Come Fly With Me

Once upon a time Midwest Express was an airline known for its large comfortable leather seats through out the entire cabin that made one feel as if they were sitting in first class. The flight attendants used to come around offering freshly baked, WARM chocolate chip cookies to each passenger. A gourmet meal was always served for any flight longer than two hours, which was of course followed by another warm cookie. Yes, times were good pre Bin Laden. Had I known back in the 90's that flying would never again reach that level of comfort I probably would have tried to enjoy the moment just a little more. Maybe would have ordered an extra apple juice or two. I'm just not sure I took full advantage of the way airlines used to be, most times I opted out of the hot meal in exchange for the childrens cold meal. What was I thinking. Such a foolish eight year old I was.  I remember one specific time on a family vacation when the flight attendant offered us three first class seats for free because they were oversold in coach. My parents took the coach seats and let Jade, Jordan and I live the life of luxury, even if just for a few hours. Looking back I always think it was so generous of my parents to give us the first class seats. But now I cant help but wonder if they didn't make the choice they did simply to buy themselves a few hours away from us. I would probably choose coach over first class too if it meant being able to avoid a three hour flight sandwiched between an eight, ten and twelve year old. Not only were we annoying as hell but between Jade's preference for oversized flannels and constant perms, Jordan's buck front teeth and shaggy bull cut and my lack of teeth in areas where I definitely should have had some at that age, we looked like a trio straight from the back woods of the Appalachia mountains. It truly is a wonder to me my parents took us anywhere outside of the Norfolk city limits. 
But back to Midwest Express. The leather chairs are now worn and torn. The clean white walls have faded to a creamy yellow and there are no chocolate chip cookies in sight.  It's just disappointing. And the flight attendants are bitchy. I got yelled at for keeping my head phones during take off again. When are we going to drop this fake rule about electronics? Pilots are flying drunk, kids are helping instruct planes from the watch tower, people are planting bombs inside their Crocs, having a cell phone/ipod on during take off should be the least of their worries. I have a good idea feeling this rule was made up by a drunk pilot, trying to cover his ass anyway. "The pilot lost control while still on the runway due to some sort of signal interference with Party In the USA." Come on.