Air Babylon - A Book Review
Ranked #5,167 in Books, Poetry & Writing, #189,077 overall
What is Air Babylon all about?
Air Babylon, written by Imogen Edwards-Jones & Anonymous, is an inside story of the airline industry.
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Do you know the best place to have sex in a plane?
Do you know that one drink in the air equals three on the ground?
Do you know who is checking you in?
Who is checking you out?
Do you know what happens to your luggage once it leaves your sight?
Is it secure?
Are you safe?
Do you really know any thing about the industry to which you entrust your life several times a year?
Air Babylon is a trawl through the highs, the lows and the rapid descents of air travel. It catalogues the births, the deaths, the drunken brawls, the sexual antics and the debauchery behind the scenes of the ultimate service industry - where the world is divided into those who wear uniform and those who don't ...
(from the back cover)
***
Picture courtesy: krzysiuc
From the book
They're always doing this, introducing new rules whenever they feel like it and then blaming them on 9/11. It drives the industry mad. The pilots hate being locked up into their flight decks, not being able to speak to anyone other than their number two for hours at a time. ... The ground staff find the no-nail-scissors, no-nail-files rules ridiculous, especially as there are glass bottles on the airplane and sharper plastic knives in the air than there are penknives on the ground.
Air Babylon - Central Theme
The fiction (not really!) is a first person account by a young Duty Airport Officer working for a low-budget airlines called Air Babylon. The entire story plays out in one 24-hours. The story takes you through various episodes that happen one after another in rapid succession. As you read you find out how an airlines takes care of births and deaths on boar, how are unruly passengers handled, how is luggage handled, how you could get a seat of your choice or (god forbid! if you rub the check-in staff the wrong way) the worst seat of the airplane. You also get to know how BAA - the scene is set in UK - makes money. The story ends with a chaotic flight from UK to Dubai to celebrate a ground crew's birthday, so you get to know what actually happens in air. There is a small love story also interwoven, but that is not the central theme.
The story appears a bit contrived but that is to be expected. It is all the airlines stories fitted into a 24-hour cycle.
From the book
I walk pass the Bally show shop and notice one of the girls changing the shoes in the window. I've heard they are supposed to do this four times a day depending on who is travelling through in order to maximize their sales potential. They put high golden sandals out for the Arabs in the afternoon and keep the sensible blue shoes for the Europeans in the morning.
Air Babylon - Ratings and Recommendation
Style: Racy. Funny at times. I laughed aloud a couple of times. Too many cuss words.
Knowledge content: You will be amazed.
Applicability: You will also know why it pays to be polite at the check-in counter and with the air hostesses.
Recommendation: If you travel regularly or plan to travel shortly, get a copy.
From the book
Packed with preservatives, washed in chemicals and high in salt and fat, passenger food is perhaps the only packaged food we eat these days that does not have the number of calories or a list of ingredients printed on the side. It's chosen for its reheating and reconstituting properties. Fish and meat are usually covered in some sort of sauce to prevent drying during the warming-up process. Airline food is supposed to look palatable, have at least two colours on the plate, and not make you ill.
Buy it here
Have you read the book? What do you think?
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