The article, Gate 12, in the July edition brought back memories of my own experiences within the airline industry. Some years ago I was living and working in West Sussex, and attended meetings all round that County, and sometimes further afield. One night, at a meeting in the town of Crawley, I was told I had just missed a most unusual AA experience witnessed at the previous night’s meeting.
It seems a flight had come into Gatwick Airport; (in West Sussex); from the United States, and as is the norm with flight crews, they had a stop over that night before taking the flight back the following day. At that Crawley meeting there were the entire flight crew! The Captain, the First Officer, the Flight Engineer, and about six Cabin Staff. The group explained that when they were rostered together for a flight, which happened from time to time, they always made a point of attending a local meeting together, no matter where they were. I don’t know how the passengers may have felt with that information, but I know I would have felt I was in extremely capable and safe hands for that flight!
Some years later I was managing a team of airport security staff, at a major international airport. A key task which was performed was the random searching of passengers who were flying to the United States. I supervised this searching activity, and was amazed at how many men, when emptying their pockets for search, had an AA token amongst their belongings. Of course I always made some comment, like, ‘I see you are a friend of Bill W also’. Or, ‘how long have you known Dr. Bob?’ It was lovely having that fleeting moment’s contact with another AA, and so unexpected at that. At each debriefing of my team the question was always asked of me: ‘How do you know so many of these passengers?’ Of course, I never did divulge how I knew so many, and I am sure to this day some of my former colleagues still ponder on how their boss had so many acquaintances from the United States!

Bill S
Livingston