Flying the flag
Returning on Saturday evening to Heathrow, as we circled for about 15 minutes in the clouds, I reflected that every time I now return to the airport, stacking takes place. I wonder what the price of this congestion is, whether in fuel costs or environmental impact. Quite simply Heathrow cannot accommodate the sheer volume of flights.
A matter of seconds before we touched down in the packed Boeing 747-400, we lurched upwards again, the landing having been aborted. Apparently the plane in front had not cleared the runway. When we did eventually land, we had to make our way to the terminal for some time, and had to cross an active runway as well. It really has become chaotic.
I personally always try to fly British Airways, despite its recent bad press. I still laugh, however, at the ludicrous attempt of the airline to get into the post 1997 Labour election victory ‘Cool Britannia’ mode. Do you remember those hideous, confusing tail fins – no Union flag, oh so old fashioned!
And afternoon tea, scones and cream, were abolished on transatlantic flights. How people hated it and what a terrible waste of money it was. Margaret Thatcher memorably tried to cover up a model of the new tail fin design.
My children find the fads of the Sixties and Eighties hilarious. In retrospect they were, but so were those ridiculous years after 1997 when even highly intelligent and sceptical journalists were caught up in the New Labour, New Britain hysteria which engulfed the nation. Modernise, modernise was the great cry of the day; really meaningless weasel words in retrospect.
Just as the tail fins were emblematic of the mood of the times, in retrospect all of it now just seems plain ridiculous.