How to load planes faster

Welcome to The Hot Corner, a title I picked because I'm a baseball writer and a travel writer by profession. The Hot Corner will be hot because it will be controversial -- filled with opinions not everyone will like. On the other hand, maybe those same opinions are exactly the ones you haven't seen anywhere else in the media. Without further ado, here's the first entry (drum roll, please...):

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May 11, 2007

Airlines can do a lot of little things to improve the passenger experience. And it won't cost them a dime.

In fact, it would vastly improve the travel experience for virtually all of their passengers.

When boarding the plane, airlines should instruct all families traveling with small children to sit in the rear of the aircraft. That would accomplish several things:

1. Screaming babies would be confined to a relatively small area that would not disturb adult passengers hoping to sleep or read

2. Young children would be right next to the restrooms that need so often, eliminating the common practice of running up and down the aisles

3. The boarding process would be expedited because families that stow much excess paraphernalia
in the overhead compartments wouldn't hold up the line at the front of the cabin

4. Unloading the plane would also be faster

Airlines like JetBlue and Southwest, which depend upon quick turnarounds, would actually save time, resources, and revenues by expediting arrivals and departures.

While families with children might not like the idea of hiking all the way to the rear, the vast majority of passengers would applaud such a move. Yet not a single carrier has tried it.

Nor has any carrier instructed its flight attendants to add the following to their pre-flight spiel: "For the safety and comfort of all passengers, please be sure to cover your mouth when coughing, sneezing, or clearing your throat."

I've actually had to wear facemasks during flight to protect myself from other passengers who couldn't or wouldn 't follow basic rules of hygiene.

Friends and family are constantly complaining of getting sick on planes. Most of them, they're lucky: it's just a cold or flu. But there have been instances of passengers catching tuberculosis, a highly contagious disease spread by airborne droplets, on airplanes.

Too bad the check-in process doesn't allow passengers to pick the "no-flu" section. But there would have to be a no-baby section too. At least cell phones are still banned during flights.

Oh, yeah, one other thing: airlines need to serve healthier food. That means fat-free milk for morning coffee and hamburgers instead of cheeseburgers. That would be cheaper anyway, so why not?