[net.travel] English decaying

ecl@mtgzz.UUCP (e.c.leeper) (11/12/85)

[Drifted into net.travel from net.misc]

> On all airlines now, for example, the landing message is always "We
> would like to welcome you to ...".  Well then, why don't they DO it?
> Isn't "We would like to welcome you to New York" different from
> "Welcome to New York"?  Don't you expect the first to continue with
> "but, unfortunately, we landed in <some other city> ..."?

Somewhat off the track, but when we were flying from Xian to Nanjing, we
could see the name of the airport in Chinese characters over the building.
I commented that they could be landing us *anywhere* and we wouldn't know the
difference, because we couldn't read the signs.  Then the guide came back and
told us that the airport we were landing at was, not, in fact, Nanjing, but
some other city (whose name escapes me)!  It seems we were low on fuel from all
the luggage we were carrying and had to make an unscheduled stop.

This can, of course, happen anywhere.  We flew to Ottawa and started our
landing approach in a fair fog, at which point the pilot came on to inform us
that we were landing in Montreal!  So, yes, I *do* expect them to continue
with "but, unfortunately, we landed in <some other city> ..."!

					Evelyn C. Leeper
					...ihnp4!mtgzz!ecl

******************************************************************************
*	Wherever you go, there you are.  Unless you're somewhere else.       *
******************************************************************************