One of longest surviving slogans in the airline business was United’s “Fly the friendly skies of United”!! Going back to the sixties’ free love era, it wasn’t retired till the 1990s – and was reprised for a while a decade ago. It emphasised that service is a key selling point in the cutthroat airline business! Folks are willing to be shoehorned if the skies are friendly! The larger American Airlines’ services, on the other hand, have been declining, according to one recent survey of frequent flyers.
And this was brought home most graphically a couple of days ago, when a flight from JFK to CJIA – which had already been delayed – was turned back TWO HOURS after it finally left on its five-hour journey!! Now, what could’ve possibly led to this?? Engine failure? A bird flying into an engine?? A terrorist taking over the airplane and headlining it back to NYC for another go at the new World Trade Center Building?? It turned out that four hundred mostly Guyanese passengers were inconvenienced for the whole day just because a VERY camp Guyanese personality was snarky to a steward!! That’s power, baby!! Because of your Eyewitness’s newfound sensitivity to gender sensibilities, nowadays he’ll use the pronoun “they” for the said personality.
Seems that the Guyanese character – and “they’re” quite a character! – teed off the steward as soon as “they” stepped onto the plane in a garb evidently rivalling “Joesph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat” and face fully made up!! You remember the story on which the Broadway play was based, don’t you?? Joseph was the recipient of a resplendent “coat of many colours” from his father Jacob, and his jealous brothers seized him and promptly sold him to a party of Ishmaelites – who schlepped him to Egypt!! Anyway, back to the AA flight where “they” asked the steward to place “their” hand luggage in the overhead bin, since “they’d” recently had a neck operation. “Not my job!” snapped the steward, and walked away. Now, for the record, “they” was a business-class passenger!!
After another steward or stewardess had done the honours, the first steward returned serving drinks, and is smarmily called “waiter” by “they”!! Well, who told “they” to call the waiter…erm…steward – THAT!! He loftily informed “they” he could have the planed turned back to New York for that snap!! Whereupon “they” enquired as to who he thought he was…God?? And that’s why the plane was returned to NY!! No box cutters threatening the steward – much less the pilots!!
Now, your Eyewitness thinks the steward was a “they” who was intensely jealous of our Guyanese “they” …cause he couldn’t conceive of a mere “native” being that camp!! And so the hussy fit!!
…in the Ukraine
And the drama in the Ukraine continues a year and a half after Putin decided to invade cause he felt the Yanks were enlarging NATO to box Russia in. Now, you may wonder why they’d goad the Russian Bear, when the Chinese Dragon in the east is the major challenge?? Well, Napoleon and Hitler found out it ain’t too smart to fight on two fronts simultaneously. So maybe the Yanks want to ensure all is quiet on the western front?!!
Be that as it may, the truism’s holding that when elephants fight – or make love!! – it’s the grass that suffers. The latest Russian move was to cancel its agreement to allow Ukraine wheat, corn and other agri products to be shipped out of the Caspian Sea. This has immediately pushed up the price of wheat in the forward market, as speculators move in to take advantage. So, quite soon, we’ll see the price of flour rising locally – which is gonna hit us all.
Whether it’s roti or bread!
…for connectivity
Recognising this evolving new world is all about connectivity – which can now be achieved with a smartphone in our hand – the Government has just operationalized its promise to remove all taxes from cell phones.
We are the world!
