CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – I have been binge-watching Airline. It’s an airport-based reality drama about all the things that go wrong at the airport. “No, sir, your pot-belly pig cannot go on your flight.” “No, ma’am, you cannot take fresh lobster onto the plane.” “Yes, Mama, we’re looking for your unaccompanied kids who wandered away from the gate area.”
In almost all of these situations the passengers are in the wrong, and the airline staff has to take their frustration and abuse. And staff must be firm yet polite. They’re not allowed to yell back. As one Southwest Airlines supervisor says, “We don’t teach people to be friendly; we hire friendly people.”
The most contentious situations are passengers who are drunk and flights that are oversold. Passengers who are inebriated are denied boarding, as they cannot risk having an incident in-flight. Of course, the passengers say they’re perfectly sober. And passengers never comprehend that flights are oversold on the assumption that there are always no-shows. In one episode, paying customers were bumped by a flight crew. Paying customers missed their flight because an entire flight would have been scrapped if the flight crew didn’t get there.
I’ve come to admire the patience of the airline staff. Obviously it’s not the fault of the employee at the podium when a flight is overbooked. The person in baggage claim isn’t responsible for luggage that’s lost. And yet they deal with yelling passengers. The pilot doesn’t control the weather. (And I’m not unsympathetic when someone arrives in Baltimore and their luggage is in Boston.)
What’s the biblical lesson in all of this? We are told in Proverbs, the book of timeless wisdom, “a kind word turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
I find flying to be a frustrating experience. If something goes wrong, I’m too quick to lose my temper. My challenge to myself, and to you, is this: the next time you encounter someone who has no control over a frustrating situation, can you have the grace to behave like a Christ-follower?
Chris Conley
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