As some of you know, I spent a handful of years as Manager of Customer Service for an airline. I used take great care to write down details of some of the more “interesting” experiences I stumbled into during my time at the airline. Frankly, I’ve been encouraged on more than one occasion to write a book about it. Since I can barely write a blog, that seems like an ambitious undertaking, but maybe this will be the start of something fun.

Anyone that has been involved in a customer facing position anywhere can attest to the fact that people can do some really strange sh*t in public, and I know of no level of strange that exceeds that of a busy airport. My arrival at Washington National Airport in the fall of 2000 was kind of an accident, perhaps fate. Beginning my airline career as a pilot, and ending at as an airport manager was not in my plan, but in the end…it was one helluva lot of fun. Bonds built then exist still today, and I’m kind of looking forward to sharing some of the lighter side of my time at the airport.

I’m going to start this with a few stories, but more may come later. The names you will see have been changed to protect the guilty, and me. I’m not planning on this being a weekly thing, but I will drop a new airport story in from time to time. Look for the first story in the series, Can I Smell the Captain’s Breath, very soon.

Airport Stories – A New MJ on Travel Series

Can I Smell the Captain’s Breath

He Grabbed Your What?

Should I Listen to TSA or the Guy With the Gun?

Are You the &%$##@@!! Manager?

How to Bounce a Drunk in 25 Words or Less

The Day I Got Flowers from a Man

Here Kitty Kitty

Four People, 16 Carry Ons, and the Only Day I Ever Wished I Could Erase