Fly Away
Safari njema rafiki – Swahili
Why do we fly? Consider our environment, the hassles, and the horror stories.
Think for one minute about our planet. We all know about our carbon foot print and the effect of airplane emissions on our world.
Some airlines now give you the option, for an additional fee, to buy a tree somewhere, offsetting guilt as well as carbon emissions.
Of course, we all need to fly less. We are committing to that this year.
Factor in the hassles before we have even left our homes; Completing online questions for visas and decanting liquids into 100ml bottles. Then there’s packing. Does anyone actually enjoy it?
When you reach the airport there’s the repetitive security checks; The scanning, the screening of laptops and the indignity of having to remove shoes, belts and shades.
My underwired bras always set off the scanner. I’m amazed that I’m not ordered to remove that too and just unleash my globe trotting bosom!
When we board, there is the usual rush and grab for overhead lockers. Some eejit will inevitably park their big, heavy cabin bag on top of your smaller, much more delicate one.
Before take off, the cabin crew will give you an immigration slip to fill in, that you won’t be needing for another five hours or more.
You realize that everything that you needed to fill out said form, your passport, boarding card with the flight number on it and your ballpoint pen, are all in your bag; which is in the overhead locker, trapped under something heavy.
What drives you mad on flights? What gives you flight rage?
Air rage is an actual term now. And there are increasing numbers of violent and aggressive outbursts by angry irate travellers, mostly alcohol fuelled.
And then there’s the travel horror stories. Reflect on your travel nightmares. We have had more than our fair share.
Last year, an ‘award winning low cost airline’ took us to Bali. There were no problems going. This was during the Mt Agung saga. For those who don’t remember, in 2017 Bali’s mighty Mount Agung was threatening to erupt. Ash clouds from the volcano were being blown towards the international airport.
24 hour hours before our flight out of Bali, the airline announced that it was cancelling the evening flights, as they “could not see the sky at night” and determine the air quality. Is this really 21st century aeronautical expertise?
A few years ago we went to board a flight from Nairobi to London. The plane leaving London’s Heathrow was ten hours late leaving. Ten hours!
This was the same year that Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport had suffered a fire, and many of the facilities, including the VIP lounges had burned down.
So there we were, all night, crashed out on a dirty, blue carpeted floor, including the business and first class travellers. All slumming it together!
The next travel horror story may just take the ‘Oscar’.
We were flying from Dubai to Colombo for a birthday weekend, a short flight from the UAE and an easy weekend getaway when things go to plan.
Things did not go to plan.
We boarded Sri Lanka’s national carrier. We waited. We waited some more. After several prompts from a friend and myself, eventually the crew announced that there was a technical fault with the plane, and they were waiting for the engineer to arrive to investigate it. About four hours later, with no A/C, and no meal service, another announcement was heard, saying that the plane was now deemed safe to fly.
We were good to go. But the crew were not.
Now it had to be decided whether or not this crew could accompany us, as they had been on shift for several hours. After five hours our flight was cancelled. We never left the tarmac.
More recently, on another short flight, I had ordered a juice. The juice was poured and passed to me. I proceeded to peel off the foil lid on my meal, attempting to let the steam escape.
Typically, eating any inflight meal is equivalent to minor acts of contortion; too little space, positioning the table, three people squashed together, three sets of elbows.
Suddenly I felt something wet on my leg. I realized that the plastic cup was cracked.
Juice was seeping out of the cup, and the place on my tray table for my cup, was overflowing like a moat. Juice was all over the tray table, and all over me.
Tray tables on planes are notoriously germ ridden, full of viruses like MRSA and E. coli. I gave it a thorough clean that day with my orange juice and then sat for two hours in wet clothes.
It was a big, wet, sticky mess.
Truly, when you consider the environment, the hassles and the horror stories, why do we fly?
When it comes to flying, what’s your horror story?
© Maggie Miranda / Mother City Time
Of course, we fly because it is so far the easiest way to get to far lands faster. The only other way would be by sea, which would probably take a much longer time. Perhaps a think through on how to make the aviation industry “go green” probably might be a subject worth discussing since air travel is not slowing down any time soon. As to whether that will take off or not, it remains to be seen.
My experiences of air travel have so far been quite manageable. I guess of a concern to me has been and continues to be the profiling that may make one’s journey a nightmare. I once travelled with students to London and as soon as we went past customs and the baggage belt area at Heathrow Airport, the security officers were waiting for me and I was whisked away into a small room where they interrogated me as they searched my bags. Although it may have been one of those “routine random checks” I couldn’t help feeling “why pick on me of all those other travellers?” a sentiment that was quickly aired out by my students and colleague who had to stop and wait for me. It was clear that the fact that I was black, I became an easy target.
A similar situation happened also sometime early last year as we travelled from Nairobi to Shanghai via Abu Dhabi with my family. Apparently there was too much fog that caused flight delays so our flight to Abu Dhabi was delayed for over an hour. Consequently, we missed our flight to Shanghai and had to wait another 24 hours in Abu Dhabi for the next flight to Shanghai. I did not mind the wait as long as the airline would ensure that my family and I are comfortable or so I thought! but we were in for a rude shock when we arrived and the charade began. All the “mzungus” and any one with a European or North America passport were taken away to the posh Holiday Inn just a little outside the airport while the rest of us were hounded in the airport and the officers kept lying to us that they were organizing temporary visas for us and as soon as they are released, we will be on our way to the hotel too. So a three hour wait, turned to be six hours, then 12 hours and finally the next day came and we were told ” Sorry, your visa applications were declined!” It did not take long before I could see through the ploy, so I pushed for an arrangement within the airport and we managed to get some pods to sleep. We got an 11pm to 6am slot and another at 12:00 noon to 6pm slot the following day. At least we had a place we could lay our heads and especially for our little one but there were many other travellers who were stranded, had to sleep on the benches waiting and hoping but the communication was clear: There are people who are more equal than others in some places. There was one particular French/Kenyan couple with two sons who were caught in that awkward separation when the husband was forced to go on to the hotel with the kids away and leave their mother behind at the airport because she had a Kenyan passport. Another Kenyan travelling to Beijing with his colleagues from Canada and Ireland was barred from going to the hotel with his colleagues because he had a Kenyan passport. We later lodged complains to the airline because we found out that even our luggage was damaged and all the airline could do is give us air-mile points!
I guess those intrigues can be heart wrenching in a travel that should otherwise be exciting and full of life. However, I have personally decided that as much as it is possible with me, I will keep my peace and move on, making the most and best out of those experiences. I do not have to succumb to rants and thumps that would only exacerbate an already ugly situation.
Samuel Karinga
My worst horror story?! … try to make it back on time for my grandmother’s funeral… I did make it, only being 20-30 min late, but it was EXTREMELY stressful and it cost me an arm, a leg and lots of tears… now I also have a few other ‘fun’ (NOT!) stories, lots of them are via or through the London airports at Xmas time… flights delayed, cancelled, Xmas plans jeopardised… again, lots of worries, stress and money involved and not much consideration from the airplane companies… the worst one… the cheapy easyjetty! but what other choice do you have in Europe? oh, and I was going to forget the nearly constant (please factor in) tardiness of some companies, which means that, now, I never book the last flight as it will most probably (certainly! haha, private joke) be cancelled and you will be left on the tarmac with nothing but your crushed holidays
Caroline, my heart goes out to you. Bereavement is hard enough without something like that happening. You made it, but no thanks to the airline. You are right about the last flight. We avoid that too after learning the hard way (in transit and being put up in an airport capsule ‘hotel’ ) Wishing you clear skies and happy landings for the future!
Sam, yes “random checks” are annoying and we suspect, often not as random as you might think. So sorry that your experiences in both Heathrow and Abu Dhabi were so bad and one would suspect, race related. We can relate to this when we think back to being in Kenya…a different face of racism. You will remember that our shipping was stuck in Mombasa port. Someone, somewhere, wanted ‘something’ to get it moving. If we had been Kenyan we would have got our stuff delivered. Instead, the ‘mzungus’ had to shut up and live without their belongings for 7 months.
Corruption is wrong. It impacts on many. Racism is wrong. Airlines treating their customers so badly is wrong. None of it should happen.
Sometimes, a bit of ranting and raging might be just what you need!