Letters to the Editor
Malusinka
Published Letters: 350 Editor's Choice: 49
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Leg room matters
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm 5'8 and I've had people's seat backs on my knees. I'd like a better pillow and side head support so I can sleep.
Movies are a necessity. Run cartoons for 9 hours straight and my active 8 year old will zone out and watch them. Otherwise, a hour into the 9 hour flight and I am repeating, Don't swing your feet (and kick the back of the guy in front), don't put your tray table up and down, up and down (kind of the same as kicking).
I've long thought that airlines should have tv programs in 200 different language that show how to fill out customs forms, the workings of the seat controls, bathroom, airport diagrams, explanation of what the arrival hall looks like. Because flights from, say, Frankfurt to Boston often have people who've connected from some other flight and need help. Given the limited info the programs would have to show, the memory wouldn't take a lot.
The airline knows whether your bag got on the plane the minute it takes off. Why not let you deal with it on board, fill out the forms. Because nothing is a bigger pit than standing bleary-eyed at 2 am (by your internal clock), watching an empty luggage carousel with steadily ebbing hope, while on the other side of customs, your family wonders where you are and if you made it onto the plane.
If the plane is late, let us know before we get off the plane if we've missed our connection or have plenty of time to make it. I've run through JFK, banging my luggage into everyone's shins only to find that my connection is delayed and I could have strolled. And I've been stuck in a mile long line at the ticket counter when a whole plane of people missed their connections.
Sell pay-as-you-go short-term sim cards at the airport so we can use our mobile phones in the US without either signing up for a two year contract or paying outrageous roaming charges.
Free booze anesthesizes the misery of cattle class. Offer more of it.
Please no piped in scents. Fill the plane with fresh flowers if you want perfume, Bake bread, but don't assault our noses with any 'room fragrance.'
Oh, and luggage carts are free everywhere in the world except the US.
I like the Aeroflot (Tupolev/Illyushin) seats that fold flat, so that if the seat in front of you is empty, you have a place to put your feet.
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Gosh I look forward to you are parents of a 2 year old
[Read the article: We want a kid but don't think it's right to have one]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What the baby wants is what matters and he really wants to stick a fork in the electrical outlet; stack stools in an unstable pile to climb up to get that candy out of your medicine cabinet. He wants to cross the road NOW, by himself (because he's a big kid), not holding your hand or after checking for oncoming cars.
I'm always amazed at the angst well-fed, secure, comfortable Americans can find in their cushy lives.
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First, this test only tells you about cheating if
[Read the article: The evil future is now: Semen detection kits]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]the semen-stained undies are the woman's.
Second, it only tells you something if the woman doesn't use a condom and you test before the undies go in the wash.
It seems to me that a cheat who wants to preserve her main relationship is likely to exercise care and cheats who don't care are likely to get caught without any undie testing.
Further, since condoms can be bought without a prescription or a visit to the doctor, teenaged girls who want to hide their sexual activity from their parents are most likely to use condoms and have semen-free panties.
In short, the test isn't worth much.
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The solution to whiny kids/crying toddlers
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is seat-back video on demand. A 3 hour flight is a long time to keep a kid entertained. Run the teletubbies for the toddlers and cartoons for the older kids. It will shut most of them up.
And have outlets to let customers plug in their game-boys/iPods. The batteries will be long gone before a 10 hour flight is over. If you're supposed to be at the airport 3 hours before an international flight, that's 3 hours of bored kid running down entertainment device batteries before boarding.
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KItchen Girl
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You never know what the kid on that plane was going through. I've been in planes with newly adopted kids who don't speak the language of their recently acquired parents. I've watched my way-too-over-tired kids struggle not to be rude and cranky mid-day on domestic flights when it's 2 am by their internal clock and they can't manage to sleep in the uncomfortable airline seats. I've seen kids who just said good-bye to Mom and are off for months with barely-known Dad.
Even good parents have relatively few options for dealing with a temper tantrum on a plane. You can ignore it and cringe at the thought of your fellow passengers. You can't give the kid a time out. You can't even spank the kid in front of your fellow passengers. It's hard to distract the kid.
Believe me, as a parent who's clocked a hell of a lot of hours flying with kids, no one is made more miserable by a screaming kid than the parents.
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JackSmith
[Read the article: Bill Clinton's Golden Oldies act]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Name me one other job where being a wife counts as experience.
I have an MBA in Finance and a husband who is a CFO. We talk over issues of his job, but I'd be laughed out of any job interview if I suggested his accomplishments should be considered as part of my credentials.
Hillary's health care initiative failed. I hope she learned something, but her failure is certainly not grounds to assume she'll succeed this time around.
Hillary has only a few more years experience in the Senate than Obama and he has more overall political and legislative experience.
There are reasons to vote for Hillary, but experience isn't one of them.