Five years ago, British Airways commissioned a study of the emotions people experience during the course of air travel. The research described seven core emotions, all of them, in accord with the commercial interests of British Airways, quite positive. Among these feelings of fliers was the emotion of conviviality.
Conviviality is, in its most literal form, the feeling of being alive together. It’s come into English, however, through the term convivium, the Roman word for a feast. So, conviviality has the implication of the emotional tone of a great feast at which the guests are reveling in each other’s company. Those who are convivial feel a warm combination of satisfaction and generosity, having the sense of simultaneously contributing to and receiving the benefits of an energetic shared occasion.
The British Airways study painted the picture of this kind of jolly generosity on an airplane, with travelers erupting into a sort of airborne hedonism, even as they are responsibly buckled into their seats. The researchers explained that, “There is a distinct theme of suspending normal life for fliers with many of them admitting to breaking their own norms and indulging in calorific food, drinking alcohol first thing in the morning and watching three films in a row ‘because they can’. Those traveling with others will use this time to eat together and many will watch the same films to share the experience.”
It’s a bit painful, watching British Airways paint such a strained portrait of the jolly good time people share while engaged in air travel. Anyone who is experienced with air travel knows that exhaustion, frustration, and a determined refusal to intrude on other people’s privacy is more typical. Nonetheless, the interest of British Airways in claiming conviviality as a portion of its emotional brand positioning does reflect an ideal of what shared travel could be… if it wasn’t overcrowded, rushed, and confined.
269 years ago, Samuel Johnson advised that the adoption of a pose of conviviality during travel, despite challenging circumstances, could provide an important source of security against the risks of being on the road “It is necessary,” Johnson wrote, “to cultivate an habitual alacrity and cheerfulness, that in whatever state we may be placed by Providence, whether we are appointed to confer or receive benefits, to implore or to afford protection, we may secure the love of those with whom we transact.”
