So there I am, squashed into the middle seat of a packed US Airways flight from San Francisco to Charlotte. I wasn’t supposed to be on that flight, but my scheduled flight had been delayed past my connection time, so that’s that.

I hate long flights and I hate middle seats even more, so I try to tune out and focus on my laptop, book or Sudoku puzzle, whatever suits the moment. I’m in my “zone” when the plane’s PA system springs to life with…an advertisement!

That’s right, US Airways, of which I am a customer paying good cash money, has decided that it will take advantage of my captivity to sell me on the merits of the US Airways Mastercard. I have no choice in the matter. The ad isn’t broadcast over the in-flight movie system, where I can choose not to listen, but over the PA system. The same one that’ s used to tell us that our seats can be used as a flotation device. There is no getting away from it. For two minutes, I listen to the flight attendant read ad copy in a monotone while another smiling crew member walks down the aisle, waving brochures.

The US airline industry has quite possibly the worst customer relations of any major business category and US Airways is at the bottom of the barrel, for my money. I didn’t think it could get any worse until it came up with this stunt. Sure, it was only two minutes of my time, but it’s the principle that bothers me.

Airlines are one of the few businesses that have a legal right to physically confine their customers. To take advantage of that confinement for the purpose of delivering an advertisement is just wrong. US Airways, you suck.