Call me old fashioned people, but I am a bit of a traditionalist and therefore enjoy being treated like a human when I travel. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect to be lavished in first class style everywhere I go, but I do expect a little civility and decency when I'm on the move. I recently had the great misfortune of having to travel with a relatively new central European airline, and must say it's not an experience that I shall be repeating again in a hurry. Why, I hear you ask! Well, let's start with the departure gate experience. At both ends of the journey it was nothing short of shambolic, staff unaware of even the simplest of procedures, and totally lacking in any people skills (as is now the norm in the service industry...alas), still if you don't pay a lot, they don't pay a lot...ergo...effluent tends to be the end result! After the usual stampede to board from buses, which we had stood on for 25 minutes awaiting the arrival of the incoming aircraft, people bundled over one another to get the best seats, even those poor unfortunate fools who'd been mad enough to part with extra cash to board ahead of the horde, found themselves having to take pot luck. I myself generally head for the back steps in such situations, people like sheep seem to be conditioned to boarding through the front door, perhaps its a desire to check the whites of the pilots eyes...trust me sometimes it's best not to get that close to check!
Any old how, having managed to find a spot I attempted to squeeze my 6 foot frame into a seat with a pitch of just 28", I kid you not!! Whilst the aircraft was brand new and for a change looked very clean, having only been delivered about 3 weeks earlier, they clearly went to a sardine factory for cabin layout design!! Next to me the customary goliath nervous of flying didn't make things any easier, and then there was the Ogre like creature directly in front of me, who despite the fact that the seats didn't recline, found their build was such that the back of the seat buckled under the pressure of keeping said occupant in the UPRIGHT direction!! Deep joy...
The fun really started when the crew (in both directions) made announcements...which in neither of the languages spoken were audible...that said, the safety demonstration was very visual and the bored looks on the faces of the crew were reminiscent of the old border controls in the Soviet Union, whereby the border guard/immigration official would engage in a staring competition to out wit you and put you on edge. I can honestly say that I wasn't in any way filled with confidence, in truth I felt nervous for those less familiar with flying, who if God forbid anything happened would be clueless as to what was required of them.
Now I could bore you with the delights in flight, but I probably don't need to state the obvious...it was of course lack lustre and left me feeling shameful that a once great indsutry has come to this...Having said all of that, there are some terrific carriers out there both low cost and full service whom I enjoy flying with...
The moral of the story, stick with what you know best I guess...or perhaps more importantly you get what you pay for!!
