Saturday, October 11, 2008

A captive audience at 30,000 feet


After my last disastrous trip on US Air, I vowed that it would be a cold day in hell before I flew with them again.

Unfortunately, I had few alternatives on the final leg of a two city jaunt during which I flew on Northwest, American, and finally US Air.

An innovation on the godforsaken airline is to make a sales pitch for credit cards midway through the flight. Since my flight had two legs, I heard the pitch twice - I was awakened both times by the shrill sound of a flight attendent pushing a very special offer with a credit card company. Worse still, on the second leg of the flight, the monitors on the plane played a repeated loop for a cable travel network - it was a 70 minute commercial (actually a three minute commercial repeated again and again).

I paid plenty for my ticket and I resent a sales pitch which is impossible to escape.

2 comments:

CT Bob said...

Sound-canceling headphones. Worth the steep cost. It's the only answer.

Put yourself in a cocoon of silence. It's a real sanity saver, especially if there's a crying baby on board. If you think flyby credit card commercials are bad, try relaxing while a screeching postpartum fetus decides to raise a ruckus!

Ed McKeon said...

Got em. But my won't cancel out the sound of the intercom when it's just above my head. Maybe I've got to spring for the Bose.