The average SLF experience is a miserable one

[Michael Birbeck]

The term Self Loading Freight is an ironic (some might say humorous) one but it also reflects a financial truth that people are cargo and that the more you can pack onto an aircraft the higher will be the carrier's return per air mile. Despite the enormous benefits that the industry has brought to millions of people through efficiencies at every level in the aviation business I was pondering how many more "efficiencies" the average (economy passenger) will be able to withstand before the whole passenger experience becomes intolerable. I was sitting admiring a Sunderland flying boat with a long retired airline captain the other day and he was waxing lyrical about the enormous luxuries enjoyed by the early passengers on the Imperial Airline routes (well before his time). I was quick to point out that these passengers were representatives of the moneyed classes and that modern aviaion has ushered in freedom for the masses. He agreed but asked me if I thought that flying as an "average" passenger" was a tolerable experience. He travels often to France and now always uses the train in preference to scheduled airlines as he finds the French train exeperience more "civilised". What do pilots and passengers think? I was apt to think about this all again after reading this article in The Times.

Cassandra: aeroplane etiquette - Times Online