Jules Heartly | August 2022

The Once Upon a Time Glamour of Flying Overseas.

The phone rang.  My mind was dealing with the certainty of another heat wave and all its implications.  The coolness of an afternoon breeze diluted and distant as the winter itself. 

 I reluctantly answered it without confirming the calling number first.  “Don’t let this be another robot call,”  I said to myself, wishing I hadn’t picked it up. 

I stayed silent. A thing I have started to do when the amount of robot calls and sales calls cluttering my cell phone got unnerving. 

Jules?  

Hummm? 

I still said nothing. 

It is about your book Save Your Prayers, or in Spanish Rehenes en Misa (Kidnapped at Church).

“Oh Hi, I am sorry. I thought of perhaps another marketing call…”

I said, excusing myself for the silent rudeness.

What followed reminded me of one of those occasions when I would receive a phone call from my boss at work to request my professional skills at a location outside of the U.S.   

I ‘d considered it… I’d be tempted by the job experience, but I wasn’t always sold on it  because of the whole traveling arrangements, packing etc. although in the end I was satisfied.  After all, flying in executive class wasn’t that bad, and often than not I got to sleep some hours during the flight, after enjoying a good meal and drinks to set the mood of a week-long work journey somewhere in Europe.

This time the phone call, made the request to travel more attractive,  I was invited overseas to talk about my historical fiction novel “Save Your Prayers, True Stories of a Nation Held Hostage” (published in spanish as Rehenes en Misa  and my  Children Environmental book “Mornin The Super Bird  published in spanish as Mornin El Super Pajaro .”

 The timing wasn’t great, not only because of Europe’s heat wave and the Covid spread numbers rising again, but because of the tourist travel season. Crowded roads, expensive flights, and hard to get hotel bookings.  

But how to say NO to something you love to do? 

I put time on my side, and I  hurried to book a flight. An all-day job itself proved to be challenging.

In the booking process,  I learned the hard way, how the air transportation industry has changed so much and in so many ways.  One may ask him/herself, could it be worse?

Let’s see. With semi-flexible days on hand, I set to book a flight with Delta Airlines, but not only were the prices prohibitive and with minimum alternative options. I  then followed-up with American Airlines, and the experience was similar and weird.: It would show availability, but when I attempted to book the flight, the website either crashed or came up with no availability or at a different pricing than the originally listed. 

So after checking google flights, I ended up using my good “friend” #Expedia.   After all, it provides a 24 hour cancellation window just in case. (Or so it says on its website).  

Through the Expedia site, I booked a flight in Iberia. 

 Such flight to start with, appeared listed in google flights with  3 different prices depending on whom you make the book thru, being the most expensive one the airline itself.  In other words, that particular itinerary had different airlines and flight numbers besides having different prices by airline option.

Not a new thing, but perhaps a confusing one. 

A day later, I changed my mind. I decided it was best to wait until the heat wave passed before heading out to Europe.  

I went to the Expedia website to modify my flying dates.  Expedia did not allow the change:  It had to be done with the airline, Iberia.   And so the saga began.  The Iberia website did not allow the change because the airline managing the flight was American Airlines!   

AA did not allow the change because the flight was booked by Expedia.  And so the Catch 22 saga continued until I ended up keeping the original travel dates.

During this process, while checking the reservation fine print and alternative flights etc,  I noticed that some tickets/seats available came with a “NO MEALS” included fine print and NO carry on included as well as NO SEAT selection included! 

And NO this was NOT  a domestic spirit airline’s flight or a low-cost carrier. 

I Have flown AA flights in both economy and business class internationally and nationally and I have never heard of such conditions. 

I reviewed my ticket. It seemed mine had all above included except for the SEAT. And I wondered how an international flight would offer nothing to their passengers? Not even water? 

Whatever happened to the glamour days of flying abroad?

How far has this gone?  And could it be worse? And how would the flight personnel figure out who to serve meals to and who not to?  Wouldn’t that be an inefficient use of time and resources? And how much savings would it really represent for the airline?

Well, I learned later it wasn’t much about the savings but about the profits, as all the passengers who didn’t have the meals included had to pay extra for snacks, meals, beverages, etc. 

And all passengers with meals included, still have to pay extra for bottled water or alcoholic drinks or any other extras. 

And to my surprise, once on board, when the flight attendant approached me with the meal choice, she first verified my name to make sure my ticket allowed for meals. 

The in-cabin flight experience was the least enjoyable one ever in an international flight.  The Iberia/AA  itinerary ended up being further managed by some company called LEVEL (#flylevel).   No small pillows, or blankets, or earphones, or water bottles or anything whatsoever was given to the passengers for the 8 hour journey! The cabin air wasn’t cool enough.

I guessed the meaning of the company name LEVEL:  trim down the in-flight service to the bare minimum

  And as I became thirstier and developed a headache from dehydration (since the flight attendant never came around for me to order water),  I dreamed of booking a really enjoyable flight with another airline, without knowing if that chaos represented the new commercial airlines standard. 

I  have heard about low-cost carriers/airlines like Spirit or Ryan-air but from AA or Iberia I never imagined such a cheap experience at a not-economical price. 

In the 60s and 70s flying was a whole exquisite experience.  A social event. People enjoyed nice wide comfortable seats, a dining area, plenty of food, drinks and water and excellent service. 

In those golden days, flying was perhaps the most glamorous thing you could do – you really were halfway to heaven. Everyone felt comfortable.Seats were bigger. aisles wider. Legroom was not an issue. Food was actual, real food you’d want to eat – lobster, foie gras, whole hams and beef carved in front of you. There was a  cocktail trolley available to all(which some airlines still do have).

Forget about economy, economy plus, business class and first-class! Initially, there was only one class – and it was pretty luxurious. Flying implied a happy experience.

Fast forward to today and we got all the opposite. How is it possible the industry has gone so awry?

What could be said of the industry innovation?     Where water has to be squeezed out of the clients to increase the airline profits?   

There are no excuses for this. Ticket prices have gone up, that should be sufficient.  Paying a lot more and getting a lot less is not an effective marketing strategy to acquire customers. 

This time my flight experience made me immediately nostalgic for an era I never experienced.

As I arrived at my flight destination, I was eager to get out and forget the experience, but doing so without creating awareness is the exact reason why the airlines are getting away with such awful practices, that leave you with the sensation of having your dignity assaulted.. travel is now anything but glamorous.

So be aware! Review your ticket options before you pay.   And next time you fly know what to expect. Hopefully, it would be something much better than this at all LEVELs. 

Thank you for reading my blog.

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