Alternatively . . . Christmas in Singapore, Honey?
A blog post on the New York Times web site makes a lot of points (I forget what they all were) and then says this:
The last time I flew Singapore Airlines, the flight attendants, all of whom were stunningly beautiful narrow-waisted young women, all but bowed as passengers walked onto the plane. In business class, the attendants got down on their knees to give passengers complimentary foot massages.
The pleasures of first class are not detailed, but the reader is implicitly invited to let his imagination soar.
I’ll be checking to see whether we can re-book our flight to Fort Worth, Texas on Singapore Airlines. Wish me luck!
Good luck with the Mrs. on that one.
Old Coot (2f9910) — 12/21/2007 @ 8:44 amWhat I appreciated more in the pre-TSA days was the separate security checkpoint and lounge for first class/business/frequent fliers. The airports these days are the worst part of flying. On the plane you can zone out with a couple of drinks, a book and a nap.
nk (6061ba) — 12/21/2007 @ 8:46 amOr, heck, just go to Singapore. If you can afford it! (Roughly $7500 per).
New Luxury Class
Patricia (f56a97) — 12/21/2007 @ 8:48 amSeveral bloggers — Mark Steyn comes readily to mind — have blogged about how much more formal and classy non-U.S. airlines are than U.S airlines. The uniforms are sharper, the service is better, and in general the flights are a better experience. The only non-domestic carrier I have ever taken is Lufthansa and it was a step up from what I usually encounter, though I hear the Asian carriers are the best of the bunch.
JVW (765692) — 12/21/2007 @ 9:10 amI’ve flown on a local airline in India and it reminded me of what the US airlines used to be forty years ago. All of the stewardesses were young and attractive, they gave you a bag of stuff such as cheap headphones and other travel conveniences, and they served a pretty good meal on every flight –even the half-hour flights.
I’ll be if I’d had a kid with me, they would have taken him up to meet the pilot and get a pair of wings like I did.
Doc Rampage (ebfd7a) — 12/21/2007 @ 9:59 amDoc, I used to work quite a bit in India during the mid-late 1970s and flew domestically. On a few occasions the flights would leave early because they had enough passengers to fill the plane and get on with it, regardless if someone with a reservation missed the flight or not.
I also remember the Indian folks never waited in line (queue) instead they just mobbed around the ticket counter screaming and waving for attention and service.
But I still liked India a lot and the people were terrific.
PC14 (f74534) — 12/21/2007 @ 10:22 amAl Italia is pretty sloppy too…I wonder if it’s due to the feeling of being in decline. Note that the ascendant countries produce good airlines.
Patricia (f56a97) — 12/21/2007 @ 11:05 amto be perfectly fair in this matter, you have to buy mrs. patterico a ticket on a flight with chippendale-style male strippers attending.
assistant devil's advocate (8c1820) — 12/21/2007 @ 11:44 amPatterico, if you’ve never flown Singapore Airlines you owe yourself that luxury. And by all means do visit Singapore – it’s not that expensive. What’s more, Changi airport is a wonder all on its own, and you can have a nice short holiday of a few days without ever leaving the airport! There’s even a hotel airside, and also a lounge where you can have a shower for about $5, or a nap for something like $20. And if you do want to see some of Singapore, there’s a tour bus that leaves from the airport and drops you off back at the airport – I’m not sure whether you need to go through immigration for that.
Milhouse (f10fb3) — 12/21/2007 @ 11:45 amHow is Singapore like Disneyland?
Both ban the sale of chewing gum so their workers don’t have to scrape used gum off the street.
This was true 15 years ago the last time I was in Singapore. Don’t know the current situation.
Perfect Sense (b6ec8c) — 12/21/2007 @ 11:59 amI flew a couple of domestic flights in India this past spring. Flying over on American, I was vaguely terrified of domestic flight in an emerging econmy.
Flying home, I wished the domestic carrier had service to LA. Real silver ware. Drinks before takeoff. Towels to clean up before and after the meal (free, real food).
Amazing.
Security was smart and relatively thorough (but, admittedly, obviously not up to even TSA’s dopey standards). Moreover, it was all well organized and run by folks who seemed to care.
Which is why, boys and girls, we’re all gonna work for them one day. (Well, except you Patterico).
RCJP (50a453) — 12/21/2007 @ 1:36 pmIf you need something to do for fun while waiting for a connecting flight out of the Singapore airport, by all means get yourself over to a rotisserie chicken stand. They leave the heads on there and its fun to watch them flop around.
Thai airways is OK too, but stay away from Evergreen if it is still in business. A planeload of angry pushy budget crunching Taiwanese joy that one is…
SteveG (4e16fc) — 12/21/2007 @ 4:27 pmI’m curious if this might well be a cultural issue. It seems that in the United States we’ve come to take the ability to fly whereever we damn well please for granted, whereas in many of the countries mentioned with good flight service, it seems to me that for a majority of the populace flying anywhere would be quite the event.
I’m under the general impression that in the early days of plane travel airlines here were much more big on providing an “experience” than they are these days.
Julie Scott (5986fc) — 12/22/2007 @ 1:35 amWhoa there, partner Patterico; didn’t you hear about the male Singapore Airlines flight attendants (a.k.a., “the Hunk-a-porese“) who sidle up behind female passengers and give them deep-tissue shiatsu massages?
Maybe you’d better forget about the foot fondling and leave those Fort Worth tickets on Save a Horse Airlines…
Dafydd
Dafydd ab Hugh (c9a47b) — 12/22/2007 @ 8:28 pm