Fiascos in Flying

I commented just yesterday on Ash’s blog that I sympathized with her troubles while flying- and was reminded of the entire hullaboo that I have come to associate with flying over the last couple of years.

I remember my first flight quite well actually. I was eight and we were flying from Madras to Singapore on Singapore Airlines. Here, I should make the point that Singapore Airlines was and continues to be the airlines with the best service. The flight was, the food was good(I didn’t understand until years later why airline food was so reviled), they gave us goody bags for kids(to keep them occupied) with this plastic toy with holes into which you could loop colorful thread (I still have it!). I think that early experience is why, though I know that optimism is the certain path to disappointment, I still look forward to a flight.

There were other memorable flights – there was the flight on a tiny plane with about a dozen passengers, which had engine trouble(and excellent sandwiches) and landed in Chandigarh when in was to go to Shimla (or something like that). I think I should have been more concerned than I was, sitting on that flight, but there were magnificent views as we flew along the foothills of the Himalayas, and that distracted me somewhat (what a good thing I was not in the cockpit!).

Its not just the security procedures that are a pain these days – I can live with that- I understand its necessary, maybe its paranoid, maybe long lines are a pain, whatever- that’s Ok. I can live with the ‘only 23 kg’s’ thing that airlines have – I don’t really want to carry heavy suitcases myself.No, what really, really annoys me is the actual flight itself. Long gone are the days when a 7:30 flight actually meant a 7:30 flight. These days you’re lucky if you leave before. No more food on flights – peanuts if you’re lucky. Either pack food from home – or pay a small ransom and buy something to eat at the airport. It's most annoying with drinks. You can’t bring liquids through security and what costs $1.25 one side of the X-ray machine, costs $2.50 on the nother! And its not like the Air Hostesses ( Oh ok – Stewardesses or Stewards) actually answer when you when you press the little light, and bring you the drink you want when you’re thirsty… )

There was the flight from Bombay to New York through London- that was about 9 years ago. I still remember being awed by the number of shops at Heathrow. I watched Jerry Maguire three times over that trip- and never tired of it. Is it just me or is the quality of movies they show on board also deteriorating? (or is it that the movies themselves are deteriorating?) It used to be prospective Oscar winners, fresh as they were running in theatres- no more – now we get six month old flops that you couldn’t pay me to see… maybe they’re encouraging people to sleep on flights? That was also one of the first flights of the Boeing 767 (I think that’s the right number anyway). Huge plane – much more legroom that you get these days (no I haven’t grown any taller – trust me on that!).

Its not just the security procedures that are a pain these days – I can live with that- I understand its necessary, maybe its paranoid, maybe long lines are a pain, whatever- that’s Ok. I can live with the ‘only 23 kg’s’ thing that airlines have – I don’t really want to carry heavy suitcases myself.

No, what really, really annoys me is the actual flight itself. Long gone are the days when a 7:30 flight actually meant a 7:30 flight. These days you’re lucky if you leave before 12. No more food on flights – peanuts if you’re lucky. Either pack food from home – or pay a small ransom and buy something to eat at the airport. Its most annoying with drinks. You can’t bring liquids through security and what costs $1.25 one side of the X-ray machine, costs $2.50 on the other! And its not like the Air Hostesses ( Oh ok – Stewardesses or Stewards) actually answer when you when you press the little light, and bring you the drink you want when you’re thirsty…

And connecting flights – I hope whoever invented that nightmare is burning away in some inner circle of Hell, because Hell is what I feel I go through rushing from one flight to catch another! Imagine that you have 45 minutes between the landing of one flight and the take – off of the next. And of course the first flight is half an hour late. And then the connecting flight is at the nest terminal and you have to catch the Skytrain/ Shuttle/ Just run as fast as you can and hope your luggage also makes it.

I was on supposed to go on this flight from LA to Philly on Continental a couple of months ago. That flight was cancelled(after we got to the airport) and we were re-booked on American Airlines. Of course our luggage got lost. We talked to customer representatives for a week, getting conflicting answers from “Oh, we have it right here – we’ll send it right away!” to “We have no idea. We have no record of such a piece” and I was about ready to give up- or go mad – when an amazingly kind and responsible representative actually tracked the piece down and had it sent to us, finally ending the nightmare.


And connecting flights – I hope whoever invented that nightmare is burning away in some inner circle of Hell, because Hell is what I feel I go through rushing from one flight to catch another! Imagine that you have 45 minutes between the landing of one flight and the take – off of the next. And of course the first flight is half an hour late. And then the connecting flight is at the nest terminal and you have to catch the Skytrain/ Shuttle/Just run as fast as you can and hope your luggage also makes it.

I was on supposed to go on this flight from LA to Philly on Continental a couple of months ago. That flight was cancelled(after we got to the airport) and we were re-booked on American Airlines. Of course our luggage got lost. We talked to customer representatives for a week, getting conflicting answers from “Oh, we have it right here – we’ll send it right away!” to “We have no idea. We have no record of such a piece” and I was about ready to give up- or go mad – when an amazingly kind and responsible representative actually tracked the piece down and had it sent to us, finally ending the nightmare.