'Full Upright and Locked Position': 7 (sometimes sobering) facts about air travel

From the facts about airline food to the truth about why bags get lost, writer and former FAA chief counsel Mark Gerchick takes a hard look at traveling by plane in "Full Upright and Locked Position."

5. Stuck in the middle

NASA/AP

Those who travel frequently can list the advantages and disadvantages of being in the aisle, middle, or window seat, but it's the middle seat that is apparently the most reviled. According to a survey by the Global Strategy Group, 50 percent of flyers said they'd wait for the next available flight to secure an aisle seat rather than have to sit in the middle. Twenty percent of travelers said they'd prefer to stay at an airport hotel overnight to get an aisle seat on the earliest flight the next day rather than accept a middle seat.

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