I have an old friend who is a six foot tall, elegant looking, Tony-award-winning actress. Her parents are both doctors, and she went to the UN International School in NYC and a Seven Sisters college. She is friends with Glenn Close. Everything about her looks and manner screams "I fly first class." And she's black. So people routinely question her when she gets in the first class lines.

ION I just cried at my desk because my coworker sent me a picture of her six year old in the recovery phase from today's thoracic surgery to remove a lesion that may be a recurrance of the cancer he had as an infant (they found the lesion on his FIVE YEAR SUPPOSED TO BE ALL CLEAR SCAN) and fuck everything.

Oh, man, flea.

Yeah, I was assuming the people who were preboarding had the bad taste to be POC, and therefore shouldn't actually be allowed to preboard, no matter what their excuse, because of course it's an excuse and not a legitimate reason, because only white people have legitimate reasons for needing to preboard or be at Starbucks.

I don't even know. I'm flying Southwest (and we're in the air RIGHT NOW! Because we're living in THE FUTURE!) so there isn't even first class. He was at the top of the As, that is the Southwest version of business class where if you fly enough you get to board first AFTER the pre-boarders. I was also in this group because I did the most bougie thing of paying extra to board earlier than the B group I'd been assigned to. I just wanted to make sure I got a window seat towards the front of the plane because I'm, allegedly, working through this cross-country trip and wanted to make sure I wasn't stuck in between people.

Anyway, he (and the lady who also complained) were bitching about how many pre-boarders there were and how they "didn't look like they needed pre-boarding." The guy was like "they should let the business select people go first." Dude, if you wanted special treatment due to your super important businessman status, fly a less socially equable airline!

I *think* his point comparing to the Starbucks racist incident was something like the gate agents were afraid to ask the pre-boarders if they were legitimately in need of pre-boarding in case the agent would be accused of prejudice? or something? It made as much sense as a typical Trump tweet. And he turned around and nodded at me like it was an okay thing to say because I'm a white lady and I lost my mind. I hope he feels a bit ashamed but I sincerely doubt it.

I've done that sort of pre-boarding when I have bad migraines. It's been a lifesaver.

Right! I told the lady who complained that you can never tell what someone is dealing with just by looking at them. She bitched that she hadn't done pre-boarding when she was undergoing chemotherapy. Like, somehow the people pre-boarding were getting away with something that she hadn't been able to do. or something. Again, not really a ton of sense making. I *may* have sighed dramatically and said "I'm so embarrassed for white people" which is when she called me nasty. Well, I'm no Ruth Bader Ginsburg in my ability to control my anger, that's for sure.

I have used pre-boarding over the last year after the back surgery because I was generally okay walking or sitting, but standing for long periods made my back seize up. God knows what people thought about me -- probably that I was fat and lazy.

I mean, as I've gotten older, I've gotten more mentally stringent about people who don't feel like they have to follow the rules everyone else does. Like people who get up when the seat belt sign is still on. THE SIGN IS STILL ON. And I'm sure people occasionally pre-board when they don't need to, just to make sure they get room for their suitcase.

But honestly, so what? You're lining up to get on a giant metal tube. No one is going anywhere. At least I keep my judgment internal, and also NOT BASED ON RACE.

And I'm sure people occasionally pre-board when they don't need to, just to make sure they get room for their suitcase.

Yeah, I don't really know how the airline determines who can pre-board but I'm certainly not going to try to judge. It's never so many people that there aren't loads of seats available all over the plane (even on SW where seats aren't assigned). This was a larger group than i've normally seen pre-boarding but it took just a couple of minutes to get them all onboard so it wasn't THAT many people.

This reminds me that I need to make sure my dad, who has Parkinson's and mobility issues and a heart thing that tires him easily, has pre-boarding for our flight together at the end of the month. And figure out how to organize getting him a wheelchair in the airports.

It's definitely harder on Southwest because preboarding actually means they can/will get a better seat. Unlike on airlines that assign seats, where its max a benefit of being able to fit your suitcase on.

The outrage of "Someone's getting away with something!" over petty things exhausts me. Oh, the transaction you just made takes an extra $2 out of your bank account for 24 hours to cover unexpected things, but you always get it back. But you're outraged that the company is, what, making a quarter of a cent interest somehow? In a universe of outrages, that's what makes your blood pressure spike to Krakatoa levels?

I still treasure the memory of coming back from the New Orleans F2F. At the airport, I was checking my bag and this woman comes up with a large-ish handtruck of luggage and starts to push in front of me ... and the nice man told her he'd get to her when he had my one bag taken care of. Later, standing in the interminable security line, airport staff were going through to pull out the people whose flights were leaving early so they didn't miss it ... and the same woman goes up ... and shortly thereafter is sent back (complaining loudly) because her flight didn't leave for a while.

Sometimes there is some justice.

The outrage of "Someone's getting away with something!" over petty things exhausts me.

Right? It's not "I'm not getting what I need" it's "Somebody is getting something they don't deserve". Tiresome.