Films That Don’t Fly

The individual who schedules movies for United Airlines either has a macabre sense of humor or doesn’t preview the pictures. On a recent flight from Chicago to Los Angeles, the passengers watched a long, long short subject. To tease their appetites while they sipped drinks, United served hors d’oeuvres of salted nuts and, on screen, a tour of the Alpo dog food factory. The dog food film ended with the tourists gingerly nibbling samples of the kibble. I was not the only passenger on the plane who scrutinized each nut before munching it.

With lunch, the airline presented a movie that contained three lurid images of exploding, flaming aircraft. Within 10 minutes of the start of the film, a picture of a bandaged man lying on a back board filled the screen.

MARGARET W. ROMANI

Los Angeles