Matt Brodsky Says- "Fly Coach With Laptops!"
A dilemma often encountered by frequent fliers who want to operate their notebooks during a flight. Do you stick to cheap and cheerful economy class, or upgrade to Economy Plus/First Class, where there is more elbow room for typing?
I've takenbus rides with roosters before. I've taken off from Tijuana in aMexican airliner with paperclips the only thing holding my chairin place to the cabin floor. I've been driven by lunatics inmountain passes wide enough for half a hatchback. And now I takepublic transportation in Philly. So I have no sympathy when Ihear someone complain about operating a laptop in your averagejetliner's coach seat.
You just have to learn how to deal with the cramped quarters of acoach seat. Sure, you can't unfold your Macbook, Thinkpad orVaio display as far back as you'd like, and the jerk in front ofyou always leans his seat back so you have even less room. Thatusually leaves you less than 90 degrees to open your display.Meanwhile, your keyboard on the folded-down tray juts into yourribs. To make it work, you have to pull your elbows in, hunchdown, and tilt your head over to see what you aretyping.
But it ispossible. Would it be easier with an ultraportable, say, with just a 12-inch display versus a desktopreplacement? Sure. It would be even easier to drop an extra $50on an upgrade to a so-called Economy Plus Seat, rather than aplain Economy Seat. Economy Plus adds 3 more inches of pitch toyour cramped space, meaning three more inches between you and theseat in front.
My vote, though, would be to suck it up in the regular coachseat. Learn to love that crick in your neck, and the musclespasms that may begin shooting from your lower back down your legsand then back up again. There won't be any paperclips. Noroosters. No lunatics flying your plane through mountain passes.But you'll still be tougher than those namby-pambies in firstclass. Unlike them, with their doublewide seats and theirnever-ending supply of food and cool drinks, you'll feel likeyou've earned every second of your batterylife.
