So last Friday I flew from Chicago to Buffalo, NY to visit family for Easter. Seemed like a fairly boring/normal flight until I got on the plane and who's sitting in the first row of the plane?? William Fichtner!!!

The whole plane was buzzing with "That's the guy from Armageddon!" and "You know! The guy that was the bank manager in The Dark Knight".

Of course my brian failed me and I had to use IMDB to look up his name on my phone before we took off. As soon as I saw his name I was of course embarassed that I had forgotten it.

When we got off the plane he was waiting for a gate check item as was I, so I said to him, "I love your work Mr. Fichtner." and he replied "Thanks buddy."

He seemed pleasant, I wish I had been able to chat with him a bit.

Anyway, thought that was cool, so I wanted to share.

That's pretty awesome.

For a year or two, he was just "that blind guy in Contact" for me.

When you say first row, do you mean first class? Or was this flight a classless flight?

Whatever the case, it's pretty cool that he was just traveling with the average joes without any sort of entourage.

I flew from Boston back to St. Louis a few hours ago, and there was this man who looked freakishly like Wayne Knight. He sat in first class. I don't think he was Wayne Knight. He looked a little too young. Someone in first class had a seizure or a heart attack or something. They called over the intercom for any available MDs or physicians on the plane. Couldn't tell who the injured party was. There was this one woman in front of me who was playing Tetris on a Game Boy Advance (with the screen widened, meaning that the squares were not perfect squares, which was annoying me). She would play until she made a couple lines, then pause, then crane her neck out into the aisle. Then she'd start playing again, make a few more lines, pause, and look back out into the aisle. She moved like a pigeon. She couldn't seem to decide whether Tetris or watching someone be attended to by a doctor was more exciting. I decided I didn't like her, even though I didn't know her.

Hearing flight attendants ask if there are any physicians on the plane is less disconcerting than hearing them ask if there are any licensed pilots on the plane.

Yes, it was pretty cool. I was shocked he was on this flight since it was a small plane, but it was cool that he was willing to fly with regular people.

It was a "class-less" flight. Only 3 seats across, and near the front there was only one seat per row, with the "galley" across from them. He was in Row 1, since there was nothing next to him or in front of him it was sort of like first class.

What I really want to know is why he was going to Buffalo, NY? Did he have family there? Was he filming there? Passing through on the way to NYC? I want answers!

Anyone watch Deadliest Catch? One of the captain's, Sig Hansen, reminds of William Fichtner. It took me forever to figure out who he reminded me of.

Ah, I love IMDB. Turns out Bill is from Cheektowaga NY, which is a suburb of Buffalo. So he was probably going home to his mom's for Easter. Makes him seem even cooler since that was the same thing I was doing.

And yes Omi, I'd have to agree Sig does remind me of Fichtner. I had always heard how great that show was, but never watched, then Easter weekend they had a marathon and there wasn't much else to do at my parent's house, so I watched a number of episodes. I didn't realize how much of a competition it was. I wish I had the time, (and DVR space), to catch up on that show, and watch the new season. It was pretty good.

That's cool, Teek. I like Fichtner. Especially on Prison Break.

I don't think I ever told you guys, but I waited at the same gate as Ron Perlman in Houston when I was on my way to the Bay Area two years ago. I didn't talk to him -- I figured he wouldn't be up for hearing "Loved you as Slade on Teen Titans." But I seen him.

On a musical note, since we're talking about meeting people, I got to meet Art Alexakis from Everclear when he played in Cleveland at the beginning of this month. We talked for about two minutes. He's a really nice guy.

When I first clicked on this thread, I suspected it would be a thread suggesting that we all plan to meet up, and then pretend like it wasn't planned.

I'd be up for that.

If I hoodwink the graduate school into paying my way again next year, I might even be able to afford being up for that.

Chicago. I'll be there the last weekend in May. I know at least three of you live driving distance from there (driving distance being less than 600 miles in my book).

I'll be finishing a chapter, then. I don't see myself being ahead of the game.

BOOO!

I'm hoping I can be on the same flight with Nestor Carbonell -- who played the mayor in TDK and portrays Richard Alpert on Lost -- someday soon so I can finally discover if he's really wearing eyeliner or just has "very dark eyelashes," as he claims.