Agreed, through and through. I think I brought it up in this instance because not many people have the balanced view you seem to that allows them to remember “Oh yeah, the person I like did crap, too.”

I’ve been waiting for this FOR YEARS. I went the self-education route and got good at katakana and hiragana, and I even did a weird teach-yourself-kanji-with-this-PDF-book-sort-of thing. It all went in the toilet when my kids were born and I’ve wanted to get back into it, but I don’t have the time or patience to…

The article as I read it uses the “space as a commodity” thing only to illustrate that the “space as a commodity” idea is worthless because it depends entirely upon who has to pay. In the end they point out that the person who controls the button is given the implicit right to recline his seat, but they advocate for…

Is America finally growing up?

Did you read the rest of the article?

May parents recently flew to Rome as a kind of last big trip before my dad’s cancer makes such things impossible. They took an overnight flight and when my dad went to recline his seat the guy behind him jammed his knee into the seat, making it impossible. My dad turned around and said “Excuse me, could you move your…

Same goes for police, IMO. No one ever won an argument with a cop on the street because they hold all the cards, i.e. if they don’t like what you’re saying/doing they have handcuffs and a hundred buddies only minutes away. If a cop is being a dick you make your protest known verbally so it’s on his dash camera, film…

You’re right, in a way. But I don’t think this family was trying to game the system at all. I think they just didn’t understand that “I paid for it” doesn’t automatically mean “It’s mine.” I can see where they’re coming from, but they really didn’t have a leg to stand on.

There are always other airlines to fly on. United is feeling the hurt from their multiple shenanigans, Jet Blue will as well. Yes, it’ll all blow over in time, but some major companies have gone under because of things like this.

Southwest’s logo is literally a giant heart.

Before knowing anything about it I assumed the passengers were at fault in some way because that’s usually at least partially true. After reading the article it sounds like one of the flight attendants had a stick up her butt and really wanted to screw somebody over. It doesn’t sound like the passengers were at fault…

“What an interesting question. Why do you ask?”

“...and adjustments are being made.”

Yeah, I don’t think you’ve actually read any of my previous comments either. Why bother when you can just make up an argument you’re actually winning? But no matter. My only hope here is that you’ll think twice before acting like an entire sack of dicks in the future. Also, maybe look for that Shift key?

Agreed. It seems the journalist’s creed is now “HEADLINES! Then fill the rest with outrage.”

You don’t have to do anything of the sort. That’s just what I was doing as a reminder that Republicans don’t have a monopoly on hypocrisy. A “hypopoly,” if you will.

What airplanes really need is a universal phone/tablet holder on the back of every seat. I would pay real American dollars for such an amenity.

That may have been a more common occurrence before the proliferation of smartphones and online check-in, but I’ve never seen them ask anyone to be bumped once the plane was boarded and I’ve flown four different airlines out of two dozen different airports in the last three years alone.

Fair enough. Make sure to look down both sides of the aisle, though, because hypocrisy has neither a (D) nor an (R) after it. Prime example from the other side is Hillary Clinton who pushes for greater restrictions on big business, but has loads of friends on Wall Street. Also she’s a feminist icon, but actively…

No, nothing can guarantee who will be on a flight because people can leave even AFTER boarding a plane. They do, however, get really good at knowing who will board based on who checks in and where, which is why they know with enough foreknowledge to make those “We’re overbooked, how does $400 sound?” announcements…