Christmas is here again, bringing
with it the urge to go places. As a result, the mind wanders west, south and
eastwards from Toronto, a city that, at other times, remains one of the best places
on earth.
So online I
go, surfing for bargains to places where seasonal festivities are not likely to
include snow or ice. Credit cards at the ready, I clicked on to a site famous
for expeditiously arranging cheap flights everywhere, but here, there was nothing
but disappointment. The next “discount”
site, was no better and was just bad enough to evoke bitter laughter. That wasn’t
the worst, either. Content in the next site was nothing short of eye-watering,
which led me to think that perhaps I might have left it too late... At prices like
those I doubt whether I’d even be able to afford a trip round the block.
Flying
to a western Canadian city, for example, was being quoted at around $850.00,
US. To Miami, Florida, $676, and to London $1190. Perhaps going to Sierra Leone
may not be too expensive, I thought. There were no options to there, though. The journey
had to originate from a European point and only the Belgian capital, Brussels offered
anything viable, starting at around $3000 and not including the price of the
Toronto-Europe leg either. Besides, these are just coach prices.
While marvelling
at these outrageous numbers, something unexpected, but related popped up, as
things tend to on the internet. This one was a story about a Korean Airline
exec, Heather Cho, who had got herself into trouble for demanding that a Korean
Airline plane turn around just so she can eject a flight attendant who had annoyed
her. What was the crime? The attendant had had the impudence to serve Ms Cho her
inflight snack of macadamia nuts still wrapped in cellophane instead of on a
plate. I expect the lady executive was travelling in a class befitting her
station for which, ordinarily, she would have had to pay top dollar. Never mind
that she was the boss’s daughter, and would probably have been travelling on a
voucher. But first class is first class, and however you get there it must
cost quite a bit of dosh. I know that whenever I managed to make executive or
first class myself, whether through my own money or by other means (which we
don’t need to go into here), I got the full treatment: starched linen, bespoke
china, not to mention the fine wines and gourmet hors d’oeurves. Expectations mount,
the sense of entitlement becomes bloated, even when the bill is not on your tab.
And if you have to ponder the ruin on your bank balance, the last thing you
need is anything to discomfit you further. What with the added stress and all of
checking in at the airport these days, passengers are bound to be in bad humour
by the time they reach their seat, anyway. It takes just the merest hint of disrespect
to tip the most placid of dispositions into fits of air rage. For me, macadamia
nuts are not that enticing anyway and Ms Cho could very well be another for
whom macadamia doesn’t do much as well. I don’t suppose the cabin staff were in
a position to know that these nuts were not among madam’s favorites, but
sitting in the front of the plane must have provided enough of a clue that
whatever nuts are served they must be presented with all due pomp and ceremony. I am not
surprised that the lady blew her top. What is the world coming to?
However the
blame for the fiasco overall must fall on the captain. He was too easily influenced by the executive
lady and should have been man enough to have disobeyed her command to turn the
plane around. What was he thinking, I wonder? Isn’t the cockpit supposed to be
protected from outside interference these days?
And here we
are at a time when I can’t get to Sierra Leone, grown people fool around
over a few indigestible nuts and Ebola Virus Disease steals Christmas
from millions in West Africa.
Tell Fren Tru
