While six out of ten Australian air travellers desire membership of the mile high club, just over one in ten have actually “earned their stripes” according to a survey of 1100 airline passengers taken earlier this year.
Love is in the air! When it comes to high altitude escapades, Australians are obviously an open-minded bunch! People are obviously looking for more stimulating entertainment than a movie or a CD when travelling by plane. Mind you, with the advent of the new A380 super jumbos, some boasting configurations with full-sized standalone beds – earning one’s stripes is a lot easier than it once was.
The gap between the haves and have-nots is quite substantial to say the least. Why though? Is talk of “being in the club” simply fanciful, or are there genuine obstacles standing in the way of membership?
We did some brainstorming (being Friday) and concluded that long-haul flights (such as Sydney to Hong Kong for example) would be more conducive to… membership than, say, most domestic flights within Australia.
In this context the (sad) reality is that the plane has barely taken off before it is landing again, as the case with the Sydney to Melbourne (or Brisbane) leg. After all you really need something a little more drawn out to make a quality go of this.
Long haul, especially when an “aircraft night” is part of the flight, whereby the crew are trying to get passengers off to sleep, presents the perfect opportunity.
Everyone is groggy, disorientated, and best of all, most of the cabin lights are off. Who, passengers or crew, would know where anyone is, or isn’t, at a time like this?
The romance of flying indeed. Did I also mention that I love airline food as well?
hm, um, someone knows what they are talking about. Might give Murdoch and me something to do hen we fly back to London. :)
Well, what can I say? Have a nice flight!