To all my American readers, Happy Thanksgiving! I’m certainly thankful for all of you who came out to do some Crankyspotting in Phoenix on Monday. I’d say we had 12 to 15 folks, including one who brought a big box of old timetables and inflight magazines. And yes, we had a couple of good sightings, including a Transavia-painted 737 operating for Sun Country. Maybe even more amazing was that we had three women show up as well, and I have proof.
(Ok, so one was my wife, but it still counts.)
Of course, there are other things to be thankful for this year. As always, I turn the day over to Robert to remind us of the riches that can be had.
As the leaves flutter gently from the trees, the change of seasons reminds us that a most special time of year is soon upon us. The calendar tells us that this time is Thanksgiving. So let us reflect on the True Meaning of Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is not a time to give thanks. Thanksgiving is a time to get bumped.
Perhaps the great challenges of the last many years are subsiding. The shocks of the prior decade, while remembered, have been given some time to pass. So now we hope that more people are ready to be on the move on these most important days of Black Wednesday and the following Sunday. With such demands, our fine aviation system must groan under the weight of so much travel. And from this, a flurry of freebies for the very patient must arrive. Perhaps we can hope for an avalanche of bumps, like the days of yore. An avalanche at Phoenix Sky Harbor, the Hub of Riches, is an unequaled sight of sheer beauty in its chaos. But nothing is guaranteed these days. Smart systems that make ever more carefully crafted decisions for us make it ever harder to score the bump.
Now it is time for me to play the age old tradition of “do as I say, not as I do”. For this year I stoop to a new low. I will spend my Thanksgiving on the other side of the world, where there is no Thanksgiving. There will little so bumping to be had this far away. Yes, I have become inexcusably lazy, by trading out the intoxicating rush of the bump for a quiet hide at a far off beach. Have mercy on my dwindling stash of freebies.
So may the rest of you carry the torch! Make your way forth, and be bountifully blessed with bumps!
With rewarding wishes,
..robert