Monday, November 15, 2010

Modern Air Travel

This morning, while I was reading the news, I came across an article on the BBC News website which featured the picture on the right with the caption below: "has some of the glamour associated with air travel disappeared?"

Such a great comment to reflect the modern day air travel industry. It definitely warmed the cockles of my innards on a freezing, cold and grey dawn.

Something has gone wrong in the past three or four decades. Air travel evolved from being a luxury where people dressed up for and airlines worked hard to give you everything possible, to something where it feels like we're all farmyard animals being mass transported around the globe.

Airplanes has to be one of the most significant inventions in the past century. The move from airplanes into mass transportation is even more significant. The world suddenly shrank, and we all became global citizens. A matter of hours and you can be on the other side of the planet. I think it's no more than 22 hours to really go from one side to the other these days. If the Concord is still around, half that time.

It's a real shame. I still think air travel should be respected. But not the airlines. They treat everyone, even people on higher travel classes, as badly as they could. This whole new era of terrorist activities made it even worse. We now have to be subjected to all sorts of privacy-invading and probably illegal searches on our most intimate body parts before being handed over to the airline staff.

Such a shame... I remember in the 80s when I was a child, that the air stewards were all dashing and charming (yes, I know most of them are gay, but so what? They did a damn good job on the planes and made it enjoyable for their customers), the air hostesses were gorgeous and specially chosen for their jobs to be good looking and well trained to service the paying customers.

What has happened? We get ugly, angry people on the planes serving us. Bashing us in the leg every 10 minutes with those trolleys. The food looks bland and disgusting to say the least. The seats are terrible and looking into a micro-screen for 10 hours is not my idea of enjoyment.

Bring back the old days!

Image source: BBC News

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