Opinion: Sometimes humans pretty nice to be around

I’m hardly a frequent flyer, but a few times most years, I find myself in an airport participating in the once-glamorous ritual of air travel. Last Saturday was one of those times.

The last connection, from Dallas to Lubbock, had issues from the get-go. Boarding was delayed because of excessive heat on the aircraft. When we finally staggered on, the cabin air could only be called sweltering. Sweat was pouring down the faces of our two flight attendants as they gamely ran through the obligatory safety lecture, issuing the always ironic reminder to “breathe normally” if oxygen masks are deployed, and also letting us know that our plane was equipped with two lavatories, one at the front for first class passengers, and one at the rear “reserved for passengers traveling in coach.” (This is important because we all know those first class passengers are biding their time for the moment they can shove aside their china and silverware, rip the linen napkins from their collars, and race to the back of the plane to use “our” lavatory.)

We eventually pushed back from the jet way, but then ended up stalled on the tarmac. We waited. And we waited. When the flight attendant came on the intercom asking for a show of hands for passengers traveling with small children so ice could be distributed to avoid dehydration (I’m not kidding), we knew it looked grim. When they announced moments later we were returning to the terminal because of undetermined mechanical problems, there was a cheer.

But here’s the amazing thing: In spite of way too much time spent on the hottest plane I’ve ever been on, an hours-long delay, numerous changed departure times, and eventually a new plane (hallelujah!) from a different gate, not a single passenger became noticeably unruly or cross or ugly.

To be fair, this was a Saturday afternoon flight to Lubbock, so nobody was missing a connecting flight, and it’s not likely anyone was cheated out of a meeting or an important interview.

Still it was heartening to watch 65 people, most of whom where strangers, make the best of a tough situation. The moms of the youngest children set up a play area with shared toys behind a ticket desk. Most of us ended up getting ice cream and swapping stories. Our two flight attendants and the gate agent all kept their senses of humor and generously shared them with us.

Once we finally boarded a much cooler plane and had to listen to safety instructions again (because goodness knows, we had all forgotten how to fasten our safety belts by then), the flight attendant said, “In the event we need to evacuate this plane ... but, hey, why would we want to? This one has air.”

You don’t hear about it often enough, but sometimes humans are pretty nice to be around. They were on Saturday.

Betty Williamson almost lied about having a small child so she could score an ice cube. You may reach her at

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