On Jul 16, 5:48 pm, Gloria P > wrote:

> The trouble is that much of the American public has turned into
> obese, uncouth bozos. They fly dirty, smelly, unkempt, half-dressed
> and don't give a d@mn. They let their children run wild on the plane,
> spewing germs for hours. (Ask me about the munchkin across the aisle
> from me on a flight from Denver to D.C. in January who coughed and
> sneezed without covering his face for four hours, and the five weeks of
> flu I suffered as a result.)

The trip I just took, the attendants came by hourly with at the least
water
(one flight even had cookies! All else cost) so I don't recall
hearing all that
much coughing and sneezing. The only person who was truly offensive
was a fellow in a german-language t-shirt who seemed to have finished
a 3-day desert hike just before boarding. The kids were reasonably
well
behaved. I did chat with the mother of the antsy 4-year-old next to
me
about strategies I had used when we went on long car trips with my
daughter at that age, and how we kept her from being a pest.. Made
the
kid a couple of origami toys that helped until she finally fell
asleep.

> Our airlines at DIA now have special double-wide wheelchairs available
> to carry wide loads and they are used frequently.
>
> Instead of charging $15 for the first checked bag, the airlines would do
> better to charge obese fliers by the pound.

As long as the scale they use is set with "zones" rather than pounds.
They already abuse their right to unreasonable search and such.

> As far as baggage, you wouldn't believe the size of the bags people are
> trying to carry on, or the number of them. Loading and unloading the
> planes will take forever with all the oversized excess bags. (Doesn't a
> dog in a soft-side carrier count as one bag?)

Guilty. I have my suitcase that fits in the overhead, and a rolling
shoulder
bag that I can fit my feet around when it's under the seat in front of
me
that is usually overfull. But once I take out the blanket and pillow,
it's fine,
[OB Food]
and it's smaller at the end of the flight when I've eaten the meal I
took with
me as well.

> Aaaaargh.
>
> gloria p

We've lost our respect for each other and authority. A little
civility on all
sides would solve many of these problems.

Or we could try the Japanese method: http://preview.tinyurl.com/3vaktn

maxine in ri