United Airlines Flight ORD to SFO Middle Seat 40 D on B-767

This blog post is for anyone who's ever had the middle seat on a wide-bodied plane. In this case, the aircraft was a United Airlines Boeing 767 on the way from Chicago to San Francisco. This is a trip I commonly make as part of my monthly trek to Georgia to help my Mom. I travel by stand-by and on United Airline, the carrier I grew up with, which means I get what's available; sometimes it's first class and sometimes it's economy class. My preference is for either first class or if it's economy, the exit row.

In this case, I was in the back, in the middle.

What I can't stand are people who can't seem to keep to themselves. Either their head rolls to you when they're asleep. Or they cover the entire armrest with their arm. Or they sick their leg into your space. It's almost as if being in the middle gives them some weird license to think they can violate your space.

It wasn't always that way. I can remember a time when people were more respectful of the space of others. Of course, there was more room in what was called "coach" then, too. Now, the "economy" designation makes riding on some airplanes like being on giant buses. Hence the term "airbus."

To this blogger flying will always be that something where you put on your best behavior, making sure to treat everyone with kindness and courtesy.

Of course, if we all did that, there would be no need for airport security checks and 911 would have never happened.

That would be a cool World to live in. We had it once; I just don't know what happened.