It's a hard call with the general public. Still, I think the airlines go
a little too far in minimizing safety issues.

At one time, I was a very frequent flyer on the late, lamented, Frontier
Horizon airlines, and had gotten to know quite a few flight attendants
since it was easy to upgrade to first class.  My boss agreed to pay for
the flight and most of the expenses if I would make two one-hour
meetings, in San Francisco, on the week of my honeymoon.

It happened that the two of us were the only first class passengers. I
suggested to the senior flight attendant that I do the front-cabin
safety briefing.  She called back a couple of colleagues and told me to
do it.

"In the unlikely event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, reach above
your head, in hurricane force winds with dense fog, and feel around
for the oxygen mask. You may have 15 to 20 seconds of clear thinking,
so MOVE. If you are traveling with someone, and try to help them,
you may both wind up unconscious or dead.

Put on the mask. Pull the tubing so that it is straight and under slight
tension, because oxygen won't start flowing unless you do. Don't pull
so hard so you pull the tubing out of the overhead, unless you want
to spend the rest of the flight with your nose pressed to the outlet.
Don't worry if the bag doesn't inflate. It's not supposed to. What it
is supposed to do is keep you from drowning if you throw up in the mask.

Quite accurate, but it had them in hysterics.

I forget who finally bought them out, but they were a really nice
airline. One of my other trips was memorable, which had Houston as an
intermediate stop. I was the only passenger continuing in first, and I
usually don't bother getting off -- with a friendly flight crew, the
stops can be a lot of fun.

In this case, we were alerted that a VIP group was coming, which turned
out to be Barbara Bush and her party.  Her husband was still vice
president. Probably not by accident, my new seatmate was the head of her
Secret Service protection detail, but with whom I quickly found we had
mutual friends and wound up in a deep technical talk.

I chatted briefly with Mrs. Bush, and watched her interact with the crew
and her team; I rarely have seen someone so naturally warm. We did have
a bit of a surprise on getting back to Washington Dulles -- the plane
stopped before hooking up to the gate, and they rolled up stairs. I
could see several limousines under my window.

Apparently, Bush the Elder surprised his wife by meeting her flight. He
was standing just outside my window, and his greeting was to sweep her
into a tango-style dip and kiss her quite thoroughly. They had style.