A FAMOUS ACTRESS ONCE TRAVELED WITH US.........

This incident happened when we were coming back from Singapore. We used to fly the Airbus 310 aircraft on that route and so we had business class and Economy class. Flights from Singapore to Mumbai were always full. When we went to check in our bags we were told that we have Ms. X,( famous actress of the nineties who made her debut with Amir Khan, is still alive so I would not name her), would be flying with us.

So now we were waiting for passengers to board and I wanted to see her, as she was very pretty. Now how would I know that being pretty and a good emotional quotient do not go hand in hand ?

Never the less she was the last to board along with her maid or helper. The maid sat in the economy class and she went and sat in her seat in the business class. The flight took off. We had a bit of turbulence at the onset so the seat belt sign was on for about 30 minutes. Flying time was just about four hours.

As soon as the seat belt sign was off Ms. X came to the economy class and was talking with her maid standing in the aisle. She was making it obvious for every passenger about the fact that she was an actress and the passengers too were taking cognizance of her in the cabin. I guess she was enjoying the adulations every bit of it. The liquor service was about to start and that would be followed by the dinner service.

The aircraft aisles are narrow and it only is wide enough to allow a meal cart to pass through. Hense my Hostess went to Ms, X and politely told her to return to her seat so that the service can start. Ms, X didn't even acknowledge my hostess's presence and kept on talking with the maid. The passengers would now and then request her to give an autograph and she would happily oblige. This was the period when the mobile phone had just come into the market and people had the old Nokia phone along with them and there was no concept of a selfie.

Seeing the inordinate delay in starting the service, my hostess again went up to her and told her politely to go back to her seat and this time she acknowledged her presence but was in no mood to go back to her seat. My hostess came and told me the problem. I told her to go back to her and talk to her once more and my hostess again went to Ms,X and told her to go back to her seat. She smiled sarcastically at my hostess and continued nonchalantly talking to the maid. This situation was getting all of us agitated as we lost precious thirty minutes of work time. Time is very important in flight because we have a stipulated time to conduct the service which is greatly dependent on weather and again the DGCA's rule states that when seat belts are on all services need to be stopped and the galleys need to be secured.

Looking at the paucity of time and the crew sentiments I went to Ms, X and firmly told her to go back to her seat now. She turned towards me in defiance and said, "Do you know who I am ?" I politely but firmly told her, "No ma'am I don't know, and to me, you are just a seat number so please go back to your seat and let the service in the economy class begin. In business class, the service is already in progress". I was loud enough for the other passengers to hear me. Upon hearing this she was dumbstruck and without much ado, she went back to her seat, and from then on it was a smooth ride.

I was a little apprehensive that I would get a show-cause notice for not being polite to my passenger and that too a business class passenger but I guess my Inflight Supervisor covered up for me as I did not get any explanation letter. I have had many such experiences with our very own Bollywood actors and actresses and most of the time they did cut a very sorry figure for themselves. I have found that they are very insecure about themselves and there is a constant urge for them to feel recognized and they always want to be pampered.