flying

It’s not restricted airspace—so why do airlines avoid it? The answer has more to do with safety than politics. If a location is a no-fly zone (also known as an …

Air travel is stressful enough—without other passengers making it worse. After all, at the airport, you have to deal with long queues, flight delays, crowded waiting areas, lost luggage—and, of …

TSA rules don’t clearly forbid it—but scanners, metal detectors, and officers may still have other ideas. You’re packed, prepared, and feeling smug about TSA PreCheck. Shoes stay on, laptop stays …

A calm, direct response to seat-spreading turned an awkward flight moment into an instant lesson in personal space. Flying economy—or even premium economy—means living within tight physical boundaries. With seats …

After months of announcements followed by weeks of reminders, Southwest Airlines’ new seating program finally went into effect yesterday. The airline had utilized a “quirky but effective” system of open …

When they’re put in charge of a few hundred passengers, flight attendants wind up getting a lot of questions. And because their “audience” is different from flight to flight, they …

Toilets (a.k.a. “lavatories,” or “lavs” for short) on planes are nothing like toilets on land. Well, except for why they’re there (cuz when you gotta go, you gotta go) and …

Commercial aviation is typically used for what it was meant to do – bring passengers from Point A to Point B. However, you’ll occasionally hear about planes being used for …

There are two kinds of people on planes: the ones who treat the seatback screen like a movie theater… and the ones who treat it like a dashboard. I’m firmly …

Every so often, airlines “update” their rules. If the change can be spun as a win for passengers—even marginally—they’ll trumpet it like it’s the invention of flight itself. Southwest provided …