Many of you long-term blog readers will remember my window-seat trouble my last trip back from Africa. (To see the previous entry visit: http://christystriptoafrica2007.blogspot.com/2007/08/my-trip-home-emotional-and-frustrating.html )
You may find it entertaining that the window-seat drama continued on this trip. After successfully packing my ridiculous amount of stuff in two 48.5 pound bags (the max is 50 pounds) with the help of Andy's portable scale, I arrived at the Entebbe Airport in Uganda. I made it through the security, etc and was waiting with a room full of people for the Ethiopian Airlines plane to come. It was about an hour late and when the plane landed the airline attendant announced in Amharic (the national language of Ethiopia): "something something something something something something something something something something something something something something... (several more minutes) ... something something something." Then she said in English, "We are now boarding all rows." My first response was that it either takes a lot longer to say a statement in Amharic than in English or that I, as a non-Amharic speaker, had not received all the information that had been recited in Amharic. I stood up and started walking towards the door when I was literally flattened against the wall by a stampede of Ethiopian passengers. The non-Ethiopian-looking passengers were not stampeding and had a bewildered expression. As I was drawing near suffocation from the mass of people pinning me to the wall I thought it was a very good thing that I hadn't fallen over because I might have been killed with the sudden vigor of everyone trying to reach the plane at once.
When I finally freed myself from the wall and started to move towards the plane I noticed there were two sets of stairs going into the plane - one towards the front and one in the very back. My seat was 11L which I thought would be fairly close to the front, so I decided to go up the front set of stairs. However, I was abruptly stopped by an airline attendant who asked if I was First/Business Class. I said I wasn't and he said that I would have to use the back set of stairs. So, I reluctantly joined the shoving throng of people pushing towards the back set of stairs. Once I made it in the back door I started on the arduous journey towards the front of the plane and my seat in 11L. With only the thought of my window seat to drive me forward, I cintinued on row after row after row. I finally arrived at row 11 which is the row DIRECTLY behind first/business class. (Side note: The first set of stairs is actually attached to the plane behind row 11, so it would have made perfect sense for me to use the front stairs, but no). To my horror, a woman was already sitting in my window seat. I politely told her that I thought that I had the window seat, but to my surprise she responded with several sentences of rapid French. I didn't understand most of it, but I thought I got the gist of the message: "This is my seat!" Still speaking French she showed me her board slip which had "11L" clearly typed on the bottom. A flight attendant came over and said, "Oh, didn't you hear the announcement? We had a problem with seat assignments so it is just open seating - sit where ever you want." Apparently "Open seating" was part of the Amharic announcement that they decided not to repeat in English. By this time almost all of the seats in the plane were full and I ended up sitting on an aisle seat in the same row as the French woman. I guess I had it good because apparently they ran out of room for the last passenger - perhaps that was another part of the Amharic message too. I don't know.
I was guardedly hopeful that I might get the window seat for the next flight from Ethiopia to Washington DC, but it was not to be. When I found my row, I discovered an Ethiopian woman sitting in my window seat. With a sigh I decided to start the sad ritual that I knew could not end happily. I said very respectfully that I thought I had the window seat and maybe she could have the aisle. The woman's English was very poor, but she managed to say, "My seat" while point at my window seat she was sitting in. I decided that maybe she just really wanted to sit by the window and that I wouldn't try to fight this battle again. After taking my aisle seat the woman abruptly closed the window so we could see anything and pulled a blanket over her entire head and went to sleep. Thus, I concluded that she was not too excited about looking at the window.
While the final passengers were boarding an American girl came on the plane and stopped a couple rows in front of me. After storing several bags she walked up to a man sitting in the window seat in her row and said, "Sir, I think that is my seat." She repeated the phrase a couple times and seemed dismayed as she could not get the man to budge and let her have the window. It was so similar to my past experiences that I couldn't help laughing - never try to claim your window seat on an Ethiopian Airlines flight returning to the United States!
After I stumbled off the plane in DC, I tried to sleep for a bit and then watched the news to discover that neither Obama or McCain had selected Vice President running mates yet. What had they been doing the entire summer I was in Africa? When I left the big news was that Obama and McCain were the nominees and everyone was trying to guess who their running mates would be and when I came back that was still the top news story. I guess I didn't miss much by not getting to watch the news over the summer!
I boarded my flight to Seattle and was delighted to sit in my precious window seat. I hunkered down wrapped myself in a blanket and prepared for a 6 hour flight of sleeping, looking out the window and relaxing. I was only slightly concerned when a couple and a child passed my row and I feel asleep during the rest of the boarding process. While the plane was taking off, I awoke to a high pitched noise and a shock wave rippling down my back. Confused I opened my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on. Another shock wave hit my back and I realized what had disturbed my slumber - a child of about 4 years of age was seated directly behind me and was screaming and kicking the back of my seat. I decided to try to ignore it, and look out the window. However, several minutes later an announcement came that we were supposed to close our windows so people could enjoy the in-flight entertainment or sleep. I obediently complied with the closing-of-the-window request and resigned myself to a less than perfect flight as the child continued to scream and kick for the duration. I think that little boy probably has a future in sports because that is a long time to continually kick a chair. I thought about turning around and giving the kid a piece of my mind, but the parents were already really embarrassed about the child's behavior and apologizing to everyone nearby so I didn't want to make them feel worse.
Whew! Now you know about my window seat troubles. Perhaps it is better not to request a particular seat...
Window seats -the impossible treasure on international flights with Ethiopian Airlines.
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