Where did it all go wrong

After an often arduous trek through security, "what awaits Black Leather Equestria 160mm us is a hot, dirty and crowded plane,'' says Person Goral, a member of USA TODAY's panel of frequent travelers known as Road Warriors. "Flying today is the equivalent of traveling via Greyhound bus in the 1970s.''

Indeed, many Americans would agree that flying has become an experience to be endured rather than enjoyed. And if the flying experience has declined, some say Suede Equestria 160mm civility among travelers has gone down right along with it. Some frazzled passengers are literally fighting for every spare inch of space.

Last month, a United Airlines flight headed from Newark to Denver had to land at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport when a passenger refused to remove a Knee Defender a device that prevented the seat in front of him from reclining. The passenger who couldn't lean back proceeded to douse him with a cup of water. Nobody was arrested, though the incident is a microcosm of the frustration that seems to have become as common as takeoffs and landings.

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Passenger speaks out about airline seat Black Leather Flanavec 120mm dispute

Etiquette expert Anna Post generally doesn't think people are ruder now than in generations past except when it comes to flying.

"When I hear about the . glamorous old days of flying, I just can't help thinking it ain't what it used to be,'' says Post, who discusses sky high rudeness in the 18th edition of Emily Post's Etiquette, the seminal book on manners first published by her great great grandmother.

Post, who says she has seen passengers "blow their stack'' waiting in line to get reassigned after their flight is canceled, says, "A lot of rudeness and incivility comes from stress, and there's so many ways to be stressed when flying these days.''

Tensions can start to rise from the time a passenger pays for the ticket, escalating on the trek through the airport. "Then you have potentially inconsiderate seatmates around you," Post says. "You've got someone eating a hot tuna fish sandwich you have to smell, and somebody sneezing without covering their mouth, and there's a baby crying, and you've got a person reclining into you. . You literally feel pushed from all sides.''

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PERCEPTION VS. REALITY

Ask some dissatisfied fliers when their frustrations first arose if it was when they had to start taking off their shoes to pass through security, paying a fee to check a bag, bringing their own meal and the response can often be boiled down to three words: Take your pick.

But the reality is that there may be no better time than the present to Purple Suede Equestria 160mm hop on a flight, if you gauge key markers such as the cost of a plane ticket and the value of getting to a destination on time.

"The number of customer complaints has gone down,'' he says. "Mishandled baggage has gone down and on time performance has improved. So technically, based solely on the data, (the flight experience) has improved over the last 25 years substantially.''

With passengers now able to tap into Wi Fi on a flight, watch live TV while 30,000 feet in the air and enroll in programs like TSA PreCheck to speed up their security screening, some fliers think there's much to like about air travel.