Local Opinion: All students deserve first-class treatment

Recently, I was completing my preflight checklist as I waited at the terminal for my flight from Tucson to Grand Rapids, Michigan. At my age, that list seems to get longer and requires more time and planning.

Having to use the bathroom during the flight is a nightmare. How do you get in line when you cannot form a line? I panic even if the flight attendant just comments that my seat is not all the way up. Throw in the logistics of changing planes in Dallas and I am in full spreadsheet and diagraming mode. Thirty minutes before the first group is called, I am hovering around the gate. My group is nine.

Finally settling in after extensive plane nesting (checking tray, turning on off light, accidentally hitting call button) and the captain announces we are 30,000 feet over New Mexico. Coffee and a Biscoff were served with a smile. I’m thinking, “wow, moving on up, I usually get stale pretzels and the small print on the cookie package says, ‘Europe’s Favorite Cookie with Coffee.’”

Put tray down, squeeze arms and legs together, try to comply with center seat personal space protocols, and start savoring my cookie. Then it happened, a flight attendant stopped and informed me that due to a booking problem, the airline was upgrading me to first class for the connection between Dallas and Grand Rapids. I would have unbuckled and hugged the attendant, but the fastened seat belt light was on, and a rule violation might have jeopardized my upgrade.

Even before the connecting flight takes off, I am faced with a dilemma. The flight attendant is bringing me a drink and the tray attached to the seat in front of me is gone. I tell myself, “act cool or you will never be upgraded again.” Drink delivered and I hold it like I am at a party, no eye contact. First first-class predicament averted.

Starting to get comfortable and sink into the rich Corinthian leather when the flight attendant startles me by laying a white cloth across my lap and asking what I want to order for lunch. Order for lunch! Panic, I cannot be seen holding a tray and eating like a donkey at a trough. Lifetime ban averted, the passenger next to me lifts the cover to the arm rest and pulls out a folding tray.

Just in time, because lunch was served. Silverware draped with lily white cloth napkins; three square porcelain dishes matched to the size of each course. Fresh salad with vine-ripe cherry tomatoes, cut in half to prevent me from squirting tomato juice into the cockpit. Corned beef sandwich on swirled rye bread with aged cheddar cheese. Assorted fresh raw vegetables arranged in lines. Chocolate cake with double-chocolate frosting topped with a strawberry. Butter shaped like a jetliner and tiny, crystal salt and pepper shakers. Made my cookie look pretty sad.

If passengers and crew had not already gotten the drift that I was a first class first-timer, taking my phone out to snap a “lunchie” and asking “what is this for” when the attendant delivered the hot towel, sealed my fate.

What triggered this reflection on my first, and probably last, first-class flying experience was the connection to the state budget situation. My upgrade was due to luck. First-class education should not be contingent on luck, economic status, what side of the aisle you sit on, or any other factor.

We know all schools in Arizona continue to face an equity crisis aggravated by years of underfunding. All students do not have the same first-class facilities, technology, programs and classroom support.

Teachers long ago eliminated classroom aisles. Students sit in reading circles and tables. Now it is time for state leaders to eliminate the coach section. All students deserve to fly first class!