While thousands of travelers take out their frustrations on frazzled Delta Airlines, one unexpected person is in their corner. Charles Barkley, who rakes up quite the frequent flyer miles between his cross-country schedules, was among those affected by the outages that brought down Delta’s services. The situation left him worried about his most precious possessions but he still kept a positive outlook. Despite being grounded with no relief in sight, Chuck was one of that rare breed who was extremely understanding of the circumstances. Just one of the many Chuck x air travel episodes that make him a loveable guy.

The Atlanta-based news station, 11Alive caught up with Barkley in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport where he was stranded with other travelers on Tuesday. He had flown in from Arizona, where he resides. Due to his TNT commitments in Atlanta, he flies back and forth twice a week. He regularly travels by this airline but the recent incident might be a first-time experience for the NBA legend.

Unlike a lot of travelers who are scrambling for hotels, refunds, or alternative arrangements, Chuck said he actually got through the long lines, and fairly easily. His luggage, though, with some important items was delayed. “I haven’t found my golf clubs yet, and that’s the most important thing.”

The golf maniac just wrapped the American Century celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe with a massive improvement in ranking for the first time. He eventually did get his luggage back. So yes, he was very relieved to reunite with his golf clubs at baggage claim.

A worldwide tech outage stalled several service sectors, including even healthcare. Airlines were the most affected. While other companies are recovering, Delta is still grappling with mass cancellations and flight disruptions for five straight days. The relative ease Barkley had in this situation and getting his clubs back made him admit he wasn’t in a serious situation in comparison to fellow travelers.

“I fly Delta 95% of the time, so that really sucks because they do a fabulous job most of the time, all of the time,” he told the reporter and doubled down, “I’ve never had an issue.” He however added, “it’s just been a nightmare and I feel sad for the people.”

Nonetheless, as a loyal customer of Delta for 24 years, he didn’t express any frustrations over the situation. “In all fairness, they can’t do anything about this,” he said referring to the outage. Delta and other travellers still continue to struggle. But sometimes you have to wonder how Sir Charles always ends up in unusual situations during his travels.

Why Charles Barkley flies commercial

Very recently Barkley made headlines for not being one of those athletes who own a private jet – no side-eye meant to Shaq – for a simple reason. “You know how expensive those things are? Dude, every time one of those bad boys takes off, it’s like 25 thousand dollars. One way. That’s crazy,” he told Dan Patrick.

So he spent his early NBA career flying coach and ended up with sore shoulders. He still flies commercial throughout his sportscasting career, runs into celebrities like Catfish’s Nev Schulman who thought him how to use Instagram, and meets fans on flights.

His frequent travels created friendships with several of Delta’s staff and he feels sorry for them in this current situation. He was aware the flight crews and ground staff are facing the brunt. “I wish these people nothing but the best and hopefully this thing could get cleared up,” he hoped, despite the situation.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us in the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.