The future for long haul is looking grim.

Airlines, they say, are in financial trouble, people are flying less and aircraft are half empty. No one, we are told, wants to fly first or business class and unprofitable routes are being scrapped with aircraft laid up.

Do I feel sorry for them? Do I heck! In fact I blame the airlines for their own demise. Without doubt the death of the airline industry is being orchestrated by their own short-sighted attitudes and it is that which is responsible for the fact that long haul revenue has dropped off to an all-time low. It has got nothing to do with recession and the reason the moribund carcass of long-distance air travel is beginning to decompose, lies firmly in the hands of the airlines marketing men.

Remember when, instead of extolling how cheaply you can buy a return airfare to Kuala Lumpur, seats on airliners (now there is a word you seldom see) were sold by advertising how glamorous air hostesses (another lost word) were. In those days the taste and diversity of menu choice, the quality of on-board wine and the attention cabin crew gave to passengers were all-important.

Those were the days when people did not query the cost of the flight but were allowed to carry more than 23 kilos in their suitcases

Remember when hot towels were handed out before take off and landing, and yet again before passengers began to dine? Those were the days when cutlery was made of steel, wine was served in glasses and meals served in china dishes. If you tell me this is to avoid the use of broken drinking glasses being used as weapons, I will ask you why the wine is still served in bottles?

The fact is; long-haul carriers are treating passengers like cattle and now as the bovines begin to bellow the carriers cannot understand why.

To those marketing men in long haul I have the following suggestions:

· Reinstate press travel discounts so that journalists can rekindle the excitement of flying
· Stop worrying about the price of the ticket. Everyone knows you cannot fly to Australia for £25 plus airport taxes and charges
· Reinvent the air hostess who has a smile on her face and kill off those that look like Frankenstein
· Bring back drinking glasses and steel cutlery and while you are at it the linen table napkin. If I need to use a weapon I will use my fountain pen
· Bring back the magazine rack and complimentary newspapers
· Give us back our legroom and comfortable seats that recline without decapitating the chap behind us

Then they can sit back and watch their airline prosper
3 September 2009