Hello and welcome to episode 209 of Travel Stories from the Back Again And Gone podcast. This is being recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau Relaxo, FL. If you are a new listener, welcome; if you are a returning listener, welcome back. Tonight's topic is the first quarter of 2025.
This evening, I am partaking in a Day Trip IPA at 6.6 ABV from Sweetwater Brewing in Atlanta, GA. If you ever get to Atlanta, this brewery is worth a visit.
It’s been a while since the last podcast. January, February, and March are over, and we are already one-fourth done with 2025. What a crazy first quarter of a year when it comes to aviation.
January 7 – A Swan River Seaplanes Cessna 208 Caravan crashed into the water at Rottnest Island, Western Australia, Australia. Out of the seven occupants onboard, three people were killed, including the pilot, and three others were injured.
January 28—Air Busan Flight 391, an Airbus A321-200 operating from Busan to Hong Kong, caught fire shortly before takeoff at Gimhae International Airport. All 176 people onboard were safely evacuated, and only 7 were injured.
January 29 – A Light Air Services Beechcraft 1900, which was carrying oil workers, crashed shortly after takeoff from GPOC Unity Airstrip in South Sudan. Out of the 21 occupants onboard, 20 were killed.
January 29 – In the 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision, American Eagle Flight 5342, a Bombardier CRJ700 operated by PSA Airlines, collided with a Sikorsky UH-60 over the Potomac River, killing all 64 people onboard the CRJ700 and all 3 aboard the UH-60. This is the first fatal aviation accident involving a Bombardier CRJ700.
January 31 - A small medical transport jet carrying a child and her mother, along with four other people, was in the air for less than a minute after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport before coming down in a fiery "high-impact" crash near a busy mall. All six on the plane perished, and 22 people on the ground were injured.
February 17th, Toronto, A Delta plane crashed, caught fire, and then, if that wasn’t enough, flipped upside down as it skidded down the runway. Everyone on the flight survived. There were a few injuries, but everyone survived. Adding insult to their injuries, Delta is offering them $30,000 each. The airline will pay approximately $2.3 million if all passengers accept the offer. They tell customers this gesture has no strings attached and does not affect their rights. Delta's 2024 revenue was in the billions, and the best they could come up with was 30 K. Apparently, many Delta C-level employees thought this was a suitable gesture. Two words for everyone on that flight, “Lawyer Up”.
Those are just six of the incidents that I decided to post. I’d rather board a plane for a flight than drive on I-4 into downtown O-Town.
One Mile At A Time asked - Hotel Mobile Check-In Via App: Is It Worth Using? Most major hotel groups, like Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott, offer a mobile check-in option through their apps, just like most airlines do. The question is, should you use this, and if so, what’s the benefit of doing so? I rarely use mobile check-in for a few reasons. The primary reason has to do with room upgrades. If you use mobile check-in, you likely won’t get an upgrade. Also, I want the desk crew to know that I am a returning guest, which has benefits beyond the upgrade. Those benefits can be extra snacks or a couple of extra complimentary drink coupons It might mean that you don’t have to pay for parking, and in the case of the Hilton Disney Springs, I have never had to pay a resort fee due to being a returning customer and checking in at the front desk. If you are a baby road warrior without status, the Hilton app will at least let you pick your room.
We haven’t had a Florida man story in a while, so let’s consider this.
A Florida man faces 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to popping an American Airlines gate agent in the face as he tried to board a flight at the wrong gate at Dallas-Fort Worth DFW airport last October.
Keith Charles Owens, one of the three named people, was sentenced in May after negotiating a plea deal. The plea deal would come with a lengthy prison sentence. In addition to the sentence, Keith Charles Owens might be fined $250,000.
Here’s the Cliff Notes:
Keith Charles Owens turned up at the wrong gate for his flight and skipped the boarding line.
When his boarding pass failed to scan, the gate agent directed Keith Charles Owens to the right gate, which he headed towards, again skipping the boarding line and bypassing the podium and boarding pass check.
Keith Charles Owens made it to the jetway, where he was stopped by airline personnel and escorted back into the terminal building. Having failed to get on his flight, Keith Charles Owens returned to his original gate, where he grabbed the gate agent who had tried to help him by the gate agent's shoulders and neck and pushed him back.
Prosecutors alleged that Owens then repeatedly punched the victim in the face before passengers and other American Airlines staff rushed to drag him away and restrain him.
Owens was charged with interference with security screening personnel because scanning boarding passes is a security duty for American Airlines employees – a job that the gate agent was doing at the time he was assaulted.
The incident caused the flight that the gate agent was boarding to be delayed, while several airline employees had to go off work for several days due to injuries sustained in the assault.
Witnesses said that Owens appeared intoxicated at the time of the incident.
Here’s an update: an American Airlines flight attendant who was arrested on charges of trying to secretly film a teenage girl using an airplane lavatory during a September 2023 flight to Boston has pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography.
Estes Carter Thompson III, one of the three named people of Charlotte, North Carolina, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors on Thursday after initially pleading not guilty to the crimes and now faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison, along with a fine of up to $250,000.
According to prosecutors, Thompson was working as a flight attendant on a September 2, 2023, flight from Charlotte to Boston when he approached the 14-year-old victim, who was lining up to use the bathroom at the back of the aircraft.
Thompson invited the victim to use the lavatory in First Class and escorted her to the front of the plane.
However, before letting the victim use the lavatory, Thompson briefly entered the bathroom with the doors closed. When the victim was eventually allowed to use the lavatory, she found a large ‘defective catering equipment’ sticker taped to the seat.
The victim became suspicious and looked underneath the sticker. Concealed under the sticker was an Apple iPhone with the camera peeping out.
The victim took a photo of the hidden camera and showed it to her parents, who confronted Thompson. As the flight was approaching Boston, Thompson allegedly locked himself in the lavatory, where he reset his phone to factory setting in an attempt to wipe any photo evidence. What a coward, but wait, there’s more.
Forensic experts were able to retrieve photos from Thompson’s iCloud account and allegedly found photos depicting victims aged just seven, nine, 11, and 14 using an airplane bathroom. What a sicko.
Additionally, over 50 images of a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor were allegedly found in the same account.
All the victims have been identified and contacted by law enforcement. The parents of a nine-year-old victim have filed a lawsuit against American Airlines, accusing the Fort Worth-based carrier of negligence.
In response, a law firm hired by American Airlines tried to get the case dismissed by arguing the young girl was to blame as she should have known she was being secretly recorded. I call this victim changing
As this nightmare unraveled, the airline eventually dismissed the law firm responsible for filing this defense, although attorneys acting on behalf of American Airlines are still contesting lawsuits from several victims, arguing that the airline can’t be held responsible for the criminal actions of a former employee.
Here’s a new fear unlocked. A married couple said they were forced to sit next to a dead woman's body for four hours on a flight from Australia to Qatar. Yes, you heard that correctly. About 10 hours into the flight, a woman exited the restroom, collapsed, and died in front of them. Not sure if the couple was in first class, but apparently, dying in front of someone on a flight allows the corpse to complete the flight next to that person. Objectively, if someone punches out on a plane, it's not like you can open a door and push them out. Qatar says they have been "in direct contact with the family of the deceased" and offered passengers "directly affected" by the uncomfortable situation "emotional support and compensation.". This offering is code for “Please don’t sue us”. If I ever go TU, or toes up on a flight, you have my permission to open a door, or bust a window and send me on my way.
The world can be confusing; in the words of the late George Carlin, “Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?”. Confusing right? Last week, life got confusing in “Thank You Florida.” Dateline Orlando, where a Southwest Airlines pilot mistakenly tried to take off on a taxiway last week. In case you didn’t know it, a runway is what a plane uses to get said plane up into the atmosphere and you on your way. A plane uses a taxiway to move from the runway to the gate. The plane finally stopped after the air traffic controller yelled “Stop” three times. The Southwest marketing team quickly released this statement: "The crew mistook the surface for the nearby runway," Southwest is engaged with the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and FAA to understand the circumstances of the event."
According to the flight data tracker, the aircraft’s top speed was approximately 80 mph. Airplanes typically travel about 35 mph on taxiways. A Boeing 737 would need to accelerate to about 150 mph for takeoff. I didn’t understand why the passengers were on a different flight. This is just like the flight crew times out, so they tap out, and a new flight crew takes over. Who takes the bullet for this, the pilots or the tower? I'm not sure, but someone will need to update their resume.
One last “Thank You, Florida” story, and this one is disturbing. Here at Chateau Relaxo, we are pro-animal, specifically pro-dog, as we just rescued another husky, and this one resembles Gene Simmons. This story is horrific: a Florida woman was arrested after allegedly drowning her dog in an Orlando airport toilet.
Here’s the recap.
Alison Agatha Lawrence, one of the three named people, was scheduled to fly from Orlando to Bogota. While checking in, her nine-year-old miniature schnauzer, Tywinn, was denied boarding because she did not have the correct paperwork to transport the dog to Colombia. Lawrence walked away from the counter to an airport restroom with her dog
There, she was observed in a stall for an extended period cleaning up “a lot of water and a lot of dog food.” When the bathroom cleaner entered the restroom about 20 minutes later, she found the trash can much heavier than usual. Inside the trash can, she found the dog, with a collar around its neck, still warm…but dead. An investigation revealed the dog died by drowning. On March 18, Lawrence was arrested and charged with third-degree animal cruelty, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Neither of which is justice for what she did.
As I once told The Entrepreneur, put your girlfriend, now wife, in the trunk of your car, and put one of the dogs in the trunk of your car, and see which one is happy when you open the trunk. Dogs give unconditional love.
Finishing up with a topic we haven’t spoken about in a while, nudity. I’ve always said there are two types of nudity, good nudity and bad nudity. Good nudity includes nice lighting, soft music, and a few candles. Bad nudity is seeing someone nude that you don’t want to see naked. When nudity is involved in a travel story, it’s usually bad. March 26, Naked Woman Rants And Raves At DFW Airport. I’ve heard varying stories as to what provoked this behavior. I'm not sure if any of them are true, but there’s one fact: because there’s a video. In the video, she is seen squirting people with her water bottle while screaming about being a polyglot and then destroying airport equipment. A polyglot is a person who knows or uses several languages. Yes, I had to Google for the definition
I’m unsure why people often strip their clothes off during a meltdown. The video indicates this woman is battling some demons, possibly due to mental health issues. I hope she gets the help she needs. Often, the naked person is overweight and a threat to other people’s eyesight, but this person is not.
Well, there you have it, Episode 209, the 2025 first quarter.
For long-time listeners, thank you for your comments and emails. For new listeners, I hope you return.
If you want detailed show notes, links, and pictures, head over to Substack at travelstories.substack.com/
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As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.
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