With more than 140,000 MQMs amassed flying Delta Air Lines so far this year, I have had ample opportunities to find things to complain about. In fact, my most recent flight that is earning Delta this hat tip left Atlanta 2 hours late.
Otherwise the flight started rather uneventfully, simple taxi and takeoff. One of my fellow passengers (total stranger with a horrible laugh), however, wasn't contented with the calm. He was drinking with a speed that suggested he was racing someone none of the rest of us could see. Eventually, the situation reached the inevitable apex where the flight attendant had to stop serving him. At this point, the man with the awful laugh delivered an Academy Award deserving performance of the preponderance of drunk stereotypes. The flight attendant, on the other hand, maintained a perfect poise while working to calm down the tanked man for the better part of half an hour. She diffused a situation with a lot of downside potential and avoided any further complications on a flight that had already suffered too many. It sounds simple enough, but I have a lot of respect for grace under fire. For that, I tip my hat to Delta today.
