I had an interesting flight ORD-EWR. First of all, the whole crew was top notch. Channel 9 was on and announced, the FA’s were professional, and the flight flew right by, no pun intended.
We were delayed about 20 minutes from ORD thanks to a visit to the penalty box, and as soon as we took off the meal was served, which was the cheesy mystery sandwich. The purser was hilarious and attentive, and we even talked about our favorite UA things. She couldn’t stop laughing because she said that if she wasn’t laughing about the industry she’d be crying. On the descent as she attached the curtain to the bulkhead she tapped me on the shoulder and said “Psst, never cheat on me with Ted again.”
We had the bumpiest approach I’ve had so far this year, and every few minutes had a second or two of what felt like free fall.
As we taxied to the gate the captain came on the PA and announced something along the lines of “Ehhh, folks, we have an interesting situation at the gate here. You’ll see that we’re pulling up to the gate and the door might even open, but we might still have to pull forward a little, so please stay seated as the seatbelt sign will remain on for a few minutes.” I fly into and out of EWR all the time on UA and know that the gate setup isn’t that tight, so knew there was something else to it.
Well, we got to the gate, opened the door (and the jetway was pulled up to the plane), and the captain went onto the jetway. I already told my seatmate that I bet they’re looking for someone, since that was the only plausible explanation. I overheard them in the jetway saying something about a 15 year old girl, and soon enough the captain says “come on in.” Two cops and a guy in a suit with a long list walk onboard the plane, approach a certain row somewhere near the exit row, and then walk back up front.
I felt sorry for whoever they were looking for since literally everyone turned around to see what was going on.
They go back to the jetway, and I overheard them tell the captain “Well, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. We can either ask her to ring the call button or ID everyone aboard.” The captain said “I like the easy way.” The captain get on the PA, ask a specific person to ring the call button, and someone towards the back “dings.” The cops all walk back there and escort the girl out of the plane. She looked pretty “normal,” so I’d be curious to know what the story was.
The seatbelt sign then came off and I jokingly told the purser (who hates Ted) “This never happens on Ted.”
I’m now at the RCC until my brother gets here, and then we’ll check-in together for our flight to FRA continuing to MLA and head to the SEN lounge.
I’ll hopefully add another update this evening or from the First Class Terminal in FRA tomorrow morning.
The same thing happened on a flight I was on to LAS. When we landed they asked that everyone remain seated. The local LEOs boarded with the manifest in their hand and walked down the aisle to the row where the runaway was and escorted the girl off the plane.
Yep, that was my thought as well, makes the most sense.
Maybe it was a runaway.