I’ve been travelling a lot lately. A lot. One trip a week since July. And not a car trip. In the past few weeks, I’ve been to Houston, Bentonville, Panama, and Bentonville again. This week, I’m off to Las Vegas.

In all of my travels over the years, I’ve flown on all of the major airlines and many of the “discount” carriers. Each has its ups and downs.

But United Airlines — which I don’t fly very often at all — offers an exclusive service that I wish more of the airlines would embrace. On all of its flights, United offers the plane’s radio traffic with air traffic control on channel 9. I’ve listened a number of times, and it’s always fascinating. It’s also reassuring. The cool, business-like transmissions offer insight about where you’ve been and where you’re going. They give you a window into other planes passing nearby.

Of course, the pilot can always turn it off if there’s trouble, and a hanful of United pilots apparently don’t ever turn the feed on in the first place, but that’s the exception.

Why does this matter?

These days, lots of people are afraid of flying. My wife is. So is my friend, whose post about her flight home from California prompted this one.

But on the last flight I took with my wife, I introduced her to channel 9, and she was much more relaxed. She knew in advance that there was going to be turbulence, because the pilot up ahead sent word back down the line to us. She knew why we were sitting at the end of the taxi-way, because she could hear the ground controller explain the situation to our pilot. She knew why we were decending, because she heard Washington Center hand us off to Dulles approach control. My friend relates much the same experience.

So, if there are any airline executives reading this — especially anyone from Northwest or Continental — I hope you’ll consider taking the same step. If United can do it, so can you. And your passengers will appreciate it — more than you know.

Jim: Really, Marshall? This is your biggest tip for airlines? Because, man, I’ve got a slew of others. Paraphrasing Dennis Miller, if you think you’ve got an axe to grind, I’m f***ing Paul Bunyan over here.

Dear Mr. Airline Executive: Your seats are designed by and for deformed parapelegic dwarves. I can’t get up and walk around. You had better make these some comfortable seats if I’m gonna have to spend anywhere from three to nine hours in ‘em.

The Reclining Law: If I’m in the last row, my seat can’t recline; that doesn’t stop the guy in front of me from trying to get horizontal into my lap. Look, claustrophobic seating brings out my inner berzerker rage; I will stab you in the eye with my spork if I feel you’re taking up my space.

Aisle width: How does it make sense to limit whether or not  one can get to the bathroom depending on where the food cart is?

Business class bathrooms for business class passengers only: Yes, yes, this rule is security-related. Sure. I would just observe that outside the airport, we’re this classless society, all men are created equal; once we step on a plane, we have the rigid class rules of a Jane Austin novel, including where we go pee.