And You Thought Fighting Over the Armrest Was Bad

In the "public" position.

The B-Tourist strip has an initial appeal to everyone who flies coach. The B-Tourist is

a portable curtain that silently screams “do not disturb.” The elastic curtain.....can be stretched between headrests to the back and the front of the passenger, thereby creating a cocoon of privacy around the passenger’s head.

"Private"

The drawback: in the cattle-car seating that passes for economy flying, only true sociopaths will have the nerve to ignore the negative vibes emanating from fellow passengers. The curtain

a) shouts that the passenger wants nothing to do with the rest of humanity (one can feel that way, but one isn't supposed to say it),

b) uses the headrest of the passenger in front, and

c) makes it difficult for seatmates to ask to go to the bathroom.

Look for regulators to kill this idea in the cradle. Flight safety rules that prohibit obstacles in the footpath will certainly bar the erection of these barriers. Said the poet, "Good fences make good neighbors," but he wasn't thinking about airplanes. © 2014 Stephen Yuen