Flying from Seattle to Phoenix tonight. Full flight. I’m grateful I haven’t been witness to any egregiously bad behavior on board. I’m sure I’ll encounter it sooner or later, but for now I’ll leave the terrible behavior on the page.

Somehow I won the flight lottery and pulled group A for boarding. With assigned seating and always checking my bag, my boarding order has never been a big deal for me. But still, I’d never been group A. I was waiting to ask the gate agent about whether it was going to be a full flight or not when I overheard her conversation with the steel gray bun.

“But if the seat is open, why can’t you move my husband to the window seat?”

The gate agent bore the interrogation with aplomb, but the crinkles at her eyes belied her frustration. “I’m seeing what I can do, ma’am.” She tapped at her keyboard and frowned. “I’m sorry, ma’am, the system won’t let me move anyone into that seat.”

“I don’t understand,” the steel haired lady said, her volume increasing with each protestation.

Another gate agent, an older man with salt and pepper hair perfectly trimmed and a pencil thin mustache stepped next to the frustrated agent and spoke to her in hushed tones.

She pointed at the screen and quietly explained the issue.

“This is silly,” the steel woman said, voice rising higher.

The man met her with piercing blue eyes and silenced her with a curt, “Ma’am” whose tone made it the most strident order to cease talking. The woman looked outraged and was about to say something when the senior gate agent raised an eyebrow. The steel woman stopped talking.

He nodded at the original gate agent and said, “Ah, this is N47869. That’s why that seat isn’t available.”

“But it shows as available online,” the steel woman said brandishing her phone.

“Ma’am, that seat is not available. The online information is wrong. Please sit down.”

“But..”

“Now.”

And she did.

And so did I, because my query wasn’t worth even asking at that point t. Besides, group A what?!?!

So I was surprised when the seat being discussed – 12A – was occupied. I was 12C, so I settled in and waited for the rest of the flight to board. The man sat with his fedora low over his eyes, like he was already napping. The fedora looked good on him, and I dug his style.

However, the steel woman appeared indicating she was in the middle seat. I stood up and she plopped down in 12B. She wasted no time trying to plead her case.

“Sir? Sir?” She said too loudly for a person sitting right next to her to hear.

He didn’t respond. Instead, just adjusting his hat further over his eyes.

Undeterred, the steel lady pressed on. “Sir, would you trade seats with my husband? He’s back in 22B. You wouldn’t mind, would you?”

The man’s sigh seemed to come from his soul, but that was the only indication he gave that she even spoke to him.

“Sir? SIR?” She employed her rising volume technique, but followed it up with tapping his shoulder.

Her fingers went right through his shoulder.

“Oh my God!” She screamed and practically ran off the plane shouldering aside a flight attendant in her way. Her husband followed a few moments later from further back in the plane apologizing to the flight attendant on his way by.

Another flight attendant hurried to her side and whispered something, eyeing the now-vacated 12B. The other shrugged and they continued pre-flight preparations.

Despite the high strangeness I just witnessed, I wasn’t about to bother whatever it was in 12A. Frankly, I didn’t care if it was a gelatinous mass, we had an open seat between us and that’s gold on flights this time – I won the flight lottery twice!

Midway through the flight, I was surprised to catch movement in my peripheral vision. The person? Ghost? Fedora in 12A tipped his hat back and sat up. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he said in a slow gravelly drawl.

I turned to him and saw he was actually slightly translucent.

“Uh, no problem,” I pasted on my best smile. “Besides, that means we’ve got an open space between us!”

He let out a little chuckle. “Yeah,” he started slowly, scratching his 5 o’clock shadow. “See, it’s just his is MY seat.”

“Oh, sure, I get it…” The idea of someone having their own special seat on an anonymous flight seemed ludicrous, but I wasn’t about to argue with Fedora.

“No, I don’t think you do,” he drawled. “See, I died in this seat.”

“Uh, come again?”

He let out laugh that started hearty but quickly dissolved into a coughing fit. “Sorry,” he croaked when he could manage. “About five years ago. I had a heart condition – I had no business on a plane.” He shrugged.

“Wow… I’m… I’m sorry.” And i genuinely was.

“Eh,” he waved a hand. “Everyone’s gotta die somewhere…”

“Well, I guess that’s true enough. So now you’re stuck here?”

“Something like that…” he nodded behind me and the flight attendant was asking if I wanted anything to drink. I got my Diet Coke and ever-tinier bag of pretzels.

She nodded at Fedora. “Good to see you, Frank.”

“Janet,” he said tipping his hat. When she moved on to the next row, he continued. “So you can see why I call it my seat.”

“Yep, makes perfect sense,” I said toasting him with my cup.

He grinned and nodded, then settled back in his seat, pulling his hat back down over his eyes.

When I finished my pretzels I looked over to check on Fedora, but he was gone.the seat was empty.

The flight attendant came by for my trash. “Huh,” she said regarding the empty 12A. “Frank usually doesn’t hang around past takeoff.” She flashed a smile at me. “He must have really liked you!”

I smiled back, partly because I didn’t know how to feel about a ghost liking me, but mostly because I had the whole row to myself!

Flight lottery for the third time!