The Rerouted Skytress

Prisoners on a plane. No. I’m not talking about dramatic passengers talking about their ordeal of being on the airplane longer than they wanted. I’m not talking about the movie Conair, where the prisoners take over the plane, either. Nope. I’m talking about actual prisoners on our airplanes. Say, what?! Yes. Every once in awhile we have prisoners travel on our airplanes. Don’t worry. They aren’t traveling alone. They have law enforcement escorts. You will most likely never know you have a prisoner on board your flight. But, your crew will know. We are informed about these things. Even if we weren’t informed about these things we would figure it out. Yessiree. Skytresses and Skyters can pick prisoners out on the airport concourses from a mile away. Heck. It’s just another one of our super powers.

Let me reassure everyone that the prisoners on our airplanes are nonviolent. You, also, aren’t going to have a prisoner as your seat mate. Well, unless of course you are the law enforcement officer escorting them. For security purposes I can’t divulge the protocols that take place when a prisoner is on board. I will, however, disclose some of my favorite stories of having prisoners on my flights. After all, they are pretty good stories. I thought about some of these stories the other day as we headed to West Palm Beach. You see, we had a prisoner on board with his escorts. They all were watching the basketball game on their respective screens chitchatting away with one another. I must say, the prisoner had the best smelling food I’ve smelled on an airplane in months. If this was his last meal for awhile on the outside, he sure picked a good one. Yessiree. It’s not often that I am envious of a prisoner on our airplane.

A prisoner on the plane story that always stands out in my mind happened when I was a Skytress based in Cincinnati. My boyfriend at the time, Captain Pilot, and I were heading to Louisville. He was flying the plane. I had just finished my trip and was heading to Louisville to spend the layover with him. Since I was still in my Skytress uniform, I asked the agents if they would like me to help them pull tickets as the passengers boarded the airplane. They were very appreciative for the help. Most passengers handed me their tickets individually. Every once in awhile a family or couple would board together and one person in the group would hand me all the tickets. The last three passengers came to the boarding podium. They were three adult men. The one gentleman handed me three tickets. I thought it was a bit odd that they didn’t hand me their own tickets. But, odd is pretty much normal when you are a Skytress. So, I didn’t think too much after they walked past me to get on the plane. The agents thanked me for the help and then I, too, went down the jetway to board the plane. I was the last passenger on the plane. The row in front of the three gentlemen that boarded last was completely vacant. So, I sat down to have a row to myself. It was then I started to put the pieces together. Three unlikely men boarded the plane together. One handed me all the tickets. He handed me all the tickets because the guy in the middle couldn’t. The last guy had his hands on the guy in the middle. The agents had moved passengers forward of the row the gentlemen were sitting in. Duh!! I was sitting in front of a prisoner and his escorts. I chuckled on the inside. When Captain Pilot and I got off the airplane he asked me if I knew that we had a prisoner on the flight. Since I wasn’t working the flight I wasn’t privy to this information. I told Captain Pilot I had figured it all out AFTER I sat down in the row ahead of them. Captain Pilot teasingly asked me if I asked the prisoner what he had done to get himself into his predicament. I told Captain Pilot I was too scared to ask. But, I was dying to know. This is typical when we have a prisoner on board. Everyone is curious to know the details. However, no one is ever brave enough to ask. Well, except for my Skytress friend Darlene . Darlene was brave enough.

Skytress Darlene, Skyter Robin and I were flying from Cincinnati to Phoenix. The gate agent informed us we would have an escorted prisoner on our flight. I was overly curious when the escorted prisoner boarded the plane. The escorted prisoner appeared to be a weathered, old gentleman. I immediately felt sad for the guy. Ah, heck. I always feel sad for the prisoners. After all, they are heading to prison. I wondered about the prisoner throughout the boarding process. I wondered about him as we set out to start our in-flight service. Skytress Darlene was on the backside of our beverage cart. I knew she would be the one to serve the prisoner and the law enforcement officers. As I served the passengers on my side of the cart, I could see Skytress Darlene talking with the law enforcement guys while she was pouring their drinks. They were laughing with her. Yessiree. Skytress Darlene has a beautiful knack for making everyone feel at ease. It’s one of her amazing Skytress powers. When we returned to the galley, Skytress Darlene told Skyter Robin and me that the law enforcement officers were really cool. She told us she had a great rapport going with them. Skyter Robin jokingly asked Darlene if she had found out what crime the prisoner had committed. Darlene told Robin that she hadn’t. But, she was going to ask when she went to pick up the trash. Robin and I laughed. We thought she was just kidding. No siree. Darlene was serious. We knew by the way Darlene turned to the main cabin with a pep in her step that she was going to ask the million-dollar question, “What did you do?” Robin and I eagerly waited in the first-class galley for Darlene to return. Skytress Darlene had a huge smile on her face when she returned. Holy moly! Darlene did what no Skytress or Skyter was ever brave enough to do. At least not any Skytress or Skyter I’ve flown with. Darlene actually asked the prisoner what crime he committed. Robin and I were gobsmacked. The prisoner told Darlene he got caught selling drugs. Skytress Darlene joked with the prisoner that he was old enough to know better. The prisoner agreed. He told Darlene he was in his fifties. He was definitely old enough to know better than to sell drugs. Robin and I were dumbstruck by this revelation. Well, I should clarify this. We could believe the gentleman got caught selling drugs. However, we couldn’t believe he was in his fifties. The gentleman was the spitting image of the cartoon character Popeye the sailor man. Only a seventy- year old, missing teeth, gray haired Popeye. The three of us stood in the galley laughed at our preconceived ideas about the prisoner. We were also in complete agreement that this man’s mugshot should be used as a deterrent for using drugs. No one, I mean no one, wants to look like an over-aged Popeye.

I sure wish I was brave enough as Skytress Darlene when I had another escorted prisoner on my flight. The curiosity of what crime this gentleman committed still haunts me. I was the Skytress In-Charge on this particular flight. We were flying from Pensacola to Dallas. I was informed by the gate agent that we would have an escorted prisoner. I took this information in stride. That is until the prisoner and his escorts sat down in first class. I was baffled. Never have I had a prisoner and his escorts sit in first class. I know I told you for security reasons I wouldn’t divulge security protocol. But, I will divulge this. Prisoners don’t sit in first class. I observed the gentleman when he sat down. I immediately concocted an explanation for his first class seat. I decided the prisoner had committed a white collar crime. He looked like a proper businessman. I was convinced he used his frequent flyer miles to upgrade himself and his escorts. Obviously, he wasn’t going to be able to use them for awhile.

I still think about several incidents that occurred on my flights that involved juvenile delinquents. Unlike the prisoners, these young men where not escorted on our airplane. Heck. We didn’t even know they were on board until after the fact. Fortunately for you all, this makes these stories that more interesting. At least I hope it does. The first story happened after we arrived at the gate in Atlanta. I was the Skytress-In Charge. During deplaning, I noticed a gentleman had walked down the jetway and was patiently waiting a few feet from the airplane door . Even though it was prior to 9-11 and airport security was much different, I questioned the gentleman. Yessiree folks. That’s good Skytress training kicking in. The gentleman informed me he was there to pick up a juvenile delinquent. I immediately wondered why I wasn’t privy to this information before we landed in Atlanta. I apologized to the man. I told the gentleman I wasn’t aware we had a juvenile on board that was to be met on deplaning. The gentleman didn’t seem too upset by this information. In fact, he nonchalantly told me the juvenile he was waiting for would be wearing a red shirt. Thus, it would be easy to identify the young man. Our deplaning was almost complete and I could tell there wasn’t a young man on the aircraft. I went back to ask my crew if there was a young man in the bathroom. I explained to my crew that a gentleman was in the jetway waiting for a juvenile delinquent in a red shirt. The one Skytress on my crew had an “ah-ha” moment. She told me during the beverage service a young man reached under his seat and pulled out a shirt from a black Hefty garbage bag. While she took his beverage order, he changed his shirt. She thought it was extremely odd that he changed his shirt while he sat in his seat instead of going to the bathroom to change. But, oddity is pretty normal in the airline world. So she poured his drink and moved on to serve the next passenger. She told me the young man changed from a red shirt to a blue shirt. She said he was sitting towards the front of the main cabin. I turned to head back to the jetway to relay this information to the the gentleman. As I was walking up the aisle, I noticed a black trash bag under a seat. Under normal circumstances I would have decided this bag was just leftover trash from a passenger. I opened the bag. Inside the bag was clothing. There on the top of several items of clothing was a red shirt. I smiled at the cleverness of the young man. He was well aware a man would be looking for him in his red shirt. He outsmarted everyone. I disclosed my discovery to the gentleman in the jetway. I retold him the story my Skytress told me about the young man changing his shirt on the plane. I told him the young man was now wearing a blue shirt. The gentleman took in all this information in stride. He didn’t seem alarmed or surprised. I apologized again for not knowing we had a juvenile delinquent on board. Heck. I could have detained him during deplaning. Amazingly, the gentleman was not alarmed that the young man had evaded him. Instead, he calmly looked me in the eyes and told me not to worry. He said he would find him in the airport. Part of me believed him. The other part of me cheered for the clever young man. The gentleman in the jetway may not have been aware that Atlanta is the world’s busiest airport. Something in my gut told me the juvenile delinquent knew this information and was going to use it to his advantage. Something in my gut also told me if this young man didn’t turn his life around, he could easily end up being an escorted prisoner on one of our planes in a few years.

Another juvenile on one of my flights wasn’t as lucky as the young man in Atlanta. No siree. He was apprehended before the passengers deplaned. I was completely shocked when it happened, too. We had just landed in Cincinnati. The Captain called the crew to inform us we had a runaway juvenile delinquent on our plane. The authorities were waiting to apprehend him when we arrived at our gate. The Captain explained he was going to make an announcement for all the passengers to remain seated when we arrived at the gate. He would inform the passengers we had a passenger that needed assistance on our arrival. As we slowly taxied to our gate, the Captain made his announcement. I wondered which passenger from Phoenix was our runaway. I was flabbergasted when two gentleman walked on our plane and escorted a young man off. I had served the young man during our flight. He was extremely polite. I had multiple questions swirling around my head. I wondered how he purchased his ticket. I wondered how he got to the airport and through security. Mostly, though, I wondered what he was running away from. Instead of being relieved the authorities had caught him, I felt sad for the young man. I was convinced a polite young man, such as this young man, couldn’t be a bad seed. The whole situation confused me. I had so many questions I needed to be answered. I had more questions after a passenger told me the authorities put shackles around the young man’s legs. The passenger could see the shackles as the juvenile walked down the outside stairs to the awaiting car. I prayed this young man would eventually have a better life. I didn’t want to ever see him end up as an escorted prisoner on one of our planes.

Yes. We Skytresses and Skyters may speculate why a prisoner ends up on one of our airplanes. Sometimes we get silly when we try to figure out the predicament. However, we always circle back how sad we feel for them. Heck. We are flying off somewhere to either enjoy our layover, or head home. They are going off to be booked and placed in jail. I’m sure these prisoner passengers are scared. I’m sure they are questioning the bad decisions they’ve made. Heck. I question their decisions. Even though these prisoners are nonviolent, they are still being escorted by law enforcement agents. I’ll admit. I am always impressed with the agents. They always treat the prisoners with dignity and care. I know my fellow Skytresses, Skyters and I do the same. I’m proud to say, other passengers never know we are serving an escorted prisoner. We offer them hospitality with a smile. After all, it may just be the last friendly smile they encounter in awhile. I know I find myself praying for these individuals all through the flight. I think and pray for them even after the flight. I know it is by the grace of God that I am not in their situation. I’ll admit. I much prefer a Skytress uniform to a prisoner’s uniform. Hopefully, God always prefers it this way for me, too.