The Joy of Flying

The Joy of Flying

 Likely, the first in flight beverage served was in 1783 in the presence of Benjamin Franklin on the premier manned hydrogen balloon ascent.  In celebration upon their success a couple of aristocratic balloonists uncorked a bottle of champagne in celebration. I’m certain that when the Wright Brothers conquered the air, for the those few brief seconds, on the historic dunes of Kitty Hawk there was pure rapture in the success of the flight.  This despite the fact there was no in-flight entertainment or meals.

The technology of flight and the services related to it have been developing at an accelerating rate.  For twenty million American dollars one can take a flight on a Soyuz rocket into space.  Soon other space competitors will be offering sub orbital flights for much less and the gap from Kitty Hawk to Space will have been bridged in less than a century.

But on Earth, now, the present flight environment has changed since deregulation of the aviation industry in 1978.  Prior to that time in the Golden Age of flight when flying was more of a novelty and a privilege of the wealthy, just as early balloon flight was reserved for aristocracy, seats were comfortable, meals were sumptuous and served with real silverware and offered in numerous courses, with copious amounts of alcohol finished off with an after dinner cigarette…all in flight.

No worries about pesky terrorists, plane hijackings, security checks, creams and lotions in carry-on luggage.  It was a care free time for air travel.  Women wore pearls and men wore ties.  It was almost like going to the opera.

Last year I flew a Spirit airline flight from Detroit to Las Vegas. If school buses could fly this flight would have about the same comfort level and amenities.  The seats were rock hard and did not recline.  There was minimal service and few food options.  But airlines, especially on shorter flights now compete based on price and not comfort.  The flight got safely from A to B, the price was cheap, even after paying for luggage separately, and we got to the destination on time.  The emotional scars of the flight were quickly erased as we got on with the remainder of our trip. Unless you fly Emirates first class and have a birth and shower those days of Golden Age flight passed with the Hindenburg.

But if it is safety you want above all else, fly in Australia and New Zealand. Quantas has never had an accident in the jet age!  Stay away from most African airlines, Indonesia and parts of China.

Recently, I flew to Vancouver on West Jet.  I enjoy their friendly banter and their sense of humour, most airlines can’t pull that off as effectively.  But they too, as most airlines, are going with automatic check ins, paid luggage, and few food options. I discovered for the first time wifi has replaced the inflight screens.  There were no fall down screens from the ceiling or on the back of seats.  I like following the course of the flight watching the giant icon of a plane over the miniature map of Canada to figure out, within 500 km, of my location.

I was suppose to download an APP for the Wifi so that I could use my own devise, which was a four inch smart phone, or I could rent a device with a larger screen for $7.99.  I slept, ate the pretzels and read my book.  I watched the damn clouds.

Perhaps, appetizing menus are not that meaningful any more when you consider that our taste buds betray us above 30 000 feet.  We no longer really taste food properly.  I have no idea what trauma the astronauts must go through in their diets, or for that matter life on the space station must be pretty grim from a culinary stand point.

The trend is less service from check in to landing.  I hope to hell that Vancouver flight was not on auto pilot, but if Google has anything to do with future aviation travel the planes will be flying themselves, there won’t be any people around, robots will show us how to buckle the seat belts.