There are a number of things I have always wanted to do from 30,000 feet above sea level: Take a bubble bath, have first class all to myself, and post a blog. On this trip from ATL to LAX, one out of three isn't bad. An earlier connecting flight from MEM provided great fodder and another display of frustrating incivility. I'm not sure what is worse -the teething toddler in excruciating pain or the adult motormouth who intends on making small talk from takeoff to taxing to the gate! We were treated to the latter - a 75 minute chat-a-thon between the man two rows behind us and the poor woman seated next to him who made the mistake of saying hello.
Polite conversation is one thing; talking so loudly you have pulled everyone else around you within a 10 row radius on both sides of the aisle into your babbling about your family reunion in Tupalo is downright inconsiderate. Assuming the seat mate really was interested in hearing about how many times you have riden It's A Small World, turn down the volume! Airplanes are tight quarters, not Grand Central Station. If you are going to hold a fellow passenger hostage in a verbal head lock for an entire flight, at the very least, don't wait until the plane has landed to start making the conversation a two-way one. Should you be unlucky enough to be seated next a chatterbox like this, smile, be polite, then whip out a book, headphones or laptop faster than the speed of light. If the blather continues, there is nothing wrong at this point with mentioning that while you'd love to visit about the weather in Wichita, you have some work to do. Afterall, the friendly skies should be considerate, not monopolizing. It really DOES 'Manner A lot'!
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