Airline travel in this super-postmodern age
Travel, especially by flying, can be a frustrating experience. It’s so very different from the images you see of air travel from the 1960s and 1970s. The airlines in their failed quest for financial solvency over the past twenty years have morphed themselves into something not very different than a failed clone of Greyhound Bus Lines.
Yet, you can still find traces of that bygone era when you travel amongst today’s society. In my case, it was watching the flight attendants on my recent trip on Delta from Atlanta to Shanghai. Most of these ladies were of the age where you could tell they were trained during the golden era of commercial air transport. It was also obvious in how well they managed a flight of over 200 very tired people once we boarded our flight after a seven hour delay.
The amazing thing was that the flight attendant who was at the exit door when we landed told me that she had two days rest and then had to do the Shanghai trip all over again. And she seemed quite excited about the prospect. To be able to do the job those folks do everyday, on every flight, and in this era of cost reductions and attempts to squeeze every iota of revenue from passengers gives a smidgen of hope that the air travel may not get any more painful than it currently has become.
So, a salute to the ladies in cabin crew of Delta Flight 18 on 29May2008! And thanks for what you do.
Selah.