I’m old enough to remember the joys of flying when cabin crew welcomed us with cotton wool sachets and boiled sweets. You could take as many sweets as you wanted. If you were a kid, the flight attendant would grab a hefty handful and give you more — even if your doting parents were the people in the world who thought you looked cute! Whenever I hear babies wailing raucously during take-off and landing, I have to suppress the urge to write a vituperative letter to the CEO of the airline, accusing him/her/them of skimping on basic necessities to make flights comfortable.
Even the widest and most relaxing ergonomically-designed seats cannot soothe those babies when the cabin pressure fluctuates wildly and causes ear aches. Just how expensive are tiny sachets of cotton wool and sweets for heaven’s sake? Sure, one must economise, but there are so many other areas where airlines can cut costs, like those deathly dull inflight magazines packed with run of the mill articles by hacks, specially designed to make you fall asleep so you won’t keep pressing the call button for flight attendants. Save trees and ears, bring back the sweets and cotton wool now! If the tight-fisted sods still refuse to provide them, shouldn’t they at least warn passengers to bring their own sweeties and ear plugs, and explain why these are important? They could add this message to that section that warns us not to pack coconuts and other peculiar things in check-in baggage, or they could add it to t.
