Ground Control to Ginger

Originally released for publication June 2, 2010


Some things are too good to pass up. You see, I really don’t want to write this column.

My primary concern is it will appear I am taking advantage of a woman who is simply not too bright. Another is feeding her desire for publicity. Yet another concern is it will seem I’m so lazy that I couldn’t pass up an incredibly easy target for a column.



Well, the first two concerns are easily overridden by the fact the woman has made a legal issue of her stupidity. The last ... I guess two out of three is good enough.

Shortly after midnight, May 27, a shuttle flight landed in Philadelphia. Apparently, the plane was not needed again for a few hours and was locked until a cleaning crew arrived about 4:30 a.m. In the meantime, one Ginger McGuire suffered “emotional distress.”

At least that’s what she says in her lawsuit, along with charges of false imprisonment, negligence, emotional distress and breach of contract.

You see, McGuire says she fell into a deep sleep (OK, I added the deep part because it seems rather obvious) and did not awaken when the plane bounced onto the runway, reversing its engines. Nor did she awaken, she claims, during the various announcements or while fellow passengers jostled around her, pulling bags from overhead compartments.

Yes, she says she fell asleep during the one-hour flight, slept through the landing, and nobody with the airlines told her it was time to get up and get dressed for school.

And she’s suing the airlines for that gross negligence, because she spent about 15 minutes pacing the aisles before someone opened the door.

OK, I’ll give her that she should not have been left asleep on the plane, assuming that this is not all an elaborate scheme and that she actually hid in the bathroom or something. Judging from an interview I heard with McGuire, I’m confident she is not one to put together an elaborate scheme. (Uh-oh, I’m falling back to my No. 1 concern.)

So, yes, it seems likely an airline employee failed to properly check the airplane. That’s a complaint and I suspect the airline would offer something for her trouble, like refund the cost of her flight, a free future flight or maybe a wristwatch with an alarm.

But “false imprisonment”?

Let’s review how McGuire handled the situation.

She awoke alone on an empty plane about 4 a.m. She paced the aisles about 15 minutes. She knows the times because she checked them on her cell phone.

Yeah, her cell phone.

Hey, did you ever consider using the cell phone to call for help? Having trouble remembering the number for 911?

Here’s something else. Remember the preflight instructions? No, that’s OK because everything is written on placards placed in front of every seat. There are directions on how to open the cabin door and even deploy the inflatable slide. Wow, that would have been fun! And a much better story.

I must give her one thing.

She did show considerable restraint in that she took more than 48 hours to find a lawyer and file a lawsuit. Of course, maybe it took that long to find a lawyer willing to take the case.