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Simon Phipps's personal commentary

Kissed Hawai'i Goodbye [PhotoTravel]

So that's it. After a week of wall-to-wall meetings that might as well have been held in Birmingham for all it mattered (snorkelling notwithstanding), and after days of wrestling with two-ended snakes in the standards meetings, I've finally upped and left Hawai'i and made it back to California.

The travel experience back is one I have done twice in the last month and both times it proved pretty miserable - obviously the airlines want to bring holiday-makers down to earth with a bump. The airport is minimal (at Honolulu they have even closed the premium lounges), the security checks intrusive (two checkpoints, one for security and one for agriculture, with a manual search of my copious camera carry-ons because the explosives sniffer was broken), the queuing interminable. On board the flight, the airlines have used their oldest available equipment, with geriatric seating which even in first class only reclines by about 5° and which has almost no comforts to insulate the traveller from the five hour flight. The equipment used for the 55 minute flight from LAX to SJC was better, even if I did get searched yet again at the gate. Everyone was polite and friendly, but nonetheless it shows the lack of respect the airlines have for their passengers.

posted at 5:40 PM (UK) | |