Scott K
Member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2017
- Posts
- 273
There are few underpants wearing people in the history of humanity that would not wish to be seated in business class. The plusher, wider seats that are staggered for less invasion of personal space. The improved quality of service, food and even air are far better suited to preserving one's mental health. And of course there's the points and status credits ever so important to the brethren of the Frequent-Flyer.
I've avidly watched many of Dennis Bunnik's stuttered presentations and warmed to Sam Chui's panda-like cuddliness to know exactly what I want, where I want it and what flight I want it on. Shut-up and take my money, airlines! I have a bum that is in want of a seat, places to go, people to meet.
*sigh* but instead I close my eyes and cast that aside, search flights with preferred airlines and far more often than not pick the cheapest, possibly dirtiest seats I can find. A vision, a flash-back of an Air Asia flight on which I was the first to use the toilet since take-off, crosses my mind. I remember having have to hold my pants around my knees as the floor was so puddled with pee that I would have certainly soaked myself. I gulp, then I find myself booking into economy again. The perils of being a tight-cough on a self-funded flight.
Is economy really that bad? Whenever we think of economy we always think of the things we have least liked about it. The compressed seating that keeps you immobile. The improbability of sleep. The prayers uttered to a selected deity in the hope of no one else being seated besides you or your partner, and the despair as your hopes are dashed.
And we know it gets worse from there. The list is extensive. Throw babies and small children into the mix and you may as well jump on a grenade to save your fellow pax. You know you are going to feel like you have.
But as time moves on and I gain experience from every flight I take, I have found myself hating economy less over time. Except when I think about that Air Asia toilet. I just relax and soak up the sights, sounds and occasional pee puddles of economy. Which has led me to contemplate what is good about travelling in the clogged intestines at the bowels of the plane. Amidst the dull roar of the world around you that muffles over every sound, after a while it becomes hard not to hear, feel or notice the sense of community. If you don't try to cocoon yourself in the hope of experiencing the social separation of business class, the revelation that everyone in the seats around you are suffering just the same is unavoidable.
For the most part people around you are keen to not inflict more discomfort upon you than they already are dealing with themselves. They know what you are experiencing. Occasionally this breaks and someone ends up being a real butt-head on a flight. But again this for the rest of the cabin is a unifying experience. There's a sense of unease about the people nearest them. There's an empathy, if not a love. The screaming child two rows over is uncomfortable for everyone and you have a choice of how you can react. Are you going to be upset and ruin your own flight further with your own anger? Or are you going to feel empathy and sympathy with that child's parents. I don't have children, but I worked for 5 years in a children's hospital in close contact with parent's and children daily in the most intimate of often tragic ways possible. I know what I choose.
That big guy sitting down next to you that you makes you even more anxious about losing your personal space? She/he is probably as uncomfortable about themselves as you are of them. Far from ideal, but for the most part they are likely to try and do what they can to make sure you don't feel too bad yourself. The universe doesn't hate you just because you've been seated next to a fat person. I'm a big guy myself, and it gets really interesting when I find an even bigger guy seated next to me. Reminds me of something from the 80's I remember seeing on TV. I don't sit there ruminating how they should have booked a business seat or comfort seat. It isn't going to be an easy flight, but stewing on this fact has never improved the travel experience.
Economy is always going to be what you make of a less than ideal situation. But there's a beauty in being inside a flying tin can with others and I have come to love that feeling of closeness with the silent community around me, even as my lower spine melts into spasm in the less than ideal seat. When I travel to a new place I expect that I will be experiencing a different life and culture than where I am from, and will be thrust into dense populations of people I don't understand but I am keen to meet, no matter how fleetingly. And that starts in the economy cabin where you are often surrounded by home-returners.
How I react to the discomfort around me is always going to affect my experience of the flight. I can suffer in silence and resentment, letting it stew over into irrationality or I can sit back, hope the chair reclines and the person behind me doesn't lose their mind, check my attitude and turn on the IFE or open a book. It's a community of people like you in there and embracing it rather than being combative about it helps you more than them.
But please, gentlemen or ladies, if you find yourself sitting next to me and you are wearing rubber thongs, know that I am judging you and your disgusting feet. Wear some 5&$@1*# shoes.
I've avidly watched many of Dennis Bunnik's stuttered presentations and warmed to Sam Chui's panda-like cuddliness to know exactly what I want, where I want it and what flight I want it on. Shut-up and take my money, airlines! I have a bum that is in want of a seat, places to go, people to meet.
*sigh* but instead I close my eyes and cast that aside, search flights with preferred airlines and far more often than not pick the cheapest, possibly dirtiest seats I can find. A vision, a flash-back of an Air Asia flight on which I was the first to use the toilet since take-off, crosses my mind. I remember having have to hold my pants around my knees as the floor was so puddled with pee that I would have certainly soaked myself. I gulp, then I find myself booking into economy again. The perils of being a tight-cough on a self-funded flight.
Is economy really that bad? Whenever we think of economy we always think of the things we have least liked about it. The compressed seating that keeps you immobile. The improbability of sleep. The prayers uttered to a selected deity in the hope of no one else being seated besides you or your partner, and the despair as your hopes are dashed.
And we know it gets worse from there. The list is extensive. Throw babies and small children into the mix and you may as well jump on a grenade to save your fellow pax. You know you are going to feel like you have.
But as time moves on and I gain experience from every flight I take, I have found myself hating economy less over time. Except when I think about that Air Asia toilet. I just relax and soak up the sights, sounds and occasional pee puddles of economy. Which has led me to contemplate what is good about travelling in the clogged intestines at the bowels of the plane. Amidst the dull roar of the world around you that muffles over every sound, after a while it becomes hard not to hear, feel or notice the sense of community. If you don't try to cocoon yourself in the hope of experiencing the social separation of business class, the revelation that everyone in the seats around you are suffering just the same is unavoidable.
For the most part people around you are keen to not inflict more discomfort upon you than they already are dealing with themselves. They know what you are experiencing. Occasionally this breaks and someone ends up being a real butt-head on a flight. But again this for the rest of the cabin is a unifying experience. There's a sense of unease about the people nearest them. There's an empathy, if not a love. The screaming child two rows over is uncomfortable for everyone and you have a choice of how you can react. Are you going to be upset and ruin your own flight further with your own anger? Or are you going to feel empathy and sympathy with that child's parents. I don't have children, but I worked for 5 years in a children's hospital in close contact with parent's and children daily in the most intimate of often tragic ways possible. I know what I choose.
That big guy sitting down next to you that you makes you even more anxious about losing your personal space? She/he is probably as uncomfortable about themselves as you are of them. Far from ideal, but for the most part they are likely to try and do what they can to make sure you don't feel too bad yourself. The universe doesn't hate you just because you've been seated next to a fat person. I'm a big guy myself, and it gets really interesting when I find an even bigger guy seated next to me. Reminds me of something from the 80's I remember seeing on TV. I don't sit there ruminating how they should have booked a business seat or comfort seat. It isn't going to be an easy flight, but stewing on this fact has never improved the travel experience.
Economy is always going to be what you make of a less than ideal situation. But there's a beauty in being inside a flying tin can with others and I have come to love that feeling of closeness with the silent community around me, even as my lower spine melts into spasm in the less than ideal seat. When I travel to a new place I expect that I will be experiencing a different life and culture than where I am from, and will be thrust into dense populations of people I don't understand but I am keen to meet, no matter how fleetingly. And that starts in the economy cabin where you are often surrounded by home-returners.
How I react to the discomfort around me is always going to affect my experience of the flight. I can suffer in silence and resentment, letting it stew over into irrationality or I can sit back, hope the chair reclines and the person behind me doesn't lose their mind, check my attitude and turn on the IFE or open a book. It's a community of people like you in there and embracing it rather than being combative about it helps you more than them.
But please, gentlemen or ladies, if you find yourself sitting next to me and you are wearing rubber thongs, know that I am judging you and your disgusting feet. Wear some 5&$@1*# shoes.
