U.S. airline flights haven't been this crowded since WWII.

A study published yesterday in The New Zealand Medical Journal suggests that you—yes, you—should fart on airplanes. Congratulations.

A family that was trying to fly from New Jersey to Los Angeles claims they were kicked off an American Airlines flight because their 16-year-old son has Down syndrome.

American Airlines is offering a new service: for $30, they'll deliver your checked luggage to any address within 40 miles of the airport. Instead of picking up your own luggage from the carousel, simply leave the airport, and your luggage will arrive at your destination within four hours.

The Telegraph reports that a group of nerds from the University of Leicester have ruined Batman for a different, much larger group of nerds by proving with "science" that Batman couldn't have used his cape to glide from the tops of tall buildings, as he is often depicted doing in non-documentary films and television shows.

There are so many excellent ways that the Associated Press could investigate Ron Paul, given his long congressional record and status as a competitive major party presidential candidate with views radically outside the mainstream, something you don't see too often. He's a character, a real life political character. But what the AP has chosen to go with today is a report about how he frequently flies first-class between Washington and his Texas district, making him the worst sort of hypocrite who has no values and loves Big Government deficits, secretly.

In an effort to answer the question, "what could possibly make the act of traveling by plane worse without violating the Geneva Conventions," KLM is rolling out a new feature next year that will allow you to choose your seatmate. Through Facebook!

News from Comtel Air, whose slogan is "The Greatest Airline In the World," I really really hope:

Here's an interesting little "factoid," meaning "discriminatory outrage of Apartheid proportions:" in the year 2011 in the world's most free country (USA), many airlines do not allow bulldogs to fly. I mean, sure, those six bulldogs were indicted in connection with the 9/11 plot, but let's not paint the rest of them with such a broad brush, okay?

We've all been on some pretty bad flights. But a JetBlue flight from Oregon to JFK yesterday, well, ew.

Remember "E-cigarettes," the electronic cigarettes of the future that we're all smoking now, thanks to the marketing genius of some rich guy? Sure, you remember. You're smoking one right now. As you know, nobody better mess with our e-cigarettes? Or else we will throw peanuts at you, or whatever else may be handy at the time in question!

Airbus has unveiled a "plane of the future," which will finally fulfill man's ultimate dream: To fly in a translucent bubble while also playing a golf video game and inhaling vitamin-laced air.

Everyone knows that if you use your cell phone while flying, your plane automatically crashes into the ocean. Just common sense. Now a leaked report from the International Air Transport Association confirms it.

Hank Krakowski, the FAA's top air traffic control official, resigned today after a fifth air traffic controller was caught sleeping on the job in just the past four months.

We officially have a trend on our hands: Another air traffic controller was found sleeping on the job yesterday, this time in Reno, Nevada. And the flight yesterday was an airborne ambulance, and the pilot was forced to land on his own. It's only taken several high profile incidents similar to yesterday's to get the FAA to add more than one controller to overnight shifts at 26 airports across the country. How thoughtful.

Delirious old coot Sen. Jim Inhofe has a flying license! Who knew? What's even more amazing is that he was able to keep this license after choosing to land his Cessna on a closed runway last year, even though there were "men and equipment on the runway," over whom he "sky hopped" after the first touch down. Wow. And yet, so in-character for Jim Inhofe! It's pathetic that this doesn't even surprise us.

Five major US airlines — AirTran, Delta, US Air, Virgin America, and JetBlue — have all recently raised (or will soon raise) their domestic round-trip airfare by $10. They say the hike was implemented as a way of countering rising jet fuel costs, but clearly it's just another example of the airlines taking us for a ride. (Figuratively. I understand that they already do literally take us for a ride.) How much more fare-raising will we stand before we resort to the old ways of the locomotive or a weary resignation that we'll just never see California? [AP, image via Shutterstock]

Remember the air traffic controller who fell asleep at the controls on the graveyard shift in DC last month, forcing a pilot to land a passenger jet on his own? Well, there seems to be somewhat of a pattern developing here: FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt testified at a congressional hearing about the incident yesterday, and said that in February an air traffic controller at Knoxville, Tennessee's McGhee Tyson Airport was "found intentionally sleeping" on the job. And the best part? He brought pillows and a cushion with him!

A US Airways flight from DC to Hartford was all set to take off Monday when—hey, do you hear a sort of muffled, thumping, screaming sound? Yes. Yes, definitely. The passengers did in fact hear that sound. It was a baggage handler who'd been locked in the cargo hold under the plane, by one of his colleagues, by accident. Whoops! Could be a very tense situation at the workplace, after that. The baggage handler got out though, and was fine (physically). The plane got off on time! It could have been worse.

Day three of the Arianna Huffington Unsafe Airplane Blackberry-ing Scandal: in which Ellis Belodoff of Plainview, Long Island recounts how he yelled at the rich lady on her Blackberry, "What is wrong with you?!"