'Perils' of Air Travel

With all the travel going on this time of year, perhaps you, or someone you know, has met with air travel problems — ticket glitches, baggage loss or damage, weather and other delays.

Big inconvenience.
Big hassle.
But imagine you work in show business; you probably must travel constantly, during all seasons, you just HAVE to be in St. John’s or Winnipeg for tonight’s 9 p.m. show.
Your livelihood and your reputation depend on it!
We can recall the famous 'United Breaks Guitars' incident and musical follow-up with musician Dave Carroll of a few years ago.
Imagine, too, that that some travel situations can be hilarious.
Here's one of these stories, as related some time back by Jerry Lewis on the 'Larry King Show' on CNN.
Transparency: I’m a big Jerry Lewis fan, particularly for his decades of tireless work for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I have one of the 60 forms of muscular dystrophy. By the way, his comic and cinematic talents are no slouches, either.
One day, he was on a 747 British Air bound for London, alongside an old friend, the legendary jazz pianist, Grorge Shearing.
The two had been boarded first; Shearing is blind, travelling with his guide dog, and Lewis has a complex set of heart ailments.
They were still chatting away when the pilot strode down the aisle, recognized Shearing, and confessed to being a great fan of his music. Great chat!
The pilot then asked the two passengers if there was anything he could provide to make their flight more comfortable.
Shearing admitted that he had arrived at the air terminal at the 'last minute' and had not been able to walk Alex, his guide dog, before boarding.
The pilot, who had not yet carried out his pre-flight ground inspection, replied that he would be delighted to take the dog with him.
They left, and the two friends settled in for a longer chat, for it would take several minutes to board all the passengers.
Shearing asked for a 'progress report' on Alex and the pilot, and ... and Lewis related what he saw, according to the interview transcript:
"I said, 'Well, let me look.'
I take a look out the window, and they're just beginning to let the passengers on, not through the tube we walk on on the plane, but on the tarmac.
The steps were here, and people are coming out the gate.
Now, they're walking out ... slowly ... towards the plane, and then ... they all see the captain walking around the plane with a seeing-eye dog.
And then you saw people going, 'Well, -- maybe we should -- no, look.'
And I'm explaining it all to George, who was hysterical!"
-- A moment for pause.