Kitty Hawk, NC - Air enthusiasts from around the world gathered in this coastal North Carolina town to celebrate the first bumping of an airline passenger that occurred one hundred years ago today. Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright both had tickets to travel 120 feet on a regularly scheduled airline flight on December 17, 1903, but Wilbur was bumped when because the airline had overbooked the one-passenger plane.
“It’s an important day in aviation history,” said Melanie Farnsworth, chairwoman of the Airline Travelers’ Alliance. “One hundred years of bad service, late planes, crappy food, rude employees and escalating costs. And it’s all subsidized by the government. Now that’s an accomplishment.”
Pilots trying to recreate the first bumping were thwarted when delays at regional hubs caused five-hour air traffic control delays.
