Merry Christmas: Flight's Cancelled

'Merry Christmas: Flight's Cancelled' is a way one can view the

rush-rush of the demands of travel over the holidays. This view was

at the San Francisco International Airport, Domestic Counters when a

recent Christmas flight was cancelled -- note the look on the

travelers' faces. Your ratings and critiques are invited and most

welcome. (If you rate harshly or very critically, please submit a

helpful and constructive comment/Please share your superior

knowledge to help improve my photography!) Thanks! Enjoy! John!

(Happy Holidays -- and yes, I was scheduled for this flight)

Sorry to hear your flight was cancelled. Best wishes on getting to see family for Christmas. Good capture, interesting subject. Seems a little underexposed, but I am sure the conditions were harsh. Good luck!

Katie

Actually, it was very underexposed, especially for very dark (e.g. black) skin, so I actually lightened this somewhat, but it still shows 'underexposed' but that's what you get shooting before dawn in an airport standing in a slow-moving line with a woman stalling the line with 19 (read it correctly: 19 overweight suitcases) at the very front, two counter clerks, and a cancelled flight out first thing in the A.M. to Chicago with about 200 travelers behind them delayed just in line about an hour! They rerouted me, and I ended up at my destination in plenty of time for my connection, AND I got this shot, which I think is emblematic of a certain sort of Christmas. I hustled to post this, because this photo has a 'short shelf life'.

Best holidays to you, Katie.

Thanks for commenting.

John (Crosley)

19 overweight bags. I am surprised that they did not call in INS to see if she was smuggling in a cleaning crew for a Walmart store.

Considering the ruckus over "Christmas" versus "Holiday," the photo is ironic and hysterical.

Your comment is just as hysterical as you view my photo.

A 'cleaning crew for a Wal-Mart store' had tears coming from my eyes and my belly convulsing with laughter, except I think the poor (really very rich) woman was going to Turkey first via American Airlines then to Chicago. Her first bag was over the 100 pound limit and they ultimately made her repack it, spreading the first bag's overweight clothes into some of the other bags, but only after a 45-minute delay with a growing hundred, then two hundred travelers waiting, twiddling their thumbs first at 4:00 a.m. and then 5:00 a.m. with first flight scheduled at 6:00 a.m. (and the major flight cancelled with required reroutings).

That should place these looks in context.

And what could the woman be smuggling out to Turkey -- certainly not American cigarettes such as Lucky Strikes, as they long ago announced they were a blend of American and 'Turkish' tobaccos, and Turkey has full access to everything European.

(Interestingly, however, in my first trip to a Middle Eastern nation -- if Turkey can be called that as an EU candidate -- the nighttime streets where I overnighted were full of men in Istanbul, but nary a woman -- literally thousands of grey and black bearded men wandering around talking, eating and smoking and almost no women at all. I'll look more closely in daylight next time I'm there, as well as night, as it was quite edifying and taught me a profound cultural lesson.

Turkish Airlines, however, was simply magnificent -- one of the last really good national carriers -- like KLM -- that isn't going bankrupt and knows how to give service -- they even answer the call buttons with a 'smile' that is not 'forced' and seem 'happy' to do their jobs. (unlike other airlines we all know).

Happy holidays . . . or Christmas . . . Kwanzaa or Chanukah (oh, that's over . . . well for next year). Oh, and New Year's for all the residents of the great Eastern Europe for whom that is the highlight of the year. ;~))

John (Crosley)