Reflections on flying

As we like to go places that are often from 3,000 to 8,000 miles from home, we take airplanes. Planes have come a long way since I used to fly back and forth from SFO to LAX on Pacific Southwest Airlines (although I liked them).
In my opinion the good airlnes have gotten better and the bad ones worse. Now we see two not-so-good airlines merging so as to make a larger not-so-good airline. A couple of examples are Continental/United and USAir/American.
Most recently we have flown Aer Lingus both long haul and short and they were predictably fair. The best thing is that they fly air buses and I prefer their configurations. Their service is not great.
We also flew Alitalia (booked through Delta - it was supposed to be a Delta flight although Delta refused to honor mileage) and it was probably the worst flight we have had. It was not the food or service or inconveniences - it was all of that.
On the other hand, we flew Air France both long haul and short haul from Verona to CDG and then to SFO. It was good even in Economy although they fly 767's which I don't like as much.
Hands down - by the way - we fly`Alaska Airlines on shorter trips along the West Coast.
While I'll stick to Premium or Business, even Economy beats the train, car or walking. There is nothing like seeing the Rockies or Greenland from 40,000 feet.

Greenland - green?