“Please return to your seats and keep your seat belts fastened.”
It has been a long week. You’ve declared this a no-email flight and are just getting ready to start a movie. Apart from the fact that you prefer the aisle and got the window, the flight has been relatively uneventful. Just as the person next to you is handed her plastic thimble of carbonated sugar water, the plane drops left, then sharply right, lifts a bit and then settles into steady bumps. The “Fasten Seat Belt” light comes on with a ping, and the woman next to you seems almost as happy as you are that she didn’t spill anything on you. Although you’ve been in this situation many times before, it is still unsettling.