Idiot in the plane

If you are taking a flight, never ever say the B word, as in "bomb". That's what a stupid passenger, who I shall call Idiot, said on the flight I took back from Penang to Kota Kinabalu recently.

This is what happenned. Idiot refused to place his carry-on luggage in the overhead compartment despite being told by the flight attendant as Idiot was sitting the row where the safety exits were and no luggage are allowed on the floor or under the seat.

Apparently, in his protestations, Idiot mentioned that there was a bomb in his hand luggage. This is a big no-no for airlines, so the flight attendents took action. Idiot got booted out, a report was made with the airport's authorities and the officer came on board to check the crime scene. All this took about an hour and of course, delayed the flight.

Later, I learnt Idiot was remanded for a day to facilitate investigations and the aircraft was towed to the hangar to be securely inspected. The process took six hours, which must cost the airline loss of revenue. So, sue the Idiot already.

We were lucky that the inspection was done in Kota Kinabalu, not in Penang. If it was done in Penang, we'd have to wait another six hours. Then again, think again how much fabulous Penang food could be had in that span of time. You win some, you loose some.

(244 words)