I rarely fly anywhere these days and I’m happy about that
because flying has become a royal PITA. Recently I flew Delta Airlines to New York for
the company Christmas Party and it was a bit of an experience.
For starters the security line at Hartsfield-Jackson was quite
long and it was because only two lines were open. The TSA lady directing people said
there were only two lines open because “a few people didn’t show up for work
and they were understaffed.” How does that make you feel safety-wise? The people
that are in charge of security can’t or won’t show up for work on time. I think
even worse is I doubt the people working were doing a thorough job because it
was so busy.
Then I get to the gate and wait for my turn to board the
plane. The first class and priority passengers go first of course. Then it’s
time for the rest of us. For the riff-raff.
The gate agent calls for general boarding and a couple of
people step up to the scanner that reads the boarding passes. There are two
scanners separated by three foot high poles and cloth ribbon. The same type of
poles and tape system banks, fast food places and TSA uses to keep people in a
line. For Delta Airlines it is a completely different system.
When the couple of people step up to the scanner the gate
agent throws up her left hand and angrily screams “NO.” “Stay
to the left of the line.” The agent has to open the ribbon tape blocking the aisle
so general boarding passengers can go to the scanner on the left. There was a
lot in that “NO” the agent shouted; it wasn’t just a no. She was saying “don’t
you dare put your grubby, cootie infested hands on the first class and priority
scanner.” “Don’t you dare walk on the right side of the aisle with your grimy, dirty
shoes and your filthy dirty bodies.”
And that’s what my fellow general boarding passengers and I
were: filthy, cootie-infested, smelly, second class passengers. As such we
weren’t allowed to infect the “clean” carpet, or scanner. And after we were
allowed to board and march to the back of the plane Delta Airlines wants those types to
run the gantlet of sneers and disgusted looks from the passengers that are
considered pure.
The way to become pure and one of the anointed is to give
Delta, a company that makes billions in profits, an extra nickel. That’s the
difference in the Delta caste system: that extra nickel.
I’m all for a company making profits. It is how a capitalist
society works and I like living in a capitalist society. But I think it wrong
for Delta to use what someone chooses to pay as a dividing line between perceived
good passengers and bad passengers; because that three foot pole and cloth ribbon
was definitive line between payees and payees-not. That ribbon separated two
flying worlds. The gate agent’s sweet smile and pleasant “welcome” for the
first class and priority passengers became a sneer and a growl for the general
boarders. The difference between how the two groups were treated was palatable and
visceral. I remember when Delta Airlines was viewed as a good company. Now it’s
in the same class as used car sales lots and cigarette smokers. And, from my point of view, it’s a shame.
And it’s only going to get worse. I recently, since my
return two weeks ago, read an article that Delta makes $8 and change off passengers
and they want to bump that to $15 per passengers. That’s almost double per
person. I guess when they reach that point they will stamp a big red G on the
foreheads of general passengers and force them to wear body condoms. After all
if you won’t hand over that extra nickel then the odds of handing over an extra
dime are very low and Delta Airlines needs to make sure the lower flying class
is identified as such. I’ll wear my G
and body condom with pride and keep my dime for my family.
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