That's the spirit...
- Waadl Cartoonist
- Jan 10
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 15
Drawn on January 9, 2024 | Published from Santiago de Los Caballeros
"They show you how to use a seat-belt, in case you haven't been in a car since 1965." [1]
— Jerry Seinfeld, Air Travel, live at the Broadhurst Theatre, 1998.
Spirit Airlines, though not alone, captures the essence of corporate America’s response to a total collapse in societal dignity. Traveling in a plane with a crew reluctantly eager to remind its passengers to "discard your diapers in the lavatories" for "sanitary reasons" feels like a novel descent from the industry standards of just a decade ago in the Western Hemisphere. To be fair, in an age where even first class shared communal toilets, the story goes that state-of-the-art ocean liners at the turn of the 20th century allegedly featured signage in their corridors, not only directing travelers to the restrooms, but also explaining how to use them. Such was the unfamiliarity of this concept for steerage making the historic Atlantic crossing in 1911. [2]
Obscure toilet-humor aside, today, on your run-of-the-mill budget airline, passengers are rude but indignant, loud but deaf, and dress poorly with a penchant for verbally dressing-down whomever dares speak in their general direction. Truly, Spirit — with its deliberately long lines, condescending cattle-ranching flight attendants, and aggressive marketing — is a corporate mirror of its passengers; a painfully aggravating feedback of the ill-mannered and undereducated idiosyncrasies we’ve all come to expect from both sides of the ticket booth.
Spirit Airlines,
“Seat 31-C? How ‘bout 31-C you in hell!”
So, what exactly is the moral of the story here? Despite the laundry list of problems faced while crammed into an aluminum-alloy tube at thirty-five thousand feet, we still trust the hyperactive claustrophobe not to open the wing's exit hatch. This may not entirely mean that there is hope for humanity, but at least we have a sporting chance of surviving the ordeal, given how rare it is for anyone to actually act on those unforgiving impulses.
Spirit Airlines,
“Hell’s gate — is still a gate.”
Bleak though it may be, perhaps the coming year of socio-political turmoil should be viewed through a lens drowned in a Spirit of pessimistic optimism where, even if the captain is drunk, maybe public safety hinges on trusting the dimwit in the exit row not to ruin everyone's day.
Spirit Airlines,
“No; f — you!”
[1] Continued: "Oh we lift up on the buckle, oh! I was trying to just break the metal apart! I thought that's how it works. I was going to attempt to tear the fabric part of the belt. I thought if I could just get it started..."
[2] (A story I remember reading in a book on old ships as a kid. Source pending.)
Roos, D. (2019) America’s first immigration law tried (and failed) to deal with nightmarish sea journeys, History.com. Available at: https://www.history.com/news/steerage-act-immigration-19th-century?utm_source=chatgpt.com (Accessed: 09 January 2025).
