30 April 2009

BMI - doing Mahmoud the Mad's bidding?

BMI (British Midland Airways) airline provided today a so much needed refreshing scoop: according to Galei Tzahal (the army radio), passengers flying from UK to Israel were surprised to see on their TV screens that the destination they considered to exist is no more. The map provided looks like this:

The only city that appears is Haifa, and this under its Arabic name. Moreover, the destination (Tel Aviv) and the distance to it are replaced by the following:

Looks kinda discombobulating for the passengers who could hardly expect to be welcomed at that specific geographic location.

The explanation that was issued by BMI sounds as following: two new Airbus planes, purchased by BMI to cover flights to Arabic Middle East destinations, were provided a slightly modified maps by the manufacturer. To accommodate the specific tastes of the customers flying to these (unnamed) destinations. The planes in question weren't intended to fly to Israel and happened to be used in this way by oversight due to increased holiday-time traffic to that [non-existing] location.

Now, I hope, everything is clear. And the conclusions one can reach from this case are as follows:

  • Airbus (or its subcontractor) have different world maps (or, if you will, different realities) for different customers
  • BMI are going along with this practice to ensure the highest level of satisfaction for their customers too
  • Different realities for different people work!
As a corollary: it may be a grand idea - instead of all this strife in the Middle East over a few thousand acres of largely dry and infertile land to provide every person with a map that will show him/her the world exactly as the person wishes to see it. Eureka! Thanks, BMI/Airbus!

And now would be a good time to use the formula beloved by some progressive elements. I shall do it with happiness and delight: I don't condone the BMI's behavior in any way, but I understand it. After all, we don't want some passengers peacefully flying to Mecca, Dubai or Damascus and peacefully consuming their certified halal breakfast/lunch/... to get a sudden bout of indigestion at the sight of that [non-existing] country and its strangely named cities.

Nah...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

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