So I make airline reservations for my daughter and me, partly based on seat availability, and I recheck my reservation yesterday to find that we no longer have confirmed seat assignments on one of our segments. No explanation or apology from the airline about what happened, and no, the rep tells me, there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. Although if we really want to sit together, for an additional $65 each they will happily reserve us "premium" seats near the front of the plane.

It's not the first time this has happened to me. Or the third.

Yeah, I know, it's a First World problem. But fuck—is there another industry that hates its customers as much as the airline industry? As a percentage of my income, this was not a small purchase, and yet the airline has no obligation to give me the seats I reserved or get me to my destination on time, and if there's bad weather anywhere in the nation, they'll feel free to strand me in an airport for hours or days with no compensation and only a vague promise to get me on another plane whenever. Because, fuck me.

This is supposed to be a short vacation of sorts, and I'm already dreading it, not because I'm afraid to fly but because I can't stand spending money for the privilege of being disrespected. And from the the moment you step into line at TSA to the moment you finally claim your luggage, commercial air travel has become a calculated exercise in disrespect.