Leisure Class: a story in 60 seconds

“Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.” — Coco Chanel

“It’s going to be the future of travel,” Brian stated confidently as he waited for his husband to finish tying his Oxfords.

“Mhm,” Phillip grunted, pulling his shoestrings tight.

“You don’t trust me?”

Phillip didn’t answer right away. Instead, he stood up, wrapped his belt around his waist, and carefully threaded it through the loops. “I just don’t understand how it’s better than First Class,” he said finally.

Brian rubbed the bridge of his nose. “It seems the years of corporate tedium have stunted your imagination, my dear. First Class is nothing but a glorified cattle chute with a little extra legroom and a free glass of cava at the end.”

“And this is better?”

“Undoubtedly.”

“How so?”

“I don’t want to ruin the surprise!”

Phillip saw no point in arguing. “I just hope you paid for the tickets with points…” he murmured before grabbing his luggage.

“No comment,” Brian said affectionately. “Now, follow me. According to the instructions from the airline, all we need to do is hang out in this exclusive lounge and enjoy some wine and hors d’oeuvres. Then, we’ll be escorted to our destination.”

“What do you mean ‘escorted?”

“Like I said before, it’s a surprise…”

In the airport terminal, a crowd of passengers stood around their gate as they waited to board.

A boy tugged at his mother’s hand. “But when is it our turn?”

“When our zone is called.”

“But when’s that?”

“When they call Zone 8.”

“Well, which zone is it now?”

But before she could offer another answer, the flight coordinator’s voice crackled over the loudspeaker. “Attention, all guests; attention, all guests. Please clear the gate for our Leisure Level passengers.”

The mom took her son’s hand and pulled him aside, and the two watched as a fleet of flight attendants walked past them, pushing what appeared to be body bags on top of gurneys.

“Mommy,” the boy squeaked. “Are those people dead?”

“Far from it, sweetie,” she said wistfully. “Far from it.”

The boy ran to the window and continued watching as the flight attendants wheeled the gurneys onto the tarmac and stowed the sedated bodies into the plane with the rest of the luggage.