The flight from NZ to Los Angeles was relatively uneventful. I had an aisle seat at the back of the plane, which seems to be my preference now. My row-buddy was a bigger guy but he was really good and kept to his side of the arm rest, so I couldn’t complain really.
I landed at LAX a few hours after the shooting of a TSA Agent.
I snapped this picture as I transferred from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 (where the shooting happened).
It was slightly eerie when I actually had time to stop and think about it. These people were just having a “normal” day like I was. Their minds would have been on a myriad of other things, certainly not even contemplating that someone was about to burst in and shoot someone else before their eyes. It has definitely given me some perspective.
I was worried that I wouldn’t make my connecting flight to JFK, before I realised that the terminals were not actually open and no one was leaving. When I finally reached the check-in counter, the guy looked at me with a hesitant smile, asked if I’d heard about what had happened, then after I nodded he told me that the terminals hadn’t been reopened yet and I needed to just hang around to find out what happens next. So I stepped over to the wall opposite the restrooms and set up camp (really I just sat on the floor and waited). Eventually a few others rested against the same wall, included one panicked girl who was on the same flight as me, so I thought I’d be fairly okay if I just followed her when she went into the terminal. Whilst I was sitting against the aforementioned wall, I overheard a conversation an older lady was having on the phone. She spoke of a girl being traumatised after her experience of running from the terminal after it had happened. A few others who were injured as they were trying to escape. Scary. Turns out she was a counsellor and had been brought here specially to deal with those people.
Eventually we were able to get into the terminal, but not before having to go around the area where the guy had been shot – luckily the area was completely fenced off, with sheets stopping anyone from seeing inside.
Went through the usual security procedure (incidentally my first time through a full body scanner) and then made my way to the departure lounge with a clear view of the board. After a while, a man sat beside me. He was from San Jose, but heading back to San Francisco. We got talking and eventually discovered that he knows people from Matamata from when a boy from here, Daniel Barbour, had been an exchange student with his neighbours. I’m always amazed at the breadth of reputation my little home town seems to have.
After a few hours of waiting, my flight was finally called to board. Unfortunately I was stuck in the middle seat on this flight, next to a Jewish lady who wasn’t pleased that her husband wasn’t sitting next to her. I had a few raised eyebrows and wry smiles from other passengers before I sat down. It wasn’t long before she was up and complaining to the cabin crew, but the seating allocation didn’t change. I lol’d.
So, tired and craving fresh air, I landed at JFK. New York baby! Shan met me at the baggage carousel, and together we disappeared off into the night.