Gatecrashers at New Delhi Airport

karuna

Aren't we a bunch of Victor Meldrews? Except the good Capt, who is nought but a gentleman.

Here's a loooong story from my last trip home from Delhi.
At the entrance to departures there was a tall, well-built man in an impressive-looking business suit, carrying a briefcase. He deigned to show the guard his ticket, affecting an air of hurry and "no-time-for-you"ness, snatching it back off him and instantly riling me. As it turned out, he was on the same flight as me. I know, because I saw him talk the staff into letting him jump the check-in queue. I'm gritting my teeth here.

Then the really nasty thing happens. He's a few places in front of me in the queue for immigration (we have plenty of time, btw, well over an hour, and there are barely 10 people in the queue at that point). There's a young boy queuing as well. Turns out the poor lad was Nepali on his way back home, illiterate (thumb-print on the immigration forms) and is close to missing his flight because he didn't understand the announcements or the staff walking up and down asking for passengers. He went up to the immigration clerk's desk, and the businessman pushed up behind him, leaning over the desk trying to get the official's attention! Well, I thought, this is an immigration official, he's not going to allow this. WRONG. He dropped the boy's papers and dealt with Mr I'mSoImportant first. My teeth are ground to dust by this point. I can't quite believe the guy's arrogance.

But karma had her skates on that day and he got his comeuppance. As we were queuing at the gate, the staff called various people for early boarding. Mr Suit came out of the queue and tried to blag his way on to the list. He was dismissed and sent to the back of the queue pretty sharpish.

And after all that puffed up self-importance, turns out the guy was flying in economy. So you saved a few minutes in the airport, you're still a bucket-class sardine like the rest of us. Ha ha ha!

It freaks this neurotic lady here right out. I had this happen in the immigration queue at Delhi. Young man pushed right up against my rump. Then he farted.....

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[Indian Mona Lisa by Dinesh; can't find original uploader to credit in full.]

katcalls

Ahh, these stories remind me of my time in the Middle East, where queue jumping by arrogant men was the norm!

Once when I was in the queue in Abu Dhabi airport waiting to talk to an agent, an local man in western dress decided it would be a good idea to jump the queue infront of the meek Western young woman who was obviously a push over (me). Little did he know that by that time I had been in the Middle East for 2 years and knew my rights. A quick verbal slap sent the guy to the back of the queue tout suite, along with a nice glare headed my way.

At some point remind me to bring out my encounter with a male security guard in Qatar who thought it would be fun to try a body search on me with his bare hands during Ramadan. That was a fun encounter. He was fired soon afterwards.

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