KIRO NEWSRADIO OPINION

Jack Stine: We all deserve to be First Class

Feb 28, 2024, 9:33 AM | Updated: 2:34 pm

Flying First Class can be a special experience. (Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty...

Flying First Class can be a special experience. (Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

(Photo credit should read KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

For the first time in my life, I flew First Class. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bragging about having John Curley levels of income.

I bought the ticket four weeks in advance, a few days after the Boeing ‘huge gaping hole in the plane at 10,000 feet incident, when no one was flying. Because of this, the price was roughly $200.

To be totally honest, it was amazing. My flight was delayed by an hour. When I went to the gate to check on the status of the flight, the gate attendant offered me a dinner voucher in the airport to ease my dismay and distress.

On the flight, I noticed that the tray table was located in the armrest of the seat and could be deployed by pulling a simple lever. I was offered a beverage in a glass.

Dave Ross: Voters can help cull bad politicians from the herd early

When I was offered the selection for my in-flight meal, the flight attendant said, “Would you like the protein or the fruit and cheese plate?” I asked which one he liked, and he replied, “I will bring you both,” which he promptly did and both were amazing.

However, in the middle of the intoxicating experience of being treated like royalty, I was hit with a sudden wave of discontent. I can only equate it to Neo’s sensation when he was expelled from his goo-pod in The Matrix.

A wave of terror and dread hit me at 10,000 feet, and the sound this wave made was, “everyone on this plane deserves this…”

Regardless of where you are on a plane, we all deserve more room to stretch out. W all deserve beverages served in a glass, and we all deserve both the protein and fruit plate.

Travis Mayfield: New president deserves space to help SPU find way forward

Why? Because we pay for that service. Flying is an expensive experience no matter where you are in the plane – and being treated like a human being as opposed to salmon being airdropped into a lake is a privilege we should all be entitled to, regardless of the cost to the airline.

Sure, maybe some people would say ‘they need to make a profit’ and they do so by making the seats overpriced and expensive and having plastic cups and mini cokes, and carb sticks instead of fruit.

But wouldn’t more people fly more and more often if it was at least a pleasant experience instead of an exercise in self-administered torture? I think so.

Listen to Jack and Spike weekdays from 12 noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio.

KIRO Newsradio Opinion

Bite of seattle (5)...

Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin Show

‘The texts are the texts’: Gee questions SPD’s delay in releasing Bite of Seattle shooting messages

Sayles asked for more time before releasing SPD's communications from the Bite of Seattle shooting, but Gee wants to know what there is to check.

30 minutes ago

classroom...

Gee Scott

Wait, what? WA doesn’t require school superintendents to have classroom experience

How can you run a school district if you've never taught in a classroom?

3 hours ago

seattle mayor wilson junk fees rent recall approval wilson...

Jake Skorheim and Spike O'Neill Show

‘This is just who she is’: Jake questions whether Mayor Wilson can learn from repeated PR failures

Jake examines whether Mayor Wilson can learn from recent PR failures after she spoke about the violent Belltown shootings from a picket line.

8 hours ago

Seattle mayor Katie Wilson...

John Curley Show

‘He can taste it’: Curley suggests Bob Kettle is using Katie Wilson’s public safety struggles to position for mayor

Curley suggests Bob Kettle is using Katie Wilson's public safety issues to build his mayoral campaign among Seattle business leaders.

10 hours ago

teachers pay wa grades...

Charlie Harger

Harger: WA pays teachers top dollar for middling test scores. Maybe we’re grading the wrong thing

Top-tier pay. Record spending. Average results. Why Washington should offer families a real vocational track alongside the traditional college path.

12 hours ago

SEA Airport...

Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin Show

‘Why does every other airport look better than ours?’: Gee calls out SEA as TSA rolls out pre-9/11 gate access at select airports

KIRO host Gee Scott said the new program signals that airport security is about to get a lot faster.

12 hours ago

Jack Stine: We all deserve to be First Class