This morning, before the sun had fully risen over the eastern seaboard, I was groggily fighting sleep and crankily wishing ill upon my seatmate’s blaring iPod as we sat on a 6 a.m. flight to Chicago on Southwest Airlines. Usually I am not in the mood for jokes at such an hour, but with one well-timed prank, the airline known for its particular brand of crew member humor turned everyone’s frowns upside down.

As the plane was getting ready to pull away from the gate, the head flight attendant came on the P.A. system to give us the pre-flight spiel. But first, she had a very special announcement to make.

She told us there was a celebrity onboard today, he’d boarded before everyone and sat in the back so as not to cause a fuss, but he was willing to sign autographs. She let us know that he was coming back from vacation so we should all keep that in mind before swarming him.

And then…

“Michael Jordan, can you please stand up?”

The entire plane gasped as one collective, Jordan-worshiping being, we all turned to look and clap and cheer and ohmigodnowayilovemichaeljordanishereally —

“Just kidding, everyone. But now that I have your attention…”

Ladies and gentlemen, if you can get an entire plane full of travelers to believe Michael Jordan would fly commercial and  if so, sit in the back row, thereby shifting the mood from tired, cranky people just waiting to catch a nap into one of raucous laughter and smiles all around, you’re doing something right. Maybe this is her usual bit, maybe it wouldn’t be so funny later in the day, but the fact remains that this morning, it totally worked.

As it’s Friday, the best day for warm feelings, we want to hear from you — what are your happiest airplane stories? Have you had a flight crew that made the trip enjoyable just by taking the time to make passengers laugh? It’s the little things, after all, and we don’t mind handing out credit where credit is due.

Send your warm fuzzy airplane stories to tips@consumerist.com with the subject HAPPY AIRPLANE so that we might keep the good times rolling here on Consumerist.

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