Air travel can be stressful for anyone, but Lunchbox recently had an airport experience that left him more frustrated than usual.
It all started when he arrived at his gate and noticed that the seating area was packed. While trying to find a place to sit, he spotted a row of wheelchairs, about 20 of them, sitting unused. In need of a seat, he figured, why not sit in a wheelchair for a few minutes before boarding? What happened next caught him completely off guard. A gate agent approached and politely informed him that the wheelchairs were reserved for passengers who actually needed assistance getting on and off the plane. Lunchbox, momentarily confused, pointed out that there were plenty of other empty seats and that he was just trying to sit for a few minutes. But the gate agent insisted: those wheelchairs had to be available for any passenger who might need them when the plane arrived.
While Lunchbox admitted he understood the reasoning, he couldn’t help feeling that the agent’s enforcement was a little overzealous. “I wasn’t wheeling down the hall or taking it for a ride,” he said. He just wanted a quick seat. Still, the rule made sense: if everyone decided to sit in the wheelchairs, then when someone truly needed one, none would be available. The situation left him standing against the wall, a little annoyed but also a bit amused by the absurdity of it all.
Adding to the frustration was the issue of Southwest’s early bird check-in, which Lunchbox said is never paid for by the company. Being one of the big personalities on a major morning show, he figured that an extra $20 for early check-in wouldn’t be too much to ask. Instead, he found himself stressing over the countdown to boarding, refreshing the system to see if he could secure a window seat. Every second felt critical as he worried he’d end up stuck in the middle.
The boarding process added more tension. He scanned the back of the plane and saw only three window seats remaining. The thought of having to push past fellow passengers crossed his mind, adding to the already high-strung moment. Luckily, the person in front of him wanted an aisle seat, leaving him with one of the last remaining windows. Looking back, Lunchbox laughed at the lessons learned from the trip. First, the airline is strict about wheelchairs being reserved for those who truly need them. Second, as much as he might have wished otherwise, sometimes the company won’t pay for early bird check-in, even for its "most public faces."