I recently returned from a trip to the US. I have made more of those trips than I care to count over the last 11 years. Often I find myself going through the motions of the trip (airports, rental cars, hotels, Immigration, Customs, etc.) largely without thinking too much about the process itself. This trip home reminded me of how spoiled I have become when it comes to my treatment by the airlines.
I have typically flown one airline and its partners almost exclusively, and due to my high mileage travel patterns, I have been in the top tiers of their frequent flier program for most of the last ten years. Recently that airline stopped flying direct in to our home city, so we made the decision to change our ‘allegiance’ to a different carrier. That means becoming a ‘no-one’ for now until I build up my status with them. I felt the full force of this on my trip home.
I flew standby on an earlier flight for the first of my three flights to get home. That apparently is where it all began to go wrong. Somehow my subsequent flights got goobered up and I ended up being standby on one of the two long-haul international flights as well. After getting all of that sorted out (and being treated not as nicely as I used to be treated by my previous airline of choice), I was given a seat assignment for my first long flight, but told I would have to check in for the second one upon arrival in the transit city.
On the first 9 hour flight I was given a bulkhead seat near the front of the economy section. The seat map I was shown indicated it was right at the entry door, so there was no actual bulkhead, which turned out not to be true. There was a bulkhead, and my legroom was almost nothing as a result. A 9 hour flight with my knees in a nearly 90 degree position, which is terribly difficult for me to do after my numerous knee surgeries.
On the second 9 hour flight I was given an aisle seat near the back of the economy section – second row from the back to be exact. It has been literally years since I was not in the first 5-7 rows of the economy section, so this was an adjustment. At first I was ok with it since it was an aisle and not a bulkhead seat. I was looking forward to more legroom. That would change when I got to the seat and realized that the computer and control systems for the in-seat video system was all in a box located in the foot space for my seat. I had just barely room for my right leg under the seat in front of me, with no room to put my left leg anywhere but again in a 90 degree position for the whole flight. My knees were killing me by the time I got off that plane.
To add insult to injury, both meals served on the second 9 hour flight were ‘leftovers’ since the flight was full and they had run out of not only selections, but in one case they had run out of the entrée part too. We were being fed scraps they pulled together to try to create something that looked like a meal.
A final whack to my reality check was given when I realized that my video/sound controls for my seat were not working, thereby rendering the entertainment system useless to me – the same one whose control systems were blocking my leg room.
Now all of this sounds like a rant thus far. I don’t intend it to be so. In fact, this trip has caused me to reflect on the fact that I have in reality been quite blessed over the years with quite good treatment and some very good luck.
There were a couple of redeeming qualities to the trip as well. I made all my connections, and all my luggage arrived safely and in a relatively timely manner. I met the son of a friend of mine who was travelling on the second and third flights with me and had a chance to get to know him a bit more, including over a meal in Frankfurt on a layover. There was a woman and her very young son who were sitting next to me on the last flight, and the son was amazingly well behaved. As a parent of young travelers and someone who is keenly aware of how my own kids behave on flights, I made sure to tell her what a great job her son had done (and thereby her as a parent) on the trip. The process of getting through the health screening (for H1N1) and Immigration and customs went much faster than expected upon arrival, especially considering starting out at the very back of long lines for those processes.
All in all, I realize I need to be thankful for the blessings I have had over the last number of years. This trip reminded me that all of those trips could have been worse.
