I did my first business flying in 1968, traveling from San Francisco to Burbank and Los Angeles and back again. I was 30 years old and had never been on a plane before. You can imagine my thoughts as I boarded my first PSA flight. I kept the ticket in a scrap book and still have it after all these years. The flight cost $19.50 one way. Drinks were free, it was like flying to heaven and back again. Those flights set the hook.
Seven or eight years later I decided that I wanted to see the world, and was willing to do whatever relocating was necessary to accomodate that desire. Little did I know I was creating a disease. It became almost an addiction. My business flew me here, there and everywhere amassing flight miles by the thousands so I could redeem them for more flights. I earned over a million miles on Pan Am, and lost 600K miles when they folded. I earned over 500K miles on Singapore Air, at least a million miles on United and currently have 250K miles in the UA Bank.
Flying in the early days was wonderful. The passengers were mostly courteous and polite and always dressed like it was Sunday. Attendants were always courteous, helpful and dorp-dead gorgeous. (I know that is a sexist, non-PC statement, but I stand by the fact that it is what made flying a truely joyful experience.)
It wasn’t long before the ACLU got involved and changed everything “for the better” they insisted. Stewards started showing up, dress codes began to relax, and standards were thrown out the window, at 35,000Ft.. By 1985 flying became a drudge, the ACLU had suceeded in ruining the industry. In the 1990’s my flying was limited to short hops; long international flights became a thing of the past. People pushing and shoving and elbowing their way to and from their seats took all the pleasure out of travel. Tank tops, shorts and flip-flops became the norm, many passengers were drunk and disorderly and stewards and stewardesses became worn and haggard. The joy was gone.
In spite of it all I still want to use my 250,000 miles for one last First Class Flight to somewhere I have never been before. As pompus as it sounds, my wife and I can’t think of a place that satisfies the criteria.
