A letter sent to Air Canada about their class system: This letter is less about any specific flight or service and more philosophical in nature. I am not elite, super elite, star alliance gold, some number with a “k” behind it, or even defunct European royalty. I am an average schmuck that sits behind the curtain that has, more than occasionally, been fussed over far more than the people behind it. I have sat, waiting for flights over the years, and listened to the shrill announcement of your many classes once in English and again in French. Sometimes they are played more than once, and I find it irritating and am beginning to take offence. The last time I flew from Vancouver, the class system recording was played accidentally and about 60 people had to sit down while 8 people walked like a cluster of penguins to the magic ribbon after which the recording was started again. I have seen much rudeness around the policing of your classes and it makes me think of the Titanic, an image I would think you’d not want to cultivate. This is, I suppose, what Canada is about now - clawing greed and the celebration of accumulation and privilege. I can tell you it is not what I am about, and I suspect the majority of your customers don’t like it either. I have seen that 5 feet of ridiculous nylon ribbon policed like its a border in a narc zone and have, for your information, decided to blast whatever other sound I can into my ears so I need not listen to it. It could be a safety problem but my sanity is also important, at least to me. It is patently obvious to me that a lot of your employees have also had their fill, because irritating people doesn’t help make things go smoothly and many of us are already on edge before we reach your illustrious departure lounges. Its ironic that a company flying such modern machinery would decide to hold the trappings of the feudal or Victorian past so dearly. How you can maintain this fawning charade of class is particularly offensive when, for instance, you take off from Vancouver, a city with many people on the street, many people living indoors but in Dickensian circumstances, and many, many, more needing to spend virtually all their income on a barely adequate place to sleep. So while your recordings are blaring out your vile class system, did you know your plane is about to fly over a city with the most extreme poverty in the country while as much as 25% of its housing stock sitting empty? It’s owned, if you will, by elite and super elite people that feel little or no accountability to others and do not understand their gains are largely due not to their genius, but to the privilege afforded them because they are male, white, middle class and up, etc. What Air Canada displays is not class, it is crass. Class structure is a form of violence, and this is actually patriarchy and racism exemplified. Also, when in BC, you operate on stolen, unceded, first nations land and so some contrition would be in order. It would behoove Air Canada to find subtle ways to market and carry out these added services. It would be “classier” to be discreet, but at the very least your employees should wash their hands between touching that filthy curtain and serving us our water and bread (oops, sorry, no bread or pretzels, my mistake). P.S., gender is not binary, and so when you force people to fill in Mr., Mrs., or Ms., you are actually upholding a significant and passively aggressive human rights violation. This would be an easy correction to make. Its time to join the 21st century. I do thank you for the time taken to read and respond to this letter.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 21:32:18 +0000
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