Welcome Aboard

The crowd of Los Angeles-bound passengers grew slowly at the gate in Chicago for an oversold American Airlines flight. Couples, families, individuals waited obediently with the timeworn, waxed boredom of air travelers. Except one man.

He was nattily dressed in a dark blue sport shirt and coat, matching slacks, well-shined black shoes. Looking at no one, he stared out the large window, tapping his front teeth with a forefinger.

Just another impatient passenger before a transcontinental flight? He kept changing seats, many times in 45 minutes. When anyone sat near him, he rose slowly and walked away. He carried no baggage, not even a newspaper. Two months ago who would have cared? But now, was this perhaps suspicious?

No. Worried people can’t go around in America suspecting people, even dark-haired strangers acting nervous near a large airplane. On the other hand, do you suppose any Sept. 11 passengers had suspicions but stayed silent?

The man walked to wait by another gate, then back to hear TV’s war news, then across the concourse again. Surely nothing. Probably. The boarding call came. The man moved to a nearby pillar. What’s suspicious about pacing before flying these days?

The gate agent took a traveler’s ticket.

“This is probably silly,” the traveler apologized softly, “but there’s a well-dressed man across the concourse who’s been acting nervous for the last hour. And he has no luggage.”

“Which one is he?” the woman asked, still smiling. “You know,” she explained with quiet patience, “we have undercover people all over now. No, don’t apologize. We really do appreciate all of these tips. We’ll watch him.”

The traveler felt better--and guilty. Ten minutes later, on board, a flight attendant stooped by the traveler’s ear. “We watched that man,” she said. “He was suspicious. We called security. Turns out he’s an off-duty pilot. We thought you’d want to know. And we wanted to thank you so much for your alertness.”

Just then our pilot came on the intercom. He thanked everyone for flying because he knew travelers had a choice. In the new shorthand of the day he said “recent events” had changed the way we all live and think and the way airlines operate. So he had a new briefing to give. Keep your seat belts fastened, etc. Oh, and flight attendants were there for passengers’ safety, he said. But if we ever saw any of them in obvious distress, he authorized the passengers individually and collectively to give any assistance necessary.

Other than that, flying on passenger planes hasn’t changed much in America.