I was to be slung over the former iron curtain in an aluminium tube and my host this time was Air Astana, Kazakhstan's national flag carrier. You may wonder, why is an airline named after a cycling team? I think that's a fair question.
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| Air Astana's moto is "Refreshing towel" |
This airline runs like something from the days before the world closed its eyes ... dum dum dum dum ... and drew the iron curtain .... drew the curtain .... to see for certain ... what in seat entertainment is like. Everything was so 90's, from the huge, curved glass screens in the middle of the aisle (they must weight a tonne!) to the shoddy food and the strange service. They're less competent but more human; it's endearing in a way that almost makes up for its shoddyness.
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| Air Astana: 49% owned by Tom and Jerry |
They played Tom and Jerry, which was a very welcome blast from the past. Produced by Fred Quimby! They played some terrible family slapstick comedy show with people playing pranks on unsuspecting members of the public, produced in a former Soviet satellite country of some kind. To be honest, I actually enjoyed it - it made me giggle.
The cherry on the cake, so to speak, was when (and bear in mind that dinner came with dessert) a while after dinner they came round with pots of ice-cream, like I was in the theatre. If they didn't have me at hello - which, in fact, they didn't - then they did with Tom and Jerry and ice-cream pots in addition to dessert. Who needs in seat entertainment?!
