I am in Provence, reached care of British Airways. BA seem to be under the impresion that they are carrying planeloads of sheep or cattle, at best, or faceless lumps of meat at worst. I remember my parents flying off in the the 1950s with brand new luggage and dressed to kill, greeted at the airplane’s door by “air hostesses”, which in those days they were. Now they are flying waitresses.
So small was the distance between rows on our flight out that when the young lady in front of me very suddenly threw her seat back (as was her right), it hurt my knee so badly that I was in pain long afterwards. I have long legs. Not a good start for a walking holiday.
Were airlines to take out a single row of seats and offer just one inch of extra room, the experience could be more pleasant. A fare 3 or 4% more expensive would surely be acceptable. But the airlines are run by bloodless accountants (pace my previous two posts on accountants), and thus the world descends another jot into being less pleasant. And the airlines couldn’t care less. We are faceless numbers. This is totally unacceptable from an Epicurean point of view. A bas les barbariens!
Oil prices goes up – ticket price goes up – airline charges extra for your bags. Oil price goes down – airline still charges for your bags, cuts out food and gives you only a drink. No competition and no government action against cartel. Another racket.
Train travel is far superior in my opinion. You can now get a Eurostar directly from London to Lyon, then just change there for a bus or taxi to Provence. It may be a bit pricey, but at least you get what you pay for (most of the time.) The less we use aeroplanes, the better service they will have to provide, and the better our environment will be.
We have always used Eurostar, which, aside from the difficulty of getting a taxi at the Gare du Nord, is a great way to travel – I totally agree. We are on the sam page. But my wife has American passport, and last year at the Gare du Nord, a particularly difficult British customs woman gave her a very long grilling, amd seemed to be trying to stop her, and all other foreigners, entering England if she could. We did get my wife in, but decided to avoid future unpleasantness. UKIP would have been delighted. British people maybe don’t realise how difficult the immigration clerks can be with all those with a foreign passport. I have dual nationality and was born in London. That this woman tried to turn back my wife, a grandmother, really upset me. No judgment! And rather rude with it.