This holiday season, as you prepare for the hell that is an airport in mid-December, warm your heart with these stories of rich people’s insane requests while flying private.
Page Six reports that, according to Bob Seidel, CEO of private-jet company Alerion Aviation, fancy people who fly private have a lot of really dumb requests. One woman couldn’t bear the thought of her daughter spending the holidays alone, so she sent the family cat on a plane to London two years in a row. One cat, one private plane, many hours, and lots of money! Someone else requested what is being described as a “pseudo-Rockettes performance;” another customer requested that their flight attendants sing Christmas carols for the duration of the flight. One whimsical client desired a small Christmas tree on the plane, laden with gifts, which meant that some poor sucker had to engage the high school physics part of their brain to figure out a way to keep the tree aloft during takeoff, landing, and everything in between.
Relishing in the sheer ridiculousness of the way the conspicuously wealthy live their lives is kind of fun—you don’t feel bad about your own life, because the extent of their requests are so over-the-top that you end up feeling better about your own choices. Isn’t it nice when an opportunity to be aghast at the habits of others turns into a self-affirming exercise? I think so, too!
