Stephanie’s and my Bahamasair flight from Stella Maris to Nassau was half an hour late yesterday (I’ve decided to use the phrase “Bahamian efficiency” from now on), so I had time to examine the airline’s new statement of principles on the check-in room’s wall. Their principles, in order, are

* Safety
* Security
* Regulatory compliance
* Quality

A few paragraphs down, the airline affirms that these are their principles, *regardless of how the airline behaved in the past*.

First of all, you have to arch your eyebrow a little bit at the presence of “regulatory compliance” in that list. I have a number of principles, which I adhere to inconsistently, but “abiding by the law” is one that I don’t feel it necessary to list; I take that one for granted.

Secondly, the regardless-of-the-past clause seems like the sort of thing you write while walking away from the smoking hulk of one of your aircraft. “Fresh start,” you say to yourself while dusting the soot off your clothing and bandaging your bloody calves. “Yessir, Bahamasair is a *new company*, starting right now … not that we had much choice, given that our only plane is disappearing beneath the North Atlantic even as we speak. STILL, though! New company. Yep.”

We made it back to Nassau in one piece. I’m pretty sure the Stella Maris-to-Nassau plane was the smallest such vehicle I’ve ever traveled on: I had to fold my body in half to fit under the ceiling on the way to my seat. If you’re a ten-year-old child, though, you will have no problem at all flying in a Bahamasair plane.

(I wish the Bahamasair principles document were on the web, but it sadly appears not to be.)