Thursday December 07, 2006

1st class?

When I first travelled long haul I was lucky enough to travel in business class. I had not really flown long haul before and it was quite an experience. After working in Sun and getting this job I had to travel a lot and that meant I qualified for business class. It is really interesting how snobbish you can become without realising it. Sitting in your lounge sipping a nice cool drink with meals on order and in the Virgin lounge you could get your hair cut , a massage the works. Getting on the plane you get to go down your own red carpet tunnel and on the plane you get the big seat, better food and so on.

So it was with trepidation when I knew I had to travel cattle class for my overseas trips. A much reduced itinery perhaps one or twice a year. The Singapore trip concerned me the most - being a very long flight. The amazing thing is it was a non event. I don't enjoy being in an aluminium toothpaste tube for fourteen hours but it is fourteen hours whereever you are in the plane - time does not go faster in business class. Cattle class is a lot more civilised nowadays if you pick a decent airline like Virgin or Singapore airlines. The food is better, the seats are not too bad and often have those wings you can rest your head on to help prop your head up when you are asleep. video on demand is a feature most airlines have now and with a cdplayer or ipod you can fill the time in easily I think. While you sitting in cattle class remember you are subsidising the folks in the front of the plane. Without you it would not be a commercial option to allow first class...