I had fun with my seatmate on a recent Turkish Airlines flight from Frankfurt to Istanbul, who thought I was a spy.
As I shared in my first impressions post, the aircraft swapped from an A321 to an A321neo at the last moment, giving me the opportunity to review a new product. Emboldened by my iPhone 11 Pro, which means I no longer need to carry my bulky camera, I take a lot of pictures onboard. A lot.
That left my seatmate very curious. As he boarded, I was busy snapping pictures of the seat in a reclined position. He took his seat, I took mine, then I took pictures of the seat control, legroom, and IFE.
A flight attendant appaered with pre-departure beverages and hazelnuts and I took a picture of that. Then I took a picture of the menu.
He was a Russian gentleman, portly and well-dressed, and finally leaned over to me and said, “MI-6?”
I smiled and shook my head. I’m not sure why the British Intelligence Service would care about the interior of a Turkish Airlines aircraft?
“FSB?”
I smiled and shook my head. If I did work for a spy agency, it would not be for the Russians.
He poked me again.
“Mossad?”
I laughed. He laughed. I shook my head.
He put on his headphones and I put on mine.
We took off and lunch was served shortly after takeoff.
As I took picture of the meal, he tapped on my headphones. I removed them.
“CIA?”
I smiled and shrugged.
He began laughing and repeating, “CIA! CIA! CIA!”
He then reached over, clasped my hand, and shook it, then patted me hard on the back.
We were both drinking water and he help up his glass toast to me. I reciprocated.
“CIA!”
At the end of the flight he smiled again and again repeated, “CIA! CIA!”
CONCLUSION
As I found in Cuba, sometimes it is best to be discreet about taking pictures. There, I was accused of being a spy. And in San Salvidor. This was harmless. But certainly amusing.
Tomorrow, I’ll post the full review of the flight. Today, however, I just wanted to share about my curious seatmate.
You should have responded with “LALF”. That would have REALLY had him in stitches.
Lol. That’s great.
Russians are very proud of their spy services. After the Cold War ended, the Russians took the opportunity to compare their security services with their counterparts in the West. One of the challenges consisted of catching a rabbit that had been released into the forest. The goal was to catch the rabbit in the shortest time. The CIA went first. They placed electronic sensors throughout the forest and supplemented them with human investigators. After three months of extensive investigations, they concluded that the rabbit did not exist. Then Mi-6 went it in. They released their own trained rabbits into the forest in the hope of luring the target animal back with the promise of reproduction. After two weeks with no success, Mi-6 gave up. Finally, the KGB (now FSB) went in. They came out two hours later with a badly beaten bear. The bear was yelling: “Okay! Okay! I’m a rabbit! I’m a rabbit!”
There are so many variations of that joke.
Good one
Excellent!
I think I might have affected a fake Russian accent, “Why yes comrade I am with the Organs of state security but it is not wise to discuss such things in public. Unless of course you wish to be our guest for an extended period.”
Hilarious thread and comments. You should have said you work for Chinese intelligence. That might have thrown him for a loop. (If he had doubts, say your pictures were needed to help Comac, China’s emerging airliner manufacturer to become more competitive. Then put your finger over your lips and ask him to keep it on the down low. LOL)
Maybe you should have just said in a hushed voice that you work for the country of Malawi….shhhhh. may could add that the CIA and FSB have more secret ways of spying but Malawi has to make do with a smartphone camera