Anyone who travels a lot, especially to far flung places, will always have crazy stories…here’s mine:

I had a project in Athens and I decided to add a week-end on the island of Mykonos at the tail end of my trip. I was scheduled to fly on a 9am Olympic Airways flight from Mykonos (JMK) to Athens (ATH), have a quick meeting and catch a p.m. flight to London (LHR) on British Airways, overnight in London, have a breakfast meeting before catching a UA flight to Chicago. As you can imagine, missing one flight would create a mess.

That morning in Mykonos, I had to return a rented moped and was delayed because I had to wait for the rental shop to open at 8:30am. It was then a mad dash to Mykonos Airport - upon arrival I saw no aircraft there. I rush to the Olympic Airways counter at 8:47 AM and I said, “I am so sorry I am late.” The woman behind the counter said, “No problem.” I was so relieved because the flight attendant then told me, “Because we release the seats fifteen minutes before the flight to standby passengers.” My heart sank. I looked at the clock and said, “It's only two minutes!” It didn't matter.

I will never forget this - I asked her, “How am I going to get to Athens?” To which she said, There is a ferry that leaves for Athens in 45 minutes and you will arrive there in eight hours, but you have to get to the port immediately.” Oh hail no.

I explained that this isn't a one-way journey to Athens, I showed her and her manager all the tickets that were connected to this itinerary. AND the aircraft wasn't even there, it was delayed an hour!

I pleaded with the manager, an older gentleman with a constant cigarette in his hand, but to no avail. I went to the gate and started asking passengers if they would let me purchase their ticket and an extra $500 for the inconvenience. When the manager saw me do that, he told me to sit in his office and wait.

The flight arrived, a small prop plane. They offloaded the passengers who just arrived from Athens, and then they began boarding the flight. I started to panic.

With the propellers buzzing, I turn to the manager and said, “What do I do?” He said, “Listen very carefully”…

By now, all the passengers of this flight knew my issue. I entered the back of the airplane and I hear some people talking. One of them shouted out, “How did you get a seat?” To which I answered, “You are not going to believe it…”

I walk right up to the cockpit and knock on the door. The door opened and I was allowed in, the cabin burst out in laughter.

The station manger told me, “Listen very carefully, you are going to sit in the jump seat of the cockpit. Don't say a word, don't speak to the pilots, and when you land in Athens, duck so you're not seen by the ground crew. This will NEVER happen again, but there's something endearing about you.”

I thanked him, got on the plane, sat in the jump seat and just kept quiet for 45 minutes. It was awesome. When the plane landed in Athens, I ducked in the cockpit and walked off with the rest of the passengers.

This is one of my few crazy stories.