An award should go to the gate attendant at a small airport some 12 months ago for being smart and funny, while making her point when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly in the cargo bay.
A crowded flight was canceled after one of the airline's flights had been withdrawn from service.
A single attendant was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk.
He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said,
"I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be in FIRST CLASS."
The attendant replied, "I'm sorry, sir. I'll be happy to try to help you, but I've got to help these people first, and I'm sure we'll be able to work something out."
The passenger was unimpressed.
He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear,
"Do you have ANY idea who I AM?"
Without hesitating, the attendant smiled, then grabbed her public address microphone:
"May I have your attention please! May I have your attention please!" she began, her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. "We have a passenger here at Gate 14 who does not know who he is! If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14."
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the attendant, gritted his teeth and said, "F*** you!"
Without flinching, she smiled and replied, "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to get in line for that, too."
"There are only two emotions in a plane...boredom and terror." ~ Orson Welles
