WHERE HAVE ALL THE FRIENDLY SKIES…GONE?
(…gone to flim-flamming…every one)
It’s been a while since we tried to make any kind of travel plans.
Apparently a much longer time than we realized since we last made any kind of air travel plans, because where, once-upon-a-time it was a simple matter to call up an airline reservation desk, or a good travel agent, give them your preferred dates, times, class, destinations, direct flight or not, and…voila…you had what you wanted, as you wanted, at an acceptable price, and could book and pay for your trip without further ado.
Not so today.
Today making any kind of travel plans resembles trying to find your way through a tangled field of jute stalks. You are immersed in a flood of “options”, “choices”, “deals”, “plans”, none of which matching what you either need or want. It’s up to you to search, and search, and search through all of that to possibly find something close to your preferences. In short, it boils down to you having to choose the least undesirable choice. Worse yet even if you find something approximating your preferences…there’s no certainty it will be available an hour later…if you hesitate in making up your mind about it.
The airline industry has thus joined the ranks of the other PR spin-masters, by using the most manipulative marketing hype and promotional BS in what passes for “customer service” these days…just to lure you onto one of their flights…and don’t expect to have any kind of “service” for free, either. You want a meal…pay extra…you want something to drink…pay extra…you need this or that…pay extra…even your luggage is now subject to some kind of “service” fee…while you enjoy having paid through the nose to be packed like a sardine in a very tight can, since they seem to have adopted the principle of that old French railroad freight car motto… Quarante Hommes et Huit Cheveaux…(forty men and eight horses) as their idea of passenger comfort.
So we ask…where have all the friendly skies gone? Gone to flim-flamming…every one.
C’est la vie!
CENTURION