Class Privilege

I’ve spent most of my life milling amongst the people— camping or staying at modest motels or hotels or pensiones, walking or riding bikes to get around in cities, taking local buses or subways. For longer trips, occasional Geryhound buses, third-class trains or economy planes (not to mention several years of hitchhiking). I like to eat at simple and affordable restaurants (but not fast food) and drive modest cars like Saabs, Toyotas and now our Prius that we tend to keep for 15 years or so. Nothing to brag about here, just the way I prefer things most of the time. And all a good fit for a music teacher’s budget.

 

At the same time, I’m not one to turn down a little privilege and luxury. Once when working at an international school in Singapore, they insisted I fly there in Business Class and truth be told, that would always be my choice from now on these 15-20 hour flights to Australia, Asia, Africa or Europe. Pretty nice to lie down flat! And with a bigger screen TV! My work still brings me to these places, but the organizations that invite me are still on the modest budget side of things. So as I walk down the aisle looking wistfully at these business-people whose companies pay the big bucks, I try to console myself that music teaching is a lot more fun! But still.

 

By the time I hit the United Million-Mile Club, it was a cause of both pride and shame. Sorry about those fossil fuels! (Though mostly vegetarian my whole life, I compensated somewhat by not eating beef. Look it up.) But I was ready to get some perks! 

 

Mostly, they’re pretty small. I get to be in the first boarding group. Whoopie. I get my bags for free. Okay, that’s good. And they (theoretically) come out first— I’ll take it! I get Economy Plus seats with no extra charge and yep, every little bit of legroom is welcomed. 

On International Flights (but not Domestic), I get to go into the Elite United Club while the peasants sit crowded together at the gate. That’s where I am now and yes, the free food on actual china and pretty good quality is indeed welcome. But the catch tonight was there was no place to sit! Turns out that the Elite Club is pretty big! 

 

And finally I decided to get TSA Precheck (this independent of my United status). It took four visits to a place in San Francisco, each time with me missing something, before I finally got the damned thing! And I was so excited to finally use it for the first time on this trip! 

 

But of course, I couldn’t. Because the fine print said I had to have the name I gave them exactly match my I.D. associated with my ticket and since I left out my middle name with TSA, no dice! Aaargh!!! So poor me once again had to take my shoes off and take my computer out, as if I was just any old passenger who hadn’t paid $78 and taken all the time to get my next little privilege. And now I have to somehow go back or call some obscure TSA number to fix it for the future. Ah, the agony of the unprivileged first-world traveler. 

 

America has long prided itself on its egalitarian view of status so different from their snooty class-obsessed European forebears. But the airlines is a good example of how hierarchy is alive and well in the good ole U.S.A..  I’m in the United Club, but there’s another higher United Polaris Club a few gates down. Don’t know what goes on there, but perhaps a no-host bar and foot massages while working on your computer. Then there’s Premier Ik, Premier Platinum, Premier Gold, Premier Silver, each with its graded levels of benefits. Should they keep going? Peasant Iron, Peasant Copper, Peasant Tin, Peasant Rock? As you keep walking down the plane aisle, you get demoted to the kitchen chair seat, the church pew, the bench, the solitary confinement cell, standing room only?

 

In a society where all previous unmentionables are now common fare, class is still the one discussion we’ve yet to fully have. I suggest there be a conference about it and everyone should fly there reversing their privileges. The economy folks in a private jet, the private jetters in economy with all the levels in-between. Then have the discussion about how class works in our society. 

 

Time for me to go upstairs and join the peasants. But first, a few more bites.