In the film The Accidental Tourist, frequent flyer William Hurt has some advice for those who want to take the pain out of air travel: only take one bag; and always have a book so you don't have to speak to the person next to you. Apparently, KLM believes that people actually want to have conversations during flights. So it has created a new social networking experience called Meet & Seat, which enables passengers buying tickets on its site to choose who they want to sit next to - by examining their fellow passengers' Facebook or LinkedIn profiles (with permission).
The SNCF created a similar option a few years ago for its IDTGV service. But I have no desire to find out who is travelling with me and even less to actually talk to them. When I'm travelling, I don't want to talk to anyone I'm not sleeping with. Even then, when my wife and I travel we tend to turn up with a huge pile of books and magazines. We spend the journey in blissful silence, occasionally emerging from our media oasis to smile knowingly at each other. We only take a break to discuss what to have for lunch. I'm exaggerating a little: I'm curious enough to look at the other passengers and speculate about their lives. But that's another form of reading - you're inventing stories about strangers. The entertainment factor is lost if you already know all about them.
