Sunday 7 March 2010

Nasty little clip joints in the sky!

Once was when cheap, no-frills seemed quite an attractive option. Perhaps we could all live without the gratuity of an airline sandwich or an onboard meal and consequently benefit from lower prices.

Such was the hope, at least in the early days of Easy Jet and Ryanair and their ilk. But hope, as we know, is so often the Godfather of disappointment; perhaps we should have been been prepared for the reality of the deal once the burnish had been rubbed off its' fine words.

We had in our enthusiasm for the concept perhaps failed to ask ourselves what exactly frills were.. Ok, free food and drink we'd agreed we could travel without especially on short haul flights...but what about the streamlined checking in? Had we agreed to that? The endless shambolic queue, poorly resourced by some dubious bi-lingual with glasses and an awareness problem.

What about allocated seats, leg room and cabin crew who no longer seem to offer anymore service than your average counter hand in your average supermarket? Had we really thought these all frills? Now instead of you walking past their til with your goods, they walk past you with theirs all at prices astronomically higher than your average cumulus nimbus (£6 for 2 small beers!) What about the Captain? His message once de-rigeur now an option it would seem.

What about courtesy and comfort and real value for money?

What about........what about?......what about?

The fact is that flying these cheap, cheerless, frilless, little clip joints is almost akin to the experience of a battery hen.
You're just product, pushed, shuvved, squashed and fleeced at every opportunity until your seat rental expires and you're spat out at your destination without regard or regret.

Sad that 'no frills' has become no thrills and 'cheap' has just become cheap rip-off but not so surprising I suppose when you consider the viscious, venal, pinstriped greed-bags that inhabit the cockpit of corporate ideology today.