Air travel paradise

A lot is said and written about the nightmare air travel has become. I had my share of delays, tough and tiring layovers, even some lost pieces of luggage. I had a 36-hour flight in a military airplane, making 6 stops along the way to the other side of the world and barely having more than 2 hours for some light sleep between one and another stop.

But I'd rather recall a nice experience I once had flying Lufthansa from São Paulo to Frankfurt. I was in the line in the airport preparing myself psychologically for a 12-hour trip, that would be followed by some hours in the airport and another long trip to Adis Abeba. Then I ask the attendant at the ckeck-in counter if I could use my miles from Varig's mileage program for an upgrade in the Lufthansa flight. It wasn't possible, but looking at the deepest disappointment and misery I couldn't disguise, I was given a courtesy upgrade to Business class. If there's one thing I don't like about travelling in business class is the fact that I'll eventually have to come back to flying coach. But once I'm there, I take full advantage of the pampering the attendants lavish on this class of people to which I'm temporarily allowed to belong to, these special people who soar above the mere mortal ones who are in the cramped seats conveniently hidden behind curtains in the other end of the aircraft.

So I'm there, sipping my fair share of Krug champagne before dinner is served. During the dinner proper, a lesser champagne is offered. I call the flight attendant and ask her if they still had the Krug. They did and she served me more of that nectar. After a good meal, and almost ready for a nap fueled with what that great fermentation process can do to those wonderful grapes of that incomparable terroir, comes the flight attendant and asks me if I had some room left in my carry-on bag. Yes, I think so, I reply. She leaves for some seconds and then returns with a closed bottle of Krug, saying: "this is for you, as I see you like it". I couldn't care less that it was obvious I considered champagne one of the best substances ever created by mankind. I thankfully accepted and almost kissed her right then and there.

(At this point, I'd better say that I'm not a wino, I just happen to love the bubbly).

If there was ever something beyond question in my mind, it was the fact that I would try and fly Lufthansa again as soon as the opportunity came. And it did. I had arrived early in São Paulo coming from Brasília. I timed the moment to go to the check-in counter carefully, so that it wouldn't be so early that they could say they would still try to sell available business class seats before granting any upgrades; or too late so they would have the excuse that the catering for business class was closed and they didn't have extra meals for that class. I arrive at the counter just to find out the flight was booked and if I had delayed a little bit more, even my coach seat might be at risk due to overbooking. Will I ever find another German blue angel who guesses my each and every wishes? But perhaps it's better this way. After all, a repeated experience, ceasing to be unique, loses much of its appeal in the memory (and is less interesting to tell).