Friday, September 05, 2008

Lack of pixels and other annoying flight details

The flight was OK apart from three things - noisy child, overcooked food and the lack of pixels. The child decided on a paddy in the middle of the night and screamed so loud that it woke the pilot. I guess the little French lad had lost his favorite lapin! The asian vegetarian special request was lacking any real taste, certainly not Indian asian, and the vegetables tasted like they'd been pressure cooked for at least an hour. Still, the tea was good, having it's own tea bag instead of being poured from the superthermal efficient, made-an-hour-ago-and-still-piping-hot airline teapot. The coffee for breakfast wasn't bad also and for once the cup was full. Why do they nearly always fill your cup so it still wouldn't loose any content even if the plane went into a 45 degree bank?
Now, the pixel problem. I've seen more pixels on a watch than on the personal back of the seat screens. More like a late 80's Gameboy with SuperMario in 8x8 dots. There was a choice of films but they all started at once so after Bob-the-Builder one could switch tracks and spend the next 15 mins trying to work out that happened in the first 15 mins. The french film, Disco was very good, well as much as one can make out in the pixelated view usually given to stop one recognising people in police footage. The subtitles were hopeless though , unless one had inherited the expertise from a Bletchley code breaker.
Arrived in SSR (Sir Seewosagar Ramgoolam) airport on time, cleared immigration in a trice, being a 'resident', and waited for the luggage. And waited. And waited. 30 mins went by and the people from our Paris flight thinned, but still some waiting and still the same luggage going round and round. Then we spotted a bright green suitcase on the other carousel, apparently serving the flight from Melbourne. Yes, our luggage had been doing the rounds of the Melbourne crowd and I guess some of theirs had been doing likewise on the Paris belt. Now, there are only 2 planes and 2 conveyors and they managed to get them mixed up. When I pointed out this fact, the operative said it wasn't her fault - due to Air Mauritius labels on the luggage and the Paris plane said Air France on it's fuselage. Still, it did also say Charles de Gaules, who is unlikely to be an ex-president of Australia! Having established the fact that luggage was separated from their owners by a inter-carousel distance, perhaps some action such as a tanoy announcement to alert the folks patiently watching the same cases for half an hour. No, some more forms to fill in.
Welcome to Mauritius!

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