Adventures (?) in Air Travel; California’s Perception Problem–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Feb. 15, 2024

Indy Digest: Feb. 15, 2024

Air travel these days can often be sort of terrible … unless you like airline meltdowns, cramped seats and occasional open-air flight experiences (if you’re on a Boeing Max plane).

But things can almost always get worse.

I was reminded of this when I came across a news story earlier today, about a recent Delta flight scheduled to fly from Amsterdam to Detroit. This story was covered by a variety of news outlets, but the CBS News headline is …

Actually, before I reveal this headline, I want to make sure you’re not eating, or planning to anytime soon. (Like, say, this week.) If you are, I recommend skipping down to the “From the Independent” section, where you can read lovely, non-stomach-churning pieces on things like hiking and Palm Springs pioneers.

OK? OK! You’re still with me. Scroll down past the lovely ad for the headline.

“Delta flight with maggots on plane forced to turn around.”

Ugh. Really? Yep! The details, from that aforementioned CBS News piece:

A passenger on the flight told Fox2Detroit that he saw about a dozen maggots fall from an overhead bin and land on a female passenger seated next to him. 

He initially believed the incident was a prank, but flight attendants traced the insects to a passenger’s carry-on bag, which contained “rotten fish” wrapped in newspaper, the passenger told the news outlet.

To repeat: Ugh. Really?

While this story is brief, I think the writer, CBS News’ Megan Cerullo deserves a Pulitzer, or at least a free beer, for working in some fabulous details, including the fact that it’s legal to transport meat in one’s carry-on (!), and this tidbit: “Flight tracking site FlightAware shows that the plane only got as far as the U.K. before doing a U-turn and returning to Amsterdam.” Turn-around confirmed!

But Cerullo’s writing really shines thanks to what we in the journalism world refer to as the story’s “kicker”—a memorable and/or clever ending. While some may criticize Cerullo’s kicker here as being only tangentially related or even gratuitous, I applaud it, because everyone who is reading has already been grossed out, so why not?

That kicker: “In September, unsanitary cabin conditions disrupted another Delta flight. A passengers’ explosive diarrhea forced a Delta flight from Atlanta to Barcelona because the incident amounted to a ‘biohazard issue.'”

Yep! Keep these incidents in mind when you’re dealing with a delay or a middle seat on your next flight. Things can almost always get worse.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Here’s some air-travel-related news that is 1) unrelated to everything above, thank heavens and 2) actually kind of cool: Palm Springs International Airport has started a program that allows people who aren’t getting on or off of a flight to access areas past security. According to the airport website: “The new PSP Stay and Play Pass gives non-travelers the ability to shop, dine, watch planes, greet friends and relatives when they arrive at the gate, or accompany travelers before their departing flight. Individuals interested in obtaining a PSP Stay and Play pass must fill out an online application. Once approved by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a PSP Stay and Play Pass is treated like a boarding pass to give visitors access to the terminal when the TSA checkpoint opens. Visitors must comply with the same TSA screening and inspection procedures as ticketed passengers, including holding a government-issued photo ID. After clearing security, visitors can enjoy the airport terminal in its entirety.”

• The NBC News headline is “Principal with drag queen side gig resigns under pressure from Oklahoma schools official.” Some details: “For two decades, Shane Murnan worked as an educator by day and a drag queen on nights and weekends at clubs in Oklahoma City. He won awards for his performances as he moved up in his career to become an administrator. He never had a problem with his dual identities, he said, until last year. At the start of the fall 2023 semester, as Murnan started a new job as principal of John Glenn Elementary School in the Western Heights School District, an anonymous newsletter posted about his drag persona and past criminal charges he had faced. Two days later, on Aug. 31, the far-right social media account Libs of TikTok posted about Murnan, and Ryan Walters, the incendiary state superintendent, called for him to be fired. Soon after, the district and Murnan received bomb threats, according to police records and interviews. Now Murnan is leaving his job, while Walters tries to enact rules to make it easier to fire educators who perform in drag outside of their jobs.” Sigh.

• ProPublica goes inside a meeting of Republican legislators in Tennessee—home of one of the strictest abortion laws in the country—and anti-abortion forces who want to make sure that law is not moderated at all: “During the hourlong meeting, representatives of Tennessee Right to Life and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America urged the legislators to stay the course and protect the nation’s ‘strongest’ abortion ban as it stands. They said they see Tennessee’s ban, with its tiny carve-out for life-saving procedures and steep penalties for doctors, as the best example of a law that protects every potential life—even when it means pregnant patients must face serious risks or trauma in the process. The group has released model legislation suggesting it would like to see similar language adopted across the country, not weakened by exceptions. During the call, one activist reminded the group about the law’s strict requirements for doctors. ‘The burden of proof, the onus, is on the doctor to prove that he or she was in the right.’ … A Tennessee lawmaker on the call suggested health data could be mined to track and investigate doctors, to make sure the abortions they provided to save patients’ lives were truly necessary.”

• After these last four years, news about new diseases tends to make me jumpy. Well, we now have news about a new disease, and it’s called Alaskapox, and the first person just died from it (an older person who was immunocompromised due to cancer). So far, it’s only been found in Alaska. Is it time to freak out? Probably not. Time magazine says: “It’s not clear yet how widespread the Alaskapox virus is, but (Dr. Joseph McLaughlin, staff physician in the Alaska Department of Health and the state epidemiologist), says it’s likely been circulating among animals for a long time, and that health officials have only recently detected it as people have become infected. ‘Alaskapox remains a rare disease, and we don’t have any evidence to indicate that the incidence is increasing over time,’ he says. Even so, health officials urge people with unexplained lesions and rashes to report them immediately to their doctors, who can then determine if additional testing at public health labs is needed to identify the virus.”

• There’s a new vaccine for RSV that can save lives. Unfortunately, not a lot of people are getting it. Politico reports: “Ahead of this RSV season, for the first time ever, immunization was finally approved for the most vulnerable groups of Americans, young and old. It was also recommended for those late in pregnancy, which would protect infants from birth. Would people get the jab? As this RSV season winds down, the answer is that by and large, they did not. The latest data from the CDC shows that only 16 percent of eligible pregnant people got vaccinated. Among the over 60 population, it was just over one in five. And among babies and eligible young children, the uptake was ‘low,’ the CDC said.”

• And finally … California’s reputation among the rest of the U.S. ain’t great, according to a poll recently done by the Los Angeles Times: “Half of U.S. adults believe California is in decline, a recent survey for The Times suggests. The Golden State has lost its luster, according to the naysayers. Democrats and Republicans harbor various concerns and animosity toward California. Liberals find the state too expensive and unsuitable for raising a family; conservatives disapprove of, well, almost everything. Such partisan divide fuels the negativity, with 48% of Republicans considering California ‘not really American,’ the survey found. Not really American. What does that even mean?” Read on, and you’ll see that some of these “popular” opinions about California have merit … and others most definitely do not.

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