Things that will get me off a plane very quickly...

[3catwoman3]

20. As I recall, it was Aeroflot.

The flights from Dulles to Moscow and Kiev back to the US were fairly normal by US standards, except for the blatant catering to the first few rows of passengers. There was no identified first class cabin, not even a dividing curtain, but the folks in those first few rows were obviously more important than the rest of us further back.

Before the plane even began to taxi, the flight attendants were waiting on these passengers hand and foot - cognac and wine in real glasses, assorted cheeses and fresh fruit on real China, and cloth napkins. This pampering continued until at least a couple of hours into the flight, in full view of those who were getting no service of any kind.

Eventually, we peons in the rest of the plane got a small box with a sandwich, a paper napkin, and a brown paper cup of water that wasn't even waxed to be waterproof.

What was very interesting to me was how quickly I began to feel resentful of the passengers getting the special treatment. It was quite a lesson, in the tiniest of doses, of what the effect of a lifetime of discrimination must cause.

So much for the alleged "classless" society. The people up front were obvious regarded as being in a different class than the rest of us, and had no hesitation to flaunt it. Obviously, there are first class cabins in US airlines, but we have the sensitivity to shield it from the view of those not able to partake of it.