The Santa Ana winds buffeted the United Express puddle jumper as we rocked our way from Palm Springs Airport to LAX, the horizon a flaming crimson from fires near Santa Barbara.
Aboard, a gravely voiced woman who'd announced in the terminal she'd recently had a heart attack and might need help with her luggage. Aboard also, passengers bound for Germany, a Mom and her daughter whose luggage sported a blinking-light tag and, among others, me, returning from a hospital association meeting.
And, oh yes, Sarah -- a 20-something bundle of energy, politeness and reassurance. Yes, such people still exist as airlines employees. She did everything possible to comfort the woman with the heart condition, answered questions about connections, positioned her for an easy way to "deplane" -- as some (not Sarah) talk about clambering to the terminal.
Sarah's instructions came lightly dusted with humor -- "we're fortunate to have two of our very best pilots.... I'm excited to be the first to welcome you to Los Angeles.... Your safety is my most important job, and whatever you need on this small plane, I'm just a hop, skip and a jump away."
I am so jiggy with that.
The 30-minute flight offered extra surprise. When I heard her say she and the plane would be flying to Fresno soon after landing, I immediately wheedled my way onto a stand-by list -- to avoid three dull hours in a tiny corner of LAX (there are so few straight flights to FAT, er, FYI) and a chance to see what else Sarah had in her repertoire.
I snagged the last stand-by seat on the 6:29 flight, boarded and found myself a bit crosswise with Sarah. Another passenger, a man with what I perceived as symptoms of cerebral palsy (I spent some time on the local board of UCP) was in row 2 -- and Sarah had apparently believed the ticket booker would give him the 2-seat row to himself. Instead, he had me as a seatmate -- and a packed plane to boot.
No matter. Soon Sarah was what she apparently is -- professional, polite ("pardon my reach" as she stretched past to offer my seatmate a soda), wonderfully humored, glad to be based in Palm Springs (she likes smaller airports, though her family is in Chicago -- all publicly spoken info, no insider stuff here).
As my luggage got forced way to the back on the plane, I waited on the Fresno tarmac till everyone was off for Sarah to retrieve it. There she was, hoisting me the luggage and carefully, respectfully back-pedaling by way of assisting the gentleman with a handicap down the jiggling offramp.
Sarah, United Express and travelers are fortunate to have you. And if you ever consider a career in health care, Community Medical Centers would be proud to have you on our team!