My dream, and it's a simple one, would be that since domestic shorthaul is a commodity service and the LCCs are winning that battle, at least one legacy carrier (hopefully all of them but my dream has to be realistic) develops a global longhaul network to rival what Pan Am used to have, and importantly, with a competitive or superior service product like Pan Am used to have for transcon flights or longer. This means state of the art aircraft, with cabin services and amenities to rival Singapore, Emirates, Virgin etc. in all classes. Right now I don't think anyone here is even close, nor is anyone in a financial position to try to get close.
A client from Australia, an experienced business traveler, arrived in NYC a couple of weeks ago talking about how the business class service on his LAX-JFK American flight was not just uncompetitive with what he experienced on his Qantas SYD-LAX flight, which he could understand, but was subpar compared with an Aussie transcon Qantas flight (e.g. SYD-PER) and transcons he had flown in the US years ago. I found myself pretty much having to explain why things are the way they are, but it's kind of sad when you realize we no longer set the global standard and foreign travelers, especially high-end business travelers, may have to lower their expectations when flying a US carrier. Does anyone here see a light at the end of the tunnel, is it realistic to imagine someday that the home team will best the foreigners to win a global Skytrax award?
PS I had another dream that involved the Mets winning the World Series but maybe that is equally wishful thinking. In 1969 the Mets won and Pan Am got the 747, must have been a great year in Queens.
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