, trying to get her attention. I am thinking "dude, she's right there. Quit yelling." So not jellin'. She turns around and looks down at him through her black rimmed glasses that are perched on the tip of her nose, as though waiting for a take-off clearance. Smiling a non-smile, she says "yes, sir?" without actually saying those words.

"Can I get a thicker blanket? This one is too thin," he says. I try hard to suppress a he's-so-green smile when the FA bursts out, quite joyously, "you are kidding, right?" Chuckle, chuckle. Managing to regain her voice, she continues. "You should be happy that you have a blanket at all." Gesturing to the main cabin, she adds bitterly, "Folks in the back don't even get that often. We carry fewer and fewer blankets these days."

Duly chastised and feeling quite embarrassed, the poor sod adds, "oh, I didn't know. I was just asking..." Dismissively, she continues her commentary, "The ones on transatlantic flights are slightly thicker." Big difference, that makes, I think. We are only hopping coast to coast, not the pond after all.

Is it too much to ask, Madam Flight Attendant to show a little courtesy and not laugh at a customer's request? Sure, he may have seemed clueless, but to laugh at his question like that. Tsk, tsk. Scary customer service.