I'm back in China and awake at 3:00AM, still recovering from jet lag, and I just saw this blog piece posted at NYTimes.com this week which says, "The rules for handling jet lag are not so different from the ones on the back of your medication: do not operate heavy machinery while under its influence and do not make important decisions." My cat is at least happy I'm up at this hour — this is her normal playtime and now she has me to swing the mouse on the rope (feline owners will understand).

In fact that entire page on NYTimes.com is a good read and I've been going to it frequently the past couple of weeks. They have asked "seven writers with long experience in the industry to comment on the state of commercial air travel" and there is good information about the trans-pacific airlines and surly flight attendants on those trans-pacific flights. I agree with many of the posts that Asian carriers have nicer, kinder in-flight staff than North American carriers. In the last year I've flown Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and SAS, and those three carriers also generally provided better in-flight services than American counterparts.

Here's a good snippet from the blogs on NYTimes.com, written by a flight attendant:

Not so long ago, while I was working a flight from J.F.K. to Barbados, an American passenger complained throughout the flight. He complained about the food, although no one else did. He complained about the service, although other passengers seemed satisfied. While a planeload of passengers appeared to be content, this particular passenger complained that flight attendants weren't paying attention to his needs. We tried our best to make him comfortable. When the ranting finally stopped, when his voice lowered to a whisper, he reached out to shake my hand. “I'm sorry,” he said. "I'm not used to this. I've been living in Asia for years."

As all of the North American air carriers are currently our clients, I should temper my comments, but I will say that I flew American Airlines a week after they first started their service to China, and it was the best experience I have ever had on a plane across the Pacific. Perhaps because the crew were fresh and excited about the new destination, everything felt fine on that flight. And as a vegetarian, one of the best veggie meals I've ever had on a plane was not on a flight going to India, but instead flying to Toronto earlier this year on Air Canada.