Patience is not my virtue
Mar. 15th, 2008 08:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indigo_rose996am. My boarding pass clearly states that the gates will close at 6:05am. Shouldn't we start boarding?
If you have such an obvious lie printed on paper we all can read, why should I believe anything else you say? For example, our so-called destination? Or that my luggage will arrive? That my luggage contents will be unmolested? That you care about security? That you aren't simply trying to gouge me for more money?
Cynical at 6:05am.
6:50am They finally start asking us to board. I suspect that part of that incomprehensible muttering was which seats get to line up. Since I couldn't understand it, I'm going to compromise by getting in line slowly.
In line, I have a bottle of water sticking out of my pocket, my seat cushion under an arm, a book/passport/ticket in hand, and my briefcase trailing behind me. This airline is notorious for coming up with irrational rules just as you try to board. Not posted, not advertised, not mentioned. Just "You can't do that. I'm going to tell you this only at the last second, when all pleasant alternatives are no longer possible." Plus, this plane is going to the UK, which is also notorious for last-minute cavity searches at the gate. I put the seat cushion on the side of me with the bottle, covering it from all but the most exhaustive of visual scrutiny.
Just in case.
As my ticket stub is handed back to me, the other airline stewardess tells another passenger, "You cannot bring that water on board. ...Oh? Well, then you can step out of line and finish it. But you cannot bring it on board."
I scurry on board.
So now I have an illicit bottle of water. The rule-follower in me wants to feel guilty. But the realist says that I am following the spirit of the law, if not the teeth-grindingly fluid rule. My water is not a bomb. I bought it inside security at the airport.
And at no point during the flight does anyone offer me any kind of drink. Other passengers were offered food and drink for cash, but not me. I leave the empty bottle with two used kleenex in my seat as a commentary.
If you have such an obvious lie printed on paper we all can read, why should I believe anything else you say? For example, our so-called destination? Or that my luggage will arrive? That my luggage contents will be unmolested? That you care about security? That you aren't simply trying to gouge me for more money?
Cynical at 6:05am.
6:50am They finally start asking us to board. I suspect that part of that incomprehensible muttering was which seats get to line up. Since I couldn't understand it, I'm going to compromise by getting in line slowly.
In line, I have a bottle of water sticking out of my pocket, my seat cushion under an arm, a book/passport/ticket in hand, and my briefcase trailing behind me. This airline is notorious for coming up with irrational rules just as you try to board. Not posted, not advertised, not mentioned. Just "You can't do that. I'm going to tell you this only at the last second, when all pleasant alternatives are no longer possible." Plus, this plane is going to the UK, which is also notorious for last-minute cavity searches at the gate. I put the seat cushion on the side of me with the bottle, covering it from all but the most exhaustive of visual scrutiny.
Just in case.
As my ticket stub is handed back to me, the other airline stewardess tells another passenger, "You cannot bring that water on board. ...Oh? Well, then you can step out of line and finish it. But you cannot bring it on board."
I scurry on board.
So now I have an illicit bottle of water. The rule-follower in me wants to feel guilty. But the realist says that I am following the spirit of the law, if not the teeth-grindingly fluid rule. My water is not a bomb. I bought it inside security at the airport.
And at no point during the flight does anyone offer me any kind of drink. Other passengers were offered food and drink for cash, but not me. I leave the empty bottle with two used kleenex in my seat as a commentary.
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 02:10 pm (UTC)And some of the rules are getting even more irrational. Aer Lingus charges on a per checked fee basis -- check out their website.
One of my students told me about Ryanair. They are cheap, but their checked luggage rules are ludicrous, even by European standards. You must pay fees for each piece of checked luggage. And your (up to) 3 pieces of checked luggage must have a COMBINED weight of less than 33 lbs. Seriously. Read for yourself.
http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs.php?sect=pnr&quest=tip
http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs.php?sect=CHARGES
I pack really light, but I cannot imagine my briefcase (much less my suitcase) weighing less than 33 lbs!
no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 02:40 pm (UTC)I thought the Geneva Convention required that the airlines offer you water.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-17 07:10 pm (UTC)If it doesn't, it should! Though it seems that W isn't the only person who thinks that The Geneva Convention does not apply when it is inconvenient. Evidently random European airlines feel the same. FlyBE airlines does not have any water on board. Unless you buy it. From talking to my students, Ryanair is either doing the same thing or not far behind.
Sheer evil.