An ongoing joke within the airline industry is the fact that most passengers manage to “check their brain with their baggage”, and then proceed to board the aircraft without any sense of common sense or propriety.
You think this is a joke? Indeed, I wish it was.
Let me offer you a real life example.
On a flight from Atlanta to Jamaica, a rather large and flustered passenger informed me that he checked his carryon bag at the gate. (A common occurrence on oversold flights – this means that his bag was placed inside the cargo hold and cannot be retrieved again until baggage claim at the final destination.) He then told me that his passport was in his checked bag, and “will I need my passport when we land in Jamaica?”
I blinked at him, completely speechless with awe at his overwhelming stupidity.
Oh I don’t know – maybe the fact that you are traveling to a foreign country and will need your passport upon landing should have crossed your mind before sending your bag off into the depths of the complicated aviation system.
He then informed me that “I am a diabetic and my insulin is in that bag too. What should I do?”
You should have kept your brain inside your head before boarding this aircraft.
Now sit down and buckle up.
Flight Attendants Anonymous 