Change on the plane

Airlines these days seem to be finding any number of ways to squeeze some extra cash out of us. Some are now charging to check a bag, others for priority boarding. But as Phillipe Reines, who has taken more plan flight this year than most of us have had hot dinners in his role as Chelsea Clinton’s press chaperone, points out in a rather witty Wall Street Journal op-ed, there are other, better ways for the airline to make an extra buck or two.

I like kids, I swear. But I’d pay almost anything not to sit in close proximity to one who is misbehaving. I will fork over 15 cents for every year of age over 10 for each passenger sitting directly next to me, in front of me, and behind me. So if I’m in a window seat, and the three passengers closest to me are each 50 years old for a combined 150 years, that’s an extra $18. And I’d tack on another $5 to have my row and the rows in front and behind me completely child-free. That’s another $23 right there.

I’d certainly pay the supplement to get away from the screaming children. I also have to agree with Reines about the absurdity of the ban on using your phone on the plane:

I don’t know of a single documented case of a consumer electronic device interfering with a plane’s avionics. If they did, al Qaeda would just fly around with iPods. Since we don’t fear an iBomber, why not just let me use my BlackBerry as much as I want, whenever I want.