Saturday, July 29, 2006

I'm a survivor

As I sat lashed into a tight, tiny bucket of what passes for a seat on an airline, having been barked at by disgruntled flight attendants and served greasy e-foo pork noodles that tasted faintly of cardboard, I wondered what possessed me to fork over money for this torture.

And then I remembered... oh right, I'm on holiday.

So why does this holiday somehow make me think of prison: shitty food, a confined space, hardly any natural light, unruly haggard "guards", the communal screen showing not-so-current movies.

That's United Airlines for you.

Somehow, the flight did start out a bit more promisingly. The SIN-HKG leg had rather pleasant flight attendants, who were polite and actually greeted you when you boarded the plane (vs the curt, point you to your seat reception from HKG to Chicago).

But all in, I survived the torture, the possibility of death by Deep Venous Thrombosis, and even emerged victorious after the fight with Jet Lag.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yup, United Airlines sucks rocks.

Bad service, bad prices, bad attitude, it's the Micro$oft of airlines!

Did you know that if you fly anywhere domestic on UA, you don't get a meal? I can accept that on JetStar or AirAsia but UA is allgedly a "full service" airline...

Their only saving grace is that they're part of Star Alliance...

Anonymous said...

I will give my verdict on Lufthansa in two days' time. But from what i heard, it sucks too!!!! And i'm enduring just as long a flight. :|

RealLifeReading said...

abraxis: you dont get a meal on domestic? man that does suck!

dsd: good luck!

Anonymous said...

Yup, and domestic flights can be as long as 12-14 hours (HNL-JFK) but are usually 5-7 hours (coast to coast, with or without connection) or less.

It's not that you're missing out on Singapore Airlines or ANA style food (delish!) but rather the principle that a full service airline (like UA likes to believe it is) should provide, um, service! Especially for the prices they charge!