A while back, I did a couple of polls about whether it’s rude to recline your seat while flying. It was pretty well split—some people thought it was super rude and others thought it was mostly okay. In the past, I’ve always been of the mind that it’s perfectly fine to recline as long as you do it slowly, and don’t do it during meal service. Well, after my recent flying experience, I’ve had a change of heart.

A few weeks ago, I was flying home from Charlotte. I had some work that needed to be done, so I got out my laptop. Just as I set it on the tray (but before I opened it), the guy in front of me threw back his seat. Had my laptop been open, he would have broken it. I tried to open it, but couldn’t get it up enough to see the screen, and so gave up.

It’s not that I think that reclining your seat is always rude. In fact, I still think it’s not rude in most cases. However, unless there are extenuating circumstances, I don’t plan to recline anymore. I just don’t want to cut into someone’s space that much. (Of course, if the seat behind me is the exit row, well, I’m totally reclining.) I think people who have a medical condition should definitely recline as needed. I also think that anyone who reclines should do it slowly and mindfully, and try very hard not to just throw their seat back.

Anyone agree? Disagree? Had a change of heart as well?

Readers, last night on a flight from Dallas I witnessed an interesting etiquette situation, and I want to get your take on it. A petite woman had found her seat and was looking for a place to stow her large backpack. Two rows in front of her, a tall guy was muscling his rollaboard into the overhead bin. There was plenty of room next to his bag, so she very politely asked him for a hand. “Excuse me,” she said. “Could you please help me?” He started to say yes, but then stopped. “Oh, my buddy is going to put his bag there. Sorry.” He then sat down. The three or four of us that witnessed this kind of gaped at him. The man behind him said, “Friend, that might come back to haunt you.” The woman was forced to go to the back of the plane to find a spot for her bag.

Honestly, I go back and forth with this. In the moment, it felt incredibly rude. But thinking about it later, I wonder: does it make sense to save a spot for your friend’s bag, even from someone who was on the plane first? Or does the person on the plane first deserve the spot? The ironic thing was that the buddy, who did indeed place his rollaboard in that spot, was sitting next to the woman who had asked for help.

Readers, what do you think?

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According to a recent article on MSNBC, major airlines are considering charging for oversized carry-on bags. The idea would be to discourage passengers from bringing bags onto the plane that won’t fit in the overhead bin, with the fee around $25. Alaska Airlines is already doing this. (Pictured: Overpacking, courtesy of the Home Warrior.)

The article makes it seem like customers would freak out if this happened, and would just see this fee as another way for airlines to make a buck any way they can. The airline spokespeople perpetuate this, not wanting to admit considering this fee. But you know what? This is one fee that I can fully get behind.

We’ve all been on flights that were delayed because too many people tried to carry-on, there wasn’t enough space, and gate-checking chaos ensued. A lot of people are bringing bags on board that are perfectly sized for the overhead bins—but a lot of people, either purposely or not, are bringing bags that are way too large to fit. Or bags that take up significantly more than their allotted space. Airlines charge extra for oversize or too heavy checked bags—why wouldn’t they do the same for carry-on?

Comments on the article complained that this would delay boarding even more. And it might, initially. But it would discourage people from trying to bring on too much. Then there are the people who use this as a money saving strategy—bringing on a bag that they know is too big, so that they can gate check and avoid paying checked bag fees. (Don’t even get me started on those people!!) Charging a fee would definitely discourage that practice.

How would the logistics work? I I have no idea. But I’m sure the airlines could figure it out.

Readers, what do you think? Are fees for oversized carry-on bags a good idea?

Coming Home from Chicago, Part 3

You guys have already heard about (and given your opinions on) people not pushing their bins and bags through security and not waiting for their turn to board. The final thing that irritated me (although sequentially it was actually the first thing) was TSA.

I actually haven’t had nearly the amount of bad TSA experiences that a lot of people have. At my small regional airport, where I am the most, they are pretty polite and actually very efficient. So I was shocked on Saturday, when one of the TSA agents was super rude to me.

The security lines at Midway were not super well defined, but I got into what seemed to be the shortest one. I was in line for a few minutes, and while no one had gotten behind me the other lines were getting longer and longer. One of the TSA agents came over to our line and put a divider right in front of me. “This line is closed,” she said, standing in front of me, folding her arms. I looked behind me to make sure the line hadn’t grown suddenly to epic proportions. It hadn’t. I said, “Could we not close it after me?” And she said, “This line is closed.”

Um, wow. So after waiting in line for almost ten minutes, I had to go find another line and get at the very end of it. Luckily, the people next to me invited me to get in front of them, which was very nice. But why did she decide to close it in front of me? There was no one behind me, and letting one more person through (me) would have had exactly the same effect. I guess the thing that made me the maddest was that it was so clearly a case of “I’m doing this because I can and you can’t say anything.” I know the TSA does worse things all the time, but seriously? Argh.

And there you have it. All the craziness I witnessed coming home from Chicago. Hopefully my next flight will be a little less dramatic!!

Don’t forget about the contest going on through Sunday!! You could win two nights in a Courtyard Marriott.