Saturday, May 03, 2008

Flying economy

Most of us look for the cheapest flight to a certain destination.

I still remember travelling on Czechoslovakian Airline, which stopped over at Prague airport before landing in Heathrow, on my first trip to UK in 1973.

When my wife came back for good with Beng, in 1982, she boarded Pakistan Airline which made them stay overnight unscheduled, in Lahore before proceeding to Subang, which made me waited anxiously for hours, unlike now when we have handphones and much better flight information.

Come to think of it, it is silly to go for cheapest when we could be risking our lives with dodgy airlines, which have limited number of planes and skimp on maintenance.

After our wedding in Malaysia in 1976, we were in Subang airport, waiting to board Qantas flight back to London. We were approached by an air hostess, who upgraded us to first class! I remember hearing her explaining ‘probably you look presentable’ as I was wearing my wedding suit! Well, after that experience, I can say that I had travelled first class before and the main differences were the silverware and proper napkins and free-flowing wines. The seats were definitely more comfortable and spacious and we got to board first and leave the plane first upon arrival.

There are people who are comfortable and those who feel uncomfortable in a privileged position. The most common was having a chauffeur driving your car, assuming it is a big enough car to give the kind of impression. Yet, some would prefer sitting in front next to the driver.

I believe Lim Guan Eng is one of those who are uncomfortable with the trappings of high office. The picture below, as shown in someone’s blog, certainly does not appear to be a publicity stunt:

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