Marcus Anderson of the Sax Pack is a two time Grammy-nominated jazz artist. And he was delayed on Alaska Airlines… with his instrument. So he and his compatriots busted out and gave a concert for the rest of the passengers stuck in the cabin.

Delay after delay after delay… frustrations turned into fun. We pulled out our horns and brought smiles bright as the sun! Summer Horns turned a flight into a front row concert — because when you feel it, you play it.

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A post shared by Marcus Anderson (@mandersonsax)

Another passenger on Alaska Airlines 388 between Seattle and St. Louis caught a different angle of the performance as well.

I’m a little torn on what to think. Mostly this seems awesome, but it isn’t always. We’ve seen a number of impromptu inflight concerts before. Mostly they’re appreciated, but they’re also… involuntary for the audience? When you go to a concert, you buy a ticket – it’s intentional. When you buy a plane ticket to travel somewhere, the bundle may include a seat assignment or priority boarding but you don’t expect to be trapped in a metal tube having music being blared at you, right?

Cavan Town CCÉ kept @AerLingus passengers entertained on a delayed flight from Frankfurt to Dublin pic.twitter.com/pmyetNZkc0

— LifeStyle on RTÉ (@LifeStyleRTE) November 5, 2023

Imagine getting serenaded at 30,000 feet by a professional violinist 😍 pic.twitter.com/RlszyWTzXJ

— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) March 2, 2023

We teamed up with @guitarcenter to surprise a flight full of Customers flying out of Long Beach with a ukulele and a lesson. By the time they arrived in Honolulu they were pros. pic.twitter.com/XsEx10sRJK

— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) September 20, 2022

The jazz on that Alaska flight is excellent, but this isn’t what everyone had signed up for. In fact, you’ll often hear announcements on planes that you’re expected to listen to any music or shows using headphones – you can’t blare your music at the cabin.

And there’s no “no music” section of the aircraft. Someone might even call it ‘Aches On A Plane’ just waiting for Samuel L. Jackson. So Alaska is lucky that no one decided “that’s what emergency evacuation slides are for.”

It seems to me that when then-Senator Ted Kennedy successful secured passage of the Airline Deregulation Act, which created a dedicated regulator for the industry in order to ensure safe and efficient air travel, stopping this was precisely what the drafters had in mind? Again, the music is lovely, but when you’re inside a metal tube and it wasn’t advertised with your ticket, it’s precisely what I imagine CIA rendition to be like.