Commentary: The conference was in Memphis, and there simply was not time to drive or, better still, take a train. That meant navigating a world I try to avoid: the grey and tasteless bardo of airport security and passenger jets.
The strange world of airports and passenger flight resemble a sadistic social experiment. While passenger rail is neglected, we continue to squeeze ourselves into winged sardine cans shot across the tarmac and lifted into the air while crew members hand out cups of soda pop.
Seating really has shrunk. The "pitch," or distance between rows of seats, has been trimmed by inches, and individual seats have gotten thinner as airlines squeeze more saleable units into each plane. This way, the airlines can brag about leg room while still squeezing passengers more tightly together. Loads per flight have increased steadily over the past two decades. In my childhood and teens, average loads were well below 70 percent, but monthly reports by the Department of Transportation show that percentage up in the high 80s and moving up. This is why it might seem, if you have been flying for a while, that the overhead bins get full more often and more quickly, and that empty seats are more rare than they were a decade or two ago.
The passenger plane is a difficult and uncomfortable world of incessant noise, where personal space is at a premium and tempers are short. In a pressurized cabin 30,000 feet in the air, our senses of smell and taste are dull, and the low air pressure and lack of humidity can make you feel sleepy headed, irritable, or less responsive. In this predicament, the environment is rife with the marketing of individual comfort. You can pay for a slightly more luxurious "first class" seat. You can pay to check your luggage instead of dealing with the overhead bins. You can pay to board the plane sooner than other people.
My memories of air travel go back far enough that I noticed even first class is not what it used to be. Those seats are smaller as well. In fact, today's first class looks a lot like what flying coach used to be, when economy class seats were larger and everybody got meals or snacks. The truly luxurious in-flight experience is now on chartered planes, at a level of expense much higher than "first class." This is a small picture of how wealth and luxury are being concentrated into an ever-smaller elite of society.
Of course, before we get on the plane we have to traverse the police state of airport security, an expanding industry that shows little sign of becoming more rational or dignified. I felt disgusted hearing myself say "thank you" as I participated in my own over-policing, being barked at to take off my shoes, faster, spread my legs, put my hands in the air, all for naught. "Thank you for granting me freedom of movement and not deciding to mess with me." Most of us at the airport are well trained in deference to authority, even when it is being deployed ineffectively. The received ideology is that this farce is necessary because ofSeptember 11, which was not a failure of airport security but national security. TSA jobs depend on an obsession with small items in a tsunami of tote bags and rolling suitcases even if it isn't the most effective approach for public safety.
If it is not too late for a new year's resolution: I promise to allow myself time to take trains more often.
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Algernon D'Ammassa writes the "Desert Sage" column for the Deming Headlight and Sun News papers. Write to him atDesertSageMail@gmail.com.