Forgot to vent about our Caribbean travels after getting back last week.
1) My wife and I always book window/aisle and hope for no middle. Used to work all the time, but now rarely. On the flight from CLT - SXM, we offer the middle person the aisle (we were in the mood to sightsee out the window), and she of course takes it. Right before takeoff, she then switches with a weird old dude from the back of the plane who smells funny to go sit by her husband (also in a middle seat). Never had this happen, but not that big a deal.
2) On the flight back to CLT, wouldn't you know it, the same woman is in the middle seat. At this point we're tired, little boozed up, and I want the aisle for bathroom/comfort purposes. We offer her the window, thinking it's a no-brainer, and she declines. My wife tries to call her bluff and say we'll just sit in our assigned seats, but she doesn't budge, and we end up giving in and sitting window/middle. This woman has serious cajones, and knows how to get her way.
3) Customs in CLT is normally a breeze and took 75 minutes. People were missing their connections, panicking because they had to leave and go to the bathroom/end up at the back of the line, and it was overall chaos. One of the airport workers eventually got so overwhelmed he panicked and just yelled back to the manager "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THESE PEOPLE". Heard them radio up to ask any more incoming international flight crews/gate agents to hold their flights because it was too crowded.
Never a dull trip. Felt like an idiot for not having the Mobile Passport Control app dialed up/completed (didn't know it existed), which basically lets you skip into the Global Entry line these days at CLT.