When 99% of us fly....

[ThatsMyBarack]

We deal with:

Baggage fees
Tight security
Risk of lost baggage
"Sit down and shut up! Have a nice flight."

I just saw a local ABC News story about the "glory days" of flying PanAm in the 60s--and how a VERY select few (the top 1%) can still fly easy on United, with the following perks:

Private check-in
Speedy security
Personalized attention
In one case: A jet named after the most frequent flyer

Now, as a competitive figure skater, if I was in the top 1%, I could fly out of town to any competition I wanted to skate in--and I'd never have to worry being forced to check skates only to have them not show up. As a top 1-percenter, even if I DID check them, the staff would do everything to make sure they arrived at the other end.

But I'm not rich, and I'm not that good a skater, so I guess flying to competitions is out for now.

[ThatsMyBarack]

1. Video link to story:

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news%2Fspecial_segments&id=8375548

[McCamy Taylor]

2. What is to stop the Saudis (who fund Al Qaeda) from sending a terrorist first class?

[virgogal]

3. I took my first flight in 1955. Boston to OKC. I was treated like

a queen and the dishes were china.No plastic anything.

No jets either, so it took longer, but it was very pleasant.

Good days for passengers.

I despise flying now.

[Warpy]

4. My can still fits into a coach seat

but I've been thinking about flying somewhere first class just for the hell of it and to see how the top 5% live (the top 1% using private jets).

I just need to decide where to go.

[wtmusic]

7. My legs don't.

Once on a cross-country flight I recognized a flight attendant as a girlfriend of a relative, and was moved to first class.

It was the first truly pleasurable flight I've had in years, and was similar to flying coach in the sixties.

[frazzled]

5. This started a long time ago

... before 9/11 and security, before oil went over $100 a barrel, and well before the recession. It must have been in the mid-to-late 90s that I blew up over the disregard for ordinary passengers (or just plain ordinary decency) on the airlines, and I called my US Congressman and (one) Senator about it. They were actually interested and responsive.

It all started with a story. My husband's mother, then in her mid-80s, had come to visit and we took her to the airport to put her on the plane home. Those days, you could get a pass to go through to the gate even if you weren't traveling. So that was at least one thing. At the gate my husband asked whether he could assist his mother on board, as he had before. (She was all of about 4 foot 10, quite frail, and couldn't lift her carry-on bag into the overhead.) He could at the appropriate time. This all sounded great, until the boarding started. Instead of asking passengers needing assistance to board first, the announcement was made that Delta "Sky High Club" members (or some such thing) were to begin boarding. We waited. Then an announcement was made for first-class passengers to board. We waited some more. Then another level of frequent-flying passengers was called. I looked around and, besides my frail mother-in-law, I saw in line an even more elderly gentleman, leaning wearily on his walker as the elite passed him by. He'd been standing there, tottering, for about 15 minutes. I saw a woman alone with a baby strapped to her chest and a toddler, and a stroller, waiting in line as the high-rollers boarded. I suddenly blew up. What had happened to our culture when the elderly or women with children were shunted aside in favor of the wealthy and connected? This wasn't the America--hell, it wasn't even the airlines--I knew.

On the way out of the airport I went to complain to at the Delta desk. It fell on totally deaf ears. That's when I decided to call Delta management and to take it to Congress. Wish I'd followed up more. But at least I noticed by the next time I flew that the airline changed its policy somewhat, and went back to allowing passengers needing assistance to board first. It's still like a cattle call for the rest of us. But I'm damned if I'm going to let them treat people that way.

[Marie Marie]

6. What? The top 1% don't fly United. They all have private

luxury jets at their disposal. The rest of us are treated like cattle on a cargo plane. Eat the Rich but take your Lipitor. A whole lot of fat on the carcasses of those greedy pigs. Shout out to the Wall Street Protestors!!