Weight Problem

I had a funny feeling when I heard the announcement on the airplane this afternoon before taking off from Jackson, MS:

“We are sorry for the slight delay. We had a weight problem on the plane but that has been fixed now and we will be leaving shortly.”

I was thinking the plane is not completely full and you would have to think a plane can handle a full load of passengers and their luggage. I was wondering if they had some other “paying” cargo on the plane and would “fix” the problem by leaving some of their passenger’s luggage behind. That thought crossed my mind. I didn’t see a lot of really fat people on the plane.

When we arrived in Atlanta about an hour late tonight I made my way to baggage claim to pick-up my suitcase. My normal routine when I am standing at baggage claim for a while is to look around to see if I can spot other passengers who were on my plane who are looking for their luggage as well. I figure if they are still waiting on their luggage then there is a good chance that my bag is not lost but just hasn’t made it up on the belt yet. There is usually somebody I will recognize like the lady with the big boobs and wants to make sure everybody notices them, the young mother with the screaming baby or the businessman with the cell phone earpiece on his ear that I remembered seeing at the airport I just left. I had spotted all three of these tonight so I was thinking the luggage from our plane was not there yet.

Then I remembered the announcement on the plane about them fixing the problem of too much weight. While the others were still waiting on their luggage I made my way to the baggage counter. I stood in line there at least 30 minutes but finally got to the counter and discovered the thought I had on the plane today was from God himself. The clerk told me my bag was left behind in Jackson. She gave me a form with a claim number and told me if I haven’t heard from anyone about my luggage in 24 hours that I should call the toll free automated number. No big deal to her at all. “Who’s next?,” she asked.

As I turned to walk out I saw the lady with the big boobs who wants everybody to notice them, the young mother with the screaming baby and the businessman with the cell phone earpiece all standing in line behind me. I asked them if they remembered the announcement today about them fixing the problem of having too much weight on the plane. I told them I think they fixed the problem by leaving our baggage behind.

At least I was coming home. I can find some clean underwear here and an extra toothbrush and whatever I need to wear tomorrow. At least two of those folks were not going home and had to be at a meeting the next day.

I have a feeling they will be wearing yesterday’s clothes at tomorrow’s meeting.

I happened to take this one in stride today. My fellow passengers I have mentioned here were not taking it quite as well. It sounded like they were going to have to go out and buy some clothes. They were not happy campers.

There was one thing I was rather confident about when I left the airport tonight without my luggage. The friendly folks at Delta are not going to lose a bit of sleep over it.

Delta is ready when you are? Yeah right.

They are ready to fix their weight problem at the expense of their paying customers.


PS (Friday 11:30PM) I've had several requests for a photo of the other passengers I mentioned that were on my flight. I did get one. When I think about it this may be the weight problem they mentioned and why they couldn't load our bags. And by the way, 30 hours have passed and I still do not have my luggage.

PPS On Saturday morning I called Delta to find my bag and they told me that the bags were supposed to have been on a flight to Macon on Friday night. To make a long story short I drove to the Macon airport to get my bag. There must have been 75 bags that had to be delivered there. I think Delta's reorganization plan includes making sure their employees put other freight on their planes they will get paid for. They already have the passenger's money so they don't lose when they take our bags off. I have a feeling it is only going to get worse.