Channeling Larry King

Spent too much time traveling this week, so I'm going to channel a bit of Larry King with this junk-drawer brain dump that came from some extra time in the airport today:

• Paid $5 extra for a seat on a Bakersfield-Phoenix flight so I could have extra legroom and be closer to the front of the plane to catch a tight connection to Philadelphia. Get on board and find a 95-year-old woman sitting in my seat. Anyone who has lived 95 years deserves props, so after about 3 seconds of internal groaning at the thought of being jammed into a window seat, I jammed myself into same window seat and made friends with Hazel. That -- not the legroom -- was worth the extra $5.
• On return flight from Charlotte to Phoenix today, saw a woman sitting in first class but her two small children -- probably 6 to 7 years old -- were sitting in coach a few rows directly behind her. I can understand wanting to keep costs down or even needing quiet time from your kids, but how about stooping to sit with your kids on a 4-plus-hour flight?
• Unfortunate headline placement from USA TodayUnfortunate placement: Wednesday’s USA Today sports cover gave prominent play to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which the National League won after a 13-year drought. The headline – “National nightmare is over” – would have been great had it not been placed immediately above a secondary photo of controversial Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who died Tuesday.  Ouch. Or was it intentional?
• Do we really need a footlong hamburger? Apparently so, Carl’s Jr. has decided. $4 gets you just the meat, cheese and bun; and extra 50 cents gets you lettuce and tomatoes to make it healthy.
• Saturday night's Phoenix-to-Bakersfield flight had a few local sports celebs on board. Mike Dallas was flying back home, fresh from his nationally televised boxing victory in Mississippi. Dallas remains undefeated at 15-0-1. Word is his next fight may be televised live on ESPN. And LA Dodgers consultant George Culver was heading back home. Culver, who tossed a no-hitter during his time in the major leagues, has a long history of supporting local college baseball programs.
• If you’re on the run from the law, you probably don’t want to be tatted in a very promiment way. This Bakersfield suspect would probably be less conspicuous if he were wearing a hockey mask.
• Philly has done it right when it comes to pro-stadium placement. The stadiums for the Eagles, Phillies and Sizers/Flyers are all in the same place, meaning they can share the same parking, theoretically creating a smaller imprint on the city, consolidating mass transit efforts and more.
• Love the public-use rocking chairs placed here and there in the Philly airport. Nice touch and a way to help calm the masses.
• Saw a restaurant named Legal Sea Foods at the Philly airport. Not a very inviting name if you ask me, even if it’s supposed to put one at ease. Maybe it’s a regional thing.
• US Airways gives you the ability to upgrade your coach seats AFTER you book. So, instead of choosing your choice seat when booking at their rock-bottom price, they get your money, then upsell you later anywhere from $5 to $20 depending on the length of the flight. And this is just within coach, not up to business or first class. I suspect they know I’m a big guy who has tight connections because invariably my default seat is in the middle of a row and at the back of a plane. And because their data will show I’ve upgraded in the past, they know I’m likely to do the same thing again if they conveniently plop me in the middle of a row toward the back. Aggravating to me, but not a bad business plan where airlines have to pick up quarters anywhere they can.