I’m of the mind that air travel has gotten modestly better over the last few years. I suspect distance from September 11th, combined with more human-centric efficiency optimization techniques has resulted in a couple steps back from the extreme unpleasantness of the early 21st century.
If you’re someone who can happily ignore small indignities and appreciate that there’s probably no means by which you could move 300-400 people halfway around the world in actual “comfort” (well, maybe on Emirates, but I’m not convinced they actually exist), the experience really isn’t so bad.
Watched the new Mission Impossible on the flight to AMS. It managed to blunt Tom Cruise enough so as to be tolerable. Slept the rest of the time. Quick flight.
The amount of joy I experienced when they handed out bananas at the end is probably unwarranted. The dry air and pressure meant it didn’t really taste like anything, but it was still delicious, in my mind.