http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

If you haven't heard about it, you need to. In short a guy was flying when the dicks at United broke his guitar, he demanded compensation, they refused, he said he'd make a youtube video about it, they said go on, he did, it blows up into bad PR for United.

Awesome stuff. I love stories where the little guy sticks it to the man like this.

<soapbox>
I think just about everyone has their own airline travel horror stories, myself included. It's no mystery to me why the airlines have been struggling even before 9/11 and $4 gas. It never seems to occur to them that maybe they should try NOT treating their customers like shit. On a related subject, about a year and a half ago, I traveled up to New Jersey to visit my brother at his college, and I went by train. I was nothing short of amazed by just how much easier it was to get on a train compared to get on a plane. Yeah planes may be faster once they get up in the air, but with all the time you spent checking luggage, going through security, and waiting for the flight to take off, it doesn't seem quite so fast anymore. And trains are a hell of a lot cheaper, too. I'm never traveling by plane again unless I'm traveling overseas or going wayyyy out west. Not unless it's on someone else's dime.
</soapbox>