Paris 1: Le vol (the flight)
You'd think that this part of the trip narrative could be summed up with "I flew to Paris." But that's not very fun, is it?
I'd never been to O'Hare before but I got there easily with very little pre-planning. Chicago public transit rocks my socks. I did end up sharing a Blue Line car with a cracked-out guy who was enthusiastically conducting the symphony orchestra playing in his head. but I didn't make eye contact and everything was okay!
About two hours after takeoff came the announcement that I'd been dreading since exactly one year ago- "If there is a doctor on the plane, please notify the cabin crew." I waited. I glanced around. I waited a little more. Finally, when it was clear nobody else was speaking up, I pushed my call button. One of the flight attendants came over to my seat, and before he could even open his mouth to speak, I blurted out "I'm an obstetrician." Meaning "Most acute medical complaints are not my area, so unless somebody's got an urge to push we are all SOL." But the flight attendant didn't care! His first question for me was, "May I see your medical ID?"
Um... my what? What is a medical ID? Did that mean hospital ID? Because I'd left both of mine on my dining room table that morning with the words, "The last thing I need is to lose these because I took them to France for no good reason." Or perhaps it was some affectation of more socialized nations wherein doctors are issued a card identifying them as such? In any case, I didn't have anything but my word, and the single personal check I'd brought that had "MD" printed after my name. Air France wasn't having any of it. They rejected my offer of help. Merci, mais non.
Now I know that an airline would be liable if they let any random person who calls herself a doctor start "treating" someone who gets sick on a flight. But I'm pretty sure they'd also be liable if somebody was genuinely ill and didn't get care for lack of an identification card. But that's Air France's problem, not mine. There weren't any repeated calls for aid, so I assume either the person wasn't that sick, or somebody else (with their ID card) was able to help. There weren't any newborn-baby cries for the duration of the flight, so I'm sure I wouldn't have been that big a help anyway!
I'd never been to O'Hare before but I got there easily with very little pre-planning. Chicago public transit rocks my socks. I did end up sharing a Blue Line car with a cracked-out guy who was enthusiastically conducting the symphony orchestra playing in his head. but I didn't make eye contact and everything was okay!
About two hours after takeoff came the announcement that I'd been dreading since exactly one year ago- "If there is a doctor on the plane, please notify the cabin crew." I waited. I glanced around. I waited a little more. Finally, when it was clear nobody else was speaking up, I pushed my call button. One of the flight attendants came over to my seat, and before he could even open his mouth to speak, I blurted out "I'm an obstetrician." Meaning "Most acute medical complaints are not my area, so unless somebody's got an urge to push we are all SOL." But the flight attendant didn't care! His first question for me was, "May I see your medical ID?"
Um... my what? What is a medical ID? Did that mean hospital ID? Because I'd left both of mine on my dining room table that morning with the words, "The last thing I need is to lose these because I took them to France for no good reason." Or perhaps it was some affectation of more socialized nations wherein doctors are issued a card identifying them as such? In any case, I didn't have anything but my word, and the single personal check I'd brought that had "MD" printed after my name. Air France wasn't having any of it. They rejected my offer of help. Merci, mais non.
Now I know that an airline would be liable if they let any random person who calls herself a doctor start "treating" someone who gets sick on a flight. But I'm pretty sure they'd also be liable if somebody was genuinely ill and didn't get care for lack of an identification card. But that's Air France's problem, not mine. There weren't any repeated calls for aid, so I assume either the person wasn't that sick, or somebody else (with their ID card) was able to help. There weren't any newborn-baby cries for the duration of the flight, so I'm sure I wouldn't have been that big a help anyway!