By Matt Miner

It’s not worth it, especially on a predominately leisure airline (I’m on Alaska) in the summer.

I love children; I like family vacations.  But my fellow passengers are manifestly out of control (to say nothing of their children – oh! there goes another goldfish cracker in the aisle).  There are three dogs (canines) on board.  The overhead bins are filled with PBS tote-bags (admittedly this is not from the same set that has the children).  People are avidly pursing the in-flight publication (a humidor-Elvis?  How have I lived this long without one?).  I see an AARP magazine with Kevin Costner on the cover (Ouch!  Fire that agent, Kevin!) and J.D. Robb books.  Laptops and noise cancelling headphones are conspicuously absent (I do not see any).  While in line for the security screeners, one woman noted the woven nylon barriers which separated the waiting people.  Excited by a brush with the familiar she couldn’t resist crying out what many others in the same line were no doubt thinking: “It’s just like Wendy’s!”

On to PDX.