Regional Jet, the Only Way to Fly

The only one-way flight from St. Louis to Minneapolis is on a regional airline called American Connection, an offshoot of American Airlines. This plane is tiny. The door into the plane has got to be 6 feet high, and that's my most generous estimate. The average adult man is crouching to enter the plane, and for me, well I'm walking down the aisle looking like I'm tying my shoe. You can't have a carry-on larger than a backpack or purse, there simply isn't room. The larger carry-on items are dropped off plane-side, and stored underneath (for no charge, thankfully). There are only two seat to the left of the aisle, one to the right, and only about 18 rows. The seats have no leg room, and are very skinny, so you can't even angle your legs to one side. It is impossible to be comfortable in those seats. Impossible.

Last year I flew to Arizona with my family on one of you typical big airplanes- lots of seats, decent leg room, a drink cart coming by twice, ect.- and I found myself complaining and wishing I was flying on my tiny plane. Despite it's faults, its actually a pretty positive experience. Since it's a small plane, and it's usually never full, getting on and off the plane is practically instantaneous. Also everyone seems to be in a pleasant mood. Maybe because we all feel like clothes folded and jammed into a bursting luggage bag when we get on the plane, and that feeling unites us. Maybe because there are no screaming babies, or large families holding up the line. Even the flight attendant always seems to be happy, and is always cracking jokes. I guess I'd be happy too if I only had to take care of 25 people instead of 150.

So, in a way, what makes the plane miserable makes it enjoyable. I'm never going to be comfortable on a plane, so I might as well be in a good mood. And I don't know how they do it, but every single time I've gotten off the American Connection flight, I've been smiling.