Oh, What a Difference a Laugh Makes

By Amy Coward

As I walked to my seat on the plane, I realized I was assigned the middle seat again. But that’s what you get when you fly economy and don’t get to choose your seats. Luckily, there were two women seated in my row, one at the window and one by the aisle. Thankfully, no crying child with a head cold.

Just before boarding, the flight attendants had announced there would be a slight delay in take-off due to too much fuel on board. Though I rarely talk to other passengers on planes, the three of us on my row starting discussing why too much fuel was an issue and oddly, it was as if we had known each other for years. Gina and Erin were like my two best friends.

An hour later, all passengers were asked to deplane while they removed some of the fuel which left us all waiting at the gate, pacing and making calls. I watched as other passengers fidgeted and others lined up to talk with gate agents about other flights. Still others chose to argue with the agents and with each other about why we didn’t know more about the delay. One poor airline employee was distributing surveys about the situation and I could only imagine the amount of heat in the responses. The cart of chips provided by the airline to appease everyone did little to assuage the anger. I simply downloaded a book on my phone and tuned out.

Five hours and a new plane later, we were all asked to board and again I was seated in the middle seat between Gina and Erin. We picked up where we left off and started talking about the delay and laughing. Apparently, we had all been traveling all day, were tired and slightly punch-drunk because everything was funny. Gina claimed her husband, who is a pilot for the airline, sarcastically said he was never flying on this airline again. But she laughed and said, “Oh yes he will!”

We talked about how we wished we had been stranded in the Singapore airport where there is global cuisine, shopping and an indoor waterfall. But no, we were at Logan in Boston with a couple of fast food restaurants and a bathroom. So we made fake travel plans to Singapore and talked about our travels. Together, we found the humor in just about everything and just laughed. Two hours later, we landed and went our separate ways.

It was a 16-hour day traveling home, a nightmare to most people. And yet the next day, as I dragged myself to work, I could only smile. The whole experience had been totally turned around for me because of my lucky middle seat next to Gina and Erin. And the laughter.

But don’t get any ideas, airline gods. I would still like to get home in less time than it takes to fly to China. Even if Gina and Erin are seated with me.

Unless, of course, I’m returning from Singapore.

Amy Coward is a public relations professional in Columbia, SC. When she is not managing the madness of event planning at Palmetto Health Foundation, she is writing, running and traveling.