Scoring an empty seat next to you

It seems like airlines, rail and bus companies are all cutting corners. To save costs they squeeze in extra rows of seats and cram in more people, which means we are subjected to smaller seats, narrower aisles, less foot room and all sorts of other nonsense.

While in Ottawa, I felt like a sardine along with many other passengers in an OC Transpo bus. That's the norm and that's what made yesterday's flight home such a treat.

As luck would have it, nobody plunked down next to me on the plane.

I could stretch out. I've I hadn't been working, I could've slept without worrying about my floppy head tilting to someone else’s shoulder. All that extra room was mine for the having.

The double jackpot: nobody sat in front of me to slide the seat and seat tray into my lap.

      AWESOME!