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Get your popcorn ready...
Dianne
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TV REVIEW | 'AIRLINE'
[b:ff9136c866]Ready for Boarding (if You Are Sober, Slim and Smell Nice)[/b:ff9136c866]
By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN
Published: January 5, 2004
Things have gotten pretty bad when you are told you have to freshen up before you can board an airplane. You must change your clothes. There have been complaints. And here's some deodorant.
This is the brutal experience of Michael, a would-be Southwest Airlines passenger on A&E's documentary series "Airline," which starts tonight. Downbeat and defeated, Michael takes it in stride; he appears to have survived a lifetime of affronts. Setting out for the men's room, he accepts the sincere explanation of Susie, the customer service supervisor: "I don't want any customers inconvenienced with, as far as, the whole smell issue."
Smell issues, along with drunk issues and fat issues, pervade "Airline," a peculiar behind-the-scenes show about how hard it is for the employees of Southwest Airlines to stomach their revolting passengers.
No, that's not fair: it's really about what good service Southwest provides ó essentially, a veiled infomercial for the airline. And because there is little drama in ordinary customer service ó employees rushing couples to nearly missed connections ó this show focuses on man-versus-man conflicts: smart airline people placating the crazies that attempt air travel without being sober, clean or slim enough to deserve it.
In these conflicts, the airline always wins. When one obese man, or what Southwest calls a customer of size, or a COS, initially refuses to pay for an extra seat, he is made to understand how he must do so for his own comfort. When a man who has been drinking in the airport bar from 6 to 7:30 a.m. is denied entrance to a plane, his devil-may-care persona, charming in contrast with the airline's stiffness, curdles, and he gets in a rut of curses. He loses face, while the airline people stay smugly professional.
As the smarmy voice-over puts it, "They try to keep a smile on their face, and stay cool under pressure."
The Southwest people also aim to entertain. In the second episode of "Airline," Janie, a flight attendant, welcomes a planeful of passengers by singing, "Consider yourself at home! Consider yourself one of the family!" into the public-address system. With two other colleagues, she summons a reluctant passenger to the front of the plane on his 70th birthday. The flight attendants give him a present of toilet paper. "We know what happens when you get to be 70, sir!" one of them says.
As the man looks helplessly on, the flight attendants roar with laughter, leading the plane in "Happy Birthday."
The narrator explains: "All three are proud of their reputation for making the Southwest passenger experience as entertaining as possible."
It becomes clear that ghastly condescension defines the airline's proud customer service. Angry passengers, like those grounded during the summer blackout, are treated as if they were children having tantrums. Even elderly couples are addressed as "you guys."
The first three episodes of "Airline" have funny moments, but the show is enervating.
In its effort to show how patient Southwest employees are, the show magnifies the contempt that airline workers occasionally feel for their customers. This only widens the us-versus-them-divide between passengers and airlines. It's enough to give you air rage, right in your living room.
AIRLINE
A&E, Tonight at 10, Eastern and Pacific times; 9, Central time.
Nancy Dubuc, executive producer for A&E Network; Joe Houlihan and Charles Tremayne, co-executive producers for Granada; Chris Carey, producer. Produced by Granada.
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Original article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/05/ar...on/05HEFF.html