Originally Posted by Mr. Joe

Mr. Joe is back from a visit to the U.S. after 3 years in Yongsan!
For Civil Service folks, The Government pays for a visit if you extend your tour, (sort of like a midtour trip for GI's).
A few things we learned:
-The government pays for cheap seats. You should have a milage card from some airline (United, in this case), so you can upgrade.
- Economy (Cheap) now comes in TWO sizes, Economy and Economy plus!
- Economy Plus seats are about 4 inches wider, and are for American sized bodies. "Economy" seats are for children or small, short people. They have nearly no legroom. (Your briefcase WON'T fit under the seat in front of you.)They are in the back of the plane. The agents know that, and probably try to fill them with small Oriental people who should complain less.
- We were short on time when we made our reservations, and were not able to get a seat assignment until we arrived at the plane. They put my (formerly Korean) wife in the tiny seat section, and assigned me (Plus size) six rows ahead in the plus seats! They said they were sorry. They were right about that! After we got in the air the skinny girl beside me agreed to switch seats with my wife, after I informed her that I snore loudly, and would be making frequent trips to the rest rooms. A Flight Attendant said earlier that I would have difficulty finding someone to switch seats to "Economy" seats, as they were small, and less comfortable. Also, she said, seasoned knowledgeable travelers had paid about $100 MORE for the Economy Plus seats, and detested the smaller seats.
- The larger planes would seem to be more confortable, but the big 747 large screen movie was turning off often and a real disaster on one flight!
The 777 had individual movie screens on each seatback. The free earbuds don't fit very well.
- If you have noise-cancelling earphones, take them with you, with a proper stereo plug, and you will reduce cabin noise as well, and have a more enjoyable experience. Or, just wear earplugs to reduce noise. Twelve hours of high ambient cabin noise can cause some hearing loss.
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- There are lots of other things we learned, like -forget Korean, you will need Spanish if you are going back to live in America. We will continue this after my siesta- Jet lag is still with me.