I just spent a long weekend back on the east coast – taking Zach to see his great-grandmother for her 90th birthday party. We flew back last night from Philadelphia and while we waited to pre-board I saw a familiar face walking towards the gate. I leaned over to Dana and asked “Is that Mayor McGinn?”
After boarding, as Dana was getting Zach into his car seat on the plane, I kept an eye towards first class to see if it was really him – as I assumed that he’d be seated up there. I didn’t see him boarding with the first class passengers, but about ten minutes later he walked past us and took his seat in one of the last rows in coach. And it was definitely him.
When the plane landed at Sea-Tac, we let everyone de-plane before us as we had several bags, a sleeping 18-month old and a car seat to juggle. From his back-of-the-plane seat he was one of the very last people to walk up to the exit, and I asked him if anyone else recognized him. He said only one person at the gate in Philly. Not even the couple wearing Seahawks jerseys in the back row of the plane seemed to know that the mayor of the city we were flying to was sitting a few feet from them.
Hope you mentioned and took credit for fighting the crazies on his behalf.
What is the point?
Was McGinn on personal business and trying to save a buck? I would be interested if the latter was the case though I suspect there are few govt. affairs that he can handle without staff. Did he have staff with him?
Are you saying he is parsimonious? I wold hope most folks already know this. McGinn seems like a nice, well meaning guy .. though from all I have read, he met his peter principle a while ago.
How many folks do you think would recognize Patty Murry? I have flown on a plane with her and, other than myself, I think a few folks seemed to notice. Others either were uninterested or too polite to say anything.
i wish mcginn would come to bellevue and kick kemper freeman’s pale ass into mercer slough.
I don’t know if I would recognize him if I was sitting beside him. He just doesn’t have that recognizable a face, looks pretty much like 20% of the other men his age.
I had a chance to spend some time with former mayor Royer once, and he was instantly recongizable.
Of course, I often have a hard time recognizing people outside of the context with which I am used to seeing them. I had a fellow come up to me at a U.W. football game, call me by name, and chat with me like we were old friends. Problem was, I couldn’t figure out how he knew me (but I was too embarrased to ask). It was a good ten minutes later I realized he was the UPS guy who deliveres packages to our office every day, and had been doing so for several years.
Too many mayors & other officials travel with a squad of cops to make them look like someone needing bodyguards. Keep it real Mr Mayor, and thanks for the report, Lee.
A three day weekend worth of not getting recognized might be a really nice thing for a mayor.
This is the dumbest thing I’ve read in a long time. Whats the point? Elected officials are like us, live among us, and do “stuff” like take their trash out, and fly coach to mayors association meetings. What you thought the city would spring for first class in a good economy? I’d need 4 hands to count the number of times I could just walk up to an elected official and get all Ozwald on them.
@7
I was more surprised by the fact that he was unrecognized by the other passengers than anything else.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised that he wasn’t flying first class, but people are still springing for first class in this economy. Every flight I’ve been on in the past 2 years has had a full cabin up there. But it’s certainly true that people would scream bloody murder about it if he had.
# 8: More people are opting for first class for several reasons:
(a) The airlines are offering access to special lines through security. You still have to take off your shoes, jacket, belt, etc., but you don’t have to wait in line to do so.
(b) Since airlines are charging for checked bags, more people are carrying on bigger bags than ever before. Because the seat pitch is slightly larger in first class, that means more baggage space in the overhead bins per passenger. And since first class loads first, if you have a bigger bag than you should, it becomes somebody else’s problem (the last guys boarding find they don’t have room for their own bags, no matter how small).
(c) Frequent flyer miles allow for upgrades, so some of those first class passengers aren’t paying for it.
Last week I travelled to Louisville to a business meeting, one of those attending had been at a meeting in Seattle just the day before. She travels at least twice a week by air, and has so much frequent flyer milage she never has to fly economy, even though her company will only spring for economy tickets.
In Defense of FC
Working in the cattle car can be impossible. I sometimes pay extra for FC if I have a lot of work to get done.
In re celebrity, if the Mayor were more recognizable, the cattle car might not be a very comfortable place to get a modicum of privacy.
Also, I suspect mayors get an awful lot of miles and would certainly prefer they use those to upgrade business travel rather than for personal junkets.