Flight Mysteries

I travel a lot, mostly on business. While there are a lot of air travel pains and delays can be awful, in my experience most of the time the airline staff is doing its best to get me to my destination safely and on-time. Still, I can't resist sharing a few air travel observations that made me think twice.

#1 Cup O' Germs
On long flights with drink service refills (which I am grateful for) I've noticed that flight attendants nearly always pick up cups by the rim--mine and everyone else's! My lips touch that same rim every time I drink. People worry about the recycled air on flights, but what about the fingers of the attendant who touched every cup on the plane? Yuck.

#2 Food That Tastes Good
I recently flew Alaska Airlines from Dallas to Portland. I was in coach and it was a full flight. But it was a good experience, partly because I was hungry and they served a tasty little burger for lunch for just $5. The airline made a couple bucks, and I really enjoyed the meal. So why can't more flights and airlines offer TASTY food at a reasonable price? It seemed like a win/win for everyone.

#3 What Bag Limit?
I've flown several airlines that seem oblivious to carry on bag numbers and sizes. Airlines seem to turn a blind eye to 3 or more items and bag sizes that will take an entire overhead bin. Then about 75 percent through the boarding process, overhead bins are full and passengers are running up and down the aisle looking for a place to stash a bag. If you're late to board, then you're bag is getting checked no matter what. That doesn't seem fair to me, and I think it slows the boarding process. So why not enforce the carry-on bag quantity and size limits? Boarding would move faster and there would be less stress because more passengers would find adequate luggage space.