I'm a college professor, so it's always a coach fare when I fly - but that doesn't mean I'll sit there if I don't have to.

First class fares, especially overseas, can be totally absurd. Most of the people who "pay" them are taking advantage of the generosity of anonymous stockholders. They, in turn, usually don't know they're being that generous - and don't care, as long as the stock price keeps going up and the dividends keep coming in. I'm not going to pay them. Most of the other folks in the front cabin don't, either.

As previously posted, frequent flyers on many airlines can move up a class at no financial cost. I'll do that whenever I can. Neither my religion nor I believe that there is any benefit to needless suffering in this life.

(That said, within the past few weeks I flew from Providence, R.I., to southern Mexico and back in coach. We survived.)