Air travel gets worse, not better. I understand that there’s
increasing competition in the marketplace, so that “service” is cut to the bare
minimum to keep the profit margin positive. I also understand that there’s
constant pressure to keep the airlines safe from terrorism, even though it’s my
personal belief that traveling by air has never been safer, and will only cease
to be so when we drop our guard – and the terrorists have infinite patience.
And I know that it makes economic sense to leave aircraft fuselages unpainted
in order to save 100 lbs of weight that would increase fuel costs at a time
when oil prices are spiraling out of control.
These things creep up on you unnoticed, until you travel, as
I did today, with a couple from the “old school”. They remember days when you
got dressed up to fly, when meals were recognizable (and were perhaps even
preceded by a printed menu), when “wide-bodied” referred to the aircraft, and
not the flight attendants, when “beverages”, alcoholic or otherwise, were free,
and when both passengers and flight attendants were civil to each other.
Those days are gone, and the couple looked positively
anachronistic – he, unmistakably British, in cord trousers and tweed jacket
over a thin woolly jumper with blue-and-white striped shirt and regimental tie,
grey and balding, with a frequent and annoying “foreign-office” “har-har-har”
laugh; she, a Dallas native, on the obligatory annual trip to see relatives
(although sacrificing neither Thanksgiving nor Christmas), in a smart twin-set
and red court shoes with gold buckles, and an accent that was a curious attempt
at a mixture of wealthy American and British upper class; they, talking, as if
on stage, in slightly projected tones, so that everyone could receive the
benefit of their insights and exploits, though, traveling in coach, they could
clearly not afford to live in the manner to which they would like to become
accustomed.
They seemed happy. No doubt they moved in circles that
maintained their illusion, and remained largely impervious to the world outside
(attempted conversations about contemporary films and music failed dismally).
Nobody ever said change was for the better, and, for once, I agree with them.
