Painfully and rarely

The best part of flying is overhearing some great comments.

That is, if your hearing permits it.

I don’t enjoy air travel as much as I used to.

Wow.

That’s an understatement.

I don’t enjoy air travel period.

Ever since seating design encroached on every bit of available space between passengers, I have been disgusted with the airline industry.

It doesn’t make it any easier to enjoy traveling when there are really only four major airlines servicing the country, either.

Lack of competition is never a good thing. That’s why mergers and acquisitions can be spun by CEO’s any which way upside down, but the fact remains the resulting lack of competition leaves less for consumers to choose from–regardless of industry.

When you have less to choose from, the overall experience is almost surely to end up being less pleasant.

In the case of the airline passenger, the seating arrangement is best for short people.

You have to pay extra for leg room.

Really?

Thank lack of competition.

You want something besides sugar-coated or salty peanuts for your free snack?

Thank lack of competition.

You want to not have to squeeze yourself horizontally, pulling your shoulders down and in while you fly in the sky?

Thank lack of competition.

When United, American, Southwest and Delta vanquished the competition, they sold this consolidation on the premise it would mean better service and a better experience for passengers.

I call BS.

Not to say it wasn’t an effective argument when they were trying to close their respective conglomeration mergers and acquisitions.

I remember when Randy Newman had a hit with Short People.

I recall some people being offended.

Now, however, short people are having the last word when it comes to air travel.

They are, or must be, who the engineers design the planes’ interiors for.

I know that when I travel, less than tall people will push their seats all the way back.

Tall people can’t do anything about that; they have to grin and bear it.

Except for me, there is no grinning.

It just makes me not like Randy Newman the artist. It’s not like I was a fan in the first place, but Short People really has come back to bite tall people.

You knew short people would have their comeuppance.

Since we are basically sitting on top of each other when we fly these days, the experience tends to lend itself to conversations at high decibel.

The airlines didn’t really consider any of this nor should they have; we have ear buds we can use to play something so it drowns conversation out we’d rather not be part of.

But, people make friends sometimes as a result of this cramped seating arrangement.

I thought about exchanging business cards one time recently when flying, but I couldn’t reach to my back pocket to get one. So, I said, I didn’t think I had any.

That wasn’t exactly a lie, either, because I didn’t have any business cards (that I could get to).

The best recently overheard comment was when passengers were boarding a plane to Denver that I was on. Most everyone was seated and the last passengers were making their way towards their seats.

The chatter had already started and I overheard two passengers who were becoming fast friends say they did not know how tall people were able to fly anymore.

At about this time, a gentleman that had to be at least 6’5″ tall was making his way carefully up the aisle.

He turned and said to the two passengers in conversation, “painfully and rarely” before moving up the aisle and shoe-horning himself into his seat.