This is from the air, somewhere near Las Vegas. I'd not been expecting to land in Las Vegas en route to NYC - but there was an On Board Medical Emergency, in the row almost opposite mine. Unresponsive woman. Very unresponsive woman - a young woman, about five months pregnant. Code Red. The flight attendants sprung into action; luckily there was a very efficient and practical gynecologist on board and she gave directions; oxygen, defibrillator, the works. The passenger was on her own, so no immediate support (or, I thought, no one immediate who was with her to be hysterical and panicky, since she wasn't in a place where support would have been any use, other than the medical attention she was getting). The pilot turned the whole large plane around; we landed in Vegas; paramedics slid the woman down the aisle on a super-slidey flat raft - something I'd never seen before - she was taken off - I so hope that she'll make it. We refuelled; took off; gave the doctor a big round of applause. I was very, very impressed that all the AA staff knew exactly what to do; stayed calm; followed procedures, and were totally great throughout. As the captain said, turning around isn't something any of us want to do, but it's better than losing a life. By far.
And Alice, because she is wonderful (and was on another - United - flight) - managed to stall and stall and stall at our dinner reservation, so even though I was very late indeed, and she'd eaten, and all the Friday night bouillabaisse had gone, I still made our table at Balthazar ...
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