About two years ago, I had a scary landing that was even worse for a fellow passenger. The pilot came on the speaker saying there was an indicator light on and, out of caution, we were going to make an emergency landing in Dulles. The light indicated a cargo door was open.

Everyone was a little uncomfortable, but then a woman behind me started screaming. Her dog was in the cargo hold and she, of course, was afraid of what happened to her pet. She had to be restrained. When we landed, there were all kinds of emergency vehicles on the runway. Fortunately, everything was fine. No door was open and the woman’s pet was O.K.

One time, I thought someone was playing a joke on me.

I was traveling from Las Vegas to Detroit about six months ago. It’s only about a four-hour flight, and I was sitting in an aisle seat. There was a guy sitting in the window seat who got up to use the restroom. I didn’t think anything about it. But then he got up again, and then again, and he kept getting up to use the facilities about every 15 minutes until we landed. It was crazy. I looked around the plane thinking Ashton Kutcher was on it and I was being Punk’d. I felt really bad for the guy, but there was nothing anyone could do for him. On the upside, the flight attendant realized what was going on and gave me some bonus miles.

I get a huge kick out of people recognizing me at airports. I’m just a guy from Indianapolis who was introverted and heavy, and now I have people coming up to me and saying, “Hey, Jared,” or, “Hey, aren’t you that Subway guy?”

Flying is still very magical to me. Since I was about 8 years old, I had a dream about getting a job where I could fly a lot. Not only am I doing that, but the job also has a lot of perks. Being from Indianapolis, I’m a huge Colts fan, and I got to meet Peyton Manning when he was with the team. He knew who I was. I mean, seriously, how cool is that?

I don’t mind talking to seatmates. People who do want to talk know my story about losing weight, and it’s always amazing to me that people feel comfortable talking to me about their own battles. People’s struggles with the scale are very personal. If it were easy to lose weight, everyone would be in shape. But it’s a very complicated issue. What works for one person may not work for another. So it’s humbling when people feel comfortable enough to talk about their own issues or tell me their success stories.

Even though I get recognized, I never get any special treatment from the security agents at the airport. Occasionally, an agent will ask if I can do anything to get a Subway opened in their airport. I wish I could. It would help me, too.

If there’s not a Subway at the airport I’m at, or someplace where I can sit down and eat a nice dinner, I stick to trail mix. I really do try to eat healthy. And let’s be honest, everybody has cellphone cameras. If someone snapped a picture of me stuffing myself, it would be a nightmare and up on YouTube in about three seconds. My airport rule is, stay away from the junk.

By Jared Fogle, as told to Joan Raymond. E-mail: joan .raymond @nytimes .com

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/business/jared-fogle-subway-guy-on-being-recognized-in-airports.html?partner=rss&emc=rss