Austrian Airlines at
least pretends that they are pleased to see you and have you fly with them.
US Airlines adopts no
such pretense. They are not pleased to see you and they do not want you to fly
with them.
Indeed – because you
are in fact flying with them they intend to punish you as much as possible to
ensure that you do not do it again.
They start this
process at the check in counter. Remember these? They were the places where you
gave smiling people your bags and they gave you a ticket in return.
These days you do your
own check in – at self service counters. This is not always easy and the people
behind you sigh and fidget if you make any mistakes.
Then you are charged $25
just for the bare faced effrontery of checking in a bag at all. I remember when you paid for a ticket
and your bag went for free. Not any more.
Austrian Airlines will
give you a coke and a snack at no charge. US Airlines will sell you a coke and
a bag of chips for $7.
And we you finally
escape the aircraft the Austrian Airlines crew stand at the door and smile and
say Auf Wiedersehen.
US Airlines staff go about their business and do not even fart
in your general direction. They don’t want you to have a nice day – they just
want you to go away.
I couldn’t get Cate
interested in the Super Bowl although we did go down to the High Velocity bar just before kickoff to have a chicken
wrap. So I watched the game while she worked.
People here get very excited about football and of
course Indianapolis has its very own football, baseball and basketball teams so
there is always someone to cheer.
We have had quite a bit of snow and on the weekend
it was colder than we have been since we were in Scandinavia in winter.
I was prepared for this and brought my big coat and
woolly pants but Cate – despite her baggage being 5 pounds overweight – has not
got much winter gear. I am not sure why because before we left I gave her printouts
of the weather forecasts for both Washington and Indianapolis.
But this is often the case when we travel. Cate
stuffs her bag full of clothes but wherever we go she is often seen staring
mournfully into the closet and muttering that she has nothing to wear.
But – here we are back in Washington. I go back to
Vienna tomorrow. Mrs. Moneypenny says that the cats are fine. I am looking forward
to seeing them.
My Neighbour is a qantas pilot. his adive to me was- fly with an airline that has british or canadian or australian or american pilots as there is a strong chance you will get an ex airforce pilot. However choose an airline with asian cabin crew. the best airline imo is Cathay Pacific. Keen cabin crew, good pilots too!
ReplyDeleteadvice!
ReplyDeleteSouthwest Airlines is pretty good, but I have not flown in 3 years, 5 months, and 3 days. Your cats wiLL be so glad to see you. Hope you have found some Badger compatible Indianapolis spots.
ReplyDeleteSouthwest Airlines is awesome! They entertain you with jokes and visuals while giving the pre-flight blah-blah-blah, and they're always chatty and eager to please.
ReplyDeleteYou reminded me of my hate relationship with Delta. Big Daddy has formed a new hate relationship with American.
ReplyDeleteSounds like not much has changed in the flights in US - they were like that when we were there in 1996 - I thought maybe they just didn't like us because we were South African and not black because that seemed to be the most common comment when they heard our accent and asked where we were from !!!
ReplyDeleteHave a great day - am sure your cats can't wait for you to get home !!
Me
simon: I used to fly with Cathay quite a bit when I had an assignment in HK. Loved it.
ReplyDeleteesb and SK Waller. I hope I can give Southwest a try. esb: Could not find any ducks but I am sure they are there!
fmcgmccllc: Your relationship with Delta was memorable.
Me: And they still have the same planes.