I was at the Salt Lake City airport recently, waiting for my flight when the gate agent finished boarding and closed another flight. Next thing I see is a normal looking man, in a suit, running full speed toward that gate and demanding to get on the plane.

Suit Man: “I just got here. We couldn’t take off on time because there was something wrong with the bathroom on our plane,” he said and rolled his eyes.
Gate Agent: “I’m sorry, sir. ” She gave him an apologetic look. “This flight is all checked in.”
Suit Man: “Can’t you hold the plane? This is my connecting flight. Didn’t you know I was coming?”
Gate Agent: “I actually held the flight open until 8 minutes before departure to wait for connections, when we’re really supposed to close it 10 minutes before.”
Suit Man: “But the plane hasn’t left yet. You could just call them and get me on.”
Gate Agent: “I’m sorry. The flight’s closed now. All the paperwork’s done.”
Suit Man: “This is bullshit! All because my flight left late.” He glares at the gate agent as if she’d sabotaged the plane’s bathroom herself. “When’s the next flight?”
Gate Agent: She checks the computer. “Eight o’clock tonight.”
Suit Man: “What? I’ll miss my meeting! What do you expect me to do for the next four hours?”
Gate Agent: She hands him a piece of paper. “You can use this voucher to purchase dinner.”
Suit Man: “What’s this worth?” He looks at the voucher. “Eight dollars?” He throws it back at her. “You can keep it. I can’t believe I’m going to miss my meeting in San Diego, all because of something broken in the bathroom. Ridiculous! What am I going to do now?”

Um, work on anger management? Although, I’d kept my mouth shut during this exchange, I kept thinking the obvious: If they held the flight for you jerko, then other people would lose their connections. And not because of a broken bathroom, either (snicker, snicker). Very rude that he does not care about this.

Have you ever noticed someone who looks perfectly nice, go all psycho on a gate agent? It’s quite surprising. Like the passenger gets road rage or something. I wonder if there’s a hormone released when you travel that causes people to go postal when someone cuts them off in traffic or when their flight’s delayed at the airport.

What do you think? Is it just the regular rudies that go off on airport personnel? Or is there some travel hormone released that brings out the Dark Side of the otherwise polite?