You’ve Got to be Kidding

Our air “security” has gone a little too far.  You may have heard of the man whose note caused an aircraft to turn around last Wednesday, escorted by two fighter jets.  Apparently it was of a threatening nature.  Here’s what it said:

"I thought I was going to die, we were so high up," the card said. "I thought to myself: I hope we don't crash and burn or worse yet landing in the ocean, living through it, only to be eaten by sharks, or worse yet, end up on some place like Gilligan's Island, stranded, or worse yet, be eaten by a tribe of headhunters, speaking of headhunters, why do they just eat outsiders, and not the family members? Strange ... and what if the plane ripped apart in mid-flight and we plumited (sic) to earth, landed on Gilligan's Island and then lived through it, and the only woman there was Mrs. Thurston Howell III? No Mary Anne (my favorite) no Ginger, just Lovey! If it were just her, I think I'd opt for the sharks, maybe the headhunters." (source)

The real crime here is that it wasn’t a note to the attendant who read it, it was on a comment card.  Why is an attendant reading comment cards?  Isn’t that the job of someone in corporate?  I’d be looking into how many negative comments get put into the circular file.

That having been said, what the man wrote is kinda funny.  Consider he was on a flight over the Pacific Ocean, and the airline most likely showed an old episode of Gilligan’s Island in-flight.  I know I was watching it on the flight I took, and I don’t see airlines updating entertainment too often.  The man was also had a slight fear of flying in the first place, the note was more therapeutic than anything for him.

There was no threat made by the man, and he was apologetic when he found out he was the reason the plane turned around.  Hopefully the Department of Justice will have a cooler head and not find the man guilty of anything.