“We must reduce the passenger count to 54.”

Last Monday while we were in Denver waiting to board our plane for Cleveland, the agent announced that because of the heat, temperature in low 90’s, they had “weight limitations” and had to reduce the passenger count to 54.  He was asking for volunteers.

This was startling as we had no idea how many passengers were booked on that flight.  About 20 minutes later he came back on and said it got worse, now they had to reduce to 51 passengers.  If he didn’t get 16 volunteers they would start throwing people off the flight based on time of check in.  Last to check in would be first off.

We weren’t facing the desk but a couple were sitting directly across from us and the man said volunteers had approached the desk but not nearly 16.  Finally the agent announced that he needed 1 more volunteer.  The deal was $400 toward a future flight, hotel accommodations over night and passage on first plane to Cleveland in the morning, through Seattle.  A young woman went to the desk.

It took an hour for them to secure 16 volunteers and rebook them.  Fortunately we had a direct flight to Cleveland.  And fortunately it didn’t get hotter during the hour so the “can’t go” number didn’t increase.

Finally the 51 “can goes” boarded the plane and it took off.  It was a pleasant flight.  Lots of empty seats.