Trapped on a plane, instant fame

Link Christin was bass fishing on Gull Lake last month when the buzz of his cell phone interrupted an idyllic summer day. It was "Good Morning America." Could he fly to New York and appear on the show the next morning?

A few minutes later, the phone rang again. It was CBS Morning News. Then it was CNN. By day's end, roughly 30 journalists across the country had interrupted Christin's vacation, hoping to hear his tale of being trapped overnight on an airplane at the Rochester, Minn., airport. His life hasn't been the same since.

"CNN, CBS and ABC sent satellite trucks to our resort and took over the restaurant the next morning,'' recalled Christin, who had declined to leave Brainerd.

"I walked in wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Someone put makeup on me and gave me an ear piece, and pretty soon they're saying: 'You'll be on in 30 seconds.'''

"It was surreal,'' said the professor at the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul. "And this whole thing isn't over yet.''

Christin's story of being stuck overnight on a Continental Airlines flight with crying babies and an overused toilet struck a chord with millions of Americans. The incident sparked a federal investigation, congressional outcry and lit a fire under the national passenger rights movement.

This week Christin will hit the spotlight again, when he will speak at a passenger rights hearing in Washington, D.C. The panel will include a keynote address by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., a chief author of the so-called Airline Passenger Bill of Rights.

Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org and an organizer of Tuesday's hearing, described Christin as a "godsend'' to the movement, blasting onto the scene at the precise time that passenger rights legislation is in front of the Senate.

"He's articulate. He's a lawyer. He knows how to work with journalists,'' Hanni gushed. "He's the whole package.''

Christin laughs at his meteoric rise to fame. He estimates 100 million people have been exposed to his airline nightmare, thanks to saturation coverage from every major TV station, national newspaper and hundreds of blogs that went wild over the debacle in Rochester.

"I'm hearing from people from around the country that I haven't talked to for years,'' said Christin, relaxing recently in his classroom at William Mitchell. "So have my father, my brother and my sisters."

Unlikely advocate

Christin, 56, is an unlikely passenger advocate. He spent most of his career as a trial lawyer litigating high-powered commercial cases -- securities law, corporate fraud, professional malpractice -- while living in Pittsburgh.

Five years ago, he left the courtroom for the classroom, working at the National Trial Advocacy College in Virginia and later for Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, a job he left in August. This fall he enrolled in the Hazelden School of Addiction Studies, moving from his home in St. Paul to Lindstrom, near the Hazelden campus. He plans to get a master's degree in addiction counselling.

"I volunteered as a counselor with lawyers and judges over the past five years, and found it so fulfilling that I decided to make it a career,'' he explained.

Prior to his August media blitz, Christin's only brush with fame was when he spent a year working closely on a case with a little-known jury consultant named Phil McGraw. After McGraw helped Oprah Winfrey win a lawsuit in 1996, he morphed into the now ubiquitous "Dr. Phil."

Christin said his "skill sets'' meshed well with the demands of instant celebrity. He is accustomed to public speaking and working in front of cameras. He has an analytical mind and he isn't shy.

"I come from a large Irish Catholic family with a lot of personality,'' he joked.

But it was Christin's father who put him up to calling the Star Tribune that Aug. 8 morning when he stumbled off his plane ride from hell. To aggravate matters, the Continental flight's passengers were locked in the plane while passengers from a Northwest Airlines flight were allowed to enter the Rochester airport.

"I just thought that people should know what happened,'' said Jack Christin Sr., who lives in Palm City, Fla.

The elder Christin has another unexpected link to this story. Turns out he is good friends and neighbors with Robert Crandall, the innovative former CEO of American Airlines, who will appear with his son at the panel in Washington.

Fliers' rights take off

Hanni said Christin's willingness to step forward has forever changed the fliers' rights movement.

"Rochester changed everything,'' said Hanni. "It energized the masses. It energized our donors. It caused three major groups opposing the passenger bill of rights to join us.''

In spite of that, Christin still has not reached a settlement with Continental Airlines. The airline offered him and the other 46 passengers, a refund for the plane ticket, a $200 Continental Airlines travel voucher and a $50 American Express voucher. Said Christin: "That's ridiculous.''

Christin said he hasn't decided what a more fair settlement would be.

"The U.S. Department of Transportation has not yet issued its final report [on the incident],'' said Christin. "I just heard the cockpit tape. I just saw the surveillance tape. I want to learn everything about what happened that night before I determine what would be a fair settlement for me and the other passengers.''

In the meantime, he's looking forward to Tuesday's hearing. He hopes the event, which is expected to draw considerable media attention, "will raise the consciousness of the Senate.''

Jean Hopfensperger • 612-673-4511