Anyone who has suffered through a flight on United Airlines is painfully aware of just how abysmal the leg room is in their economy class. Apparently, United is aware of this, too. However, rather than add a couple inches of leg room to every aisle on the aircraft, United has added a full *five* inches of leg room to a select few seats. These have been dubbed Economy Plus and, of course, require an additional fee for the genetic deficiency of long legs. After all, what kind of money-grubbing airline would they be if they didn’t? Those executive salaries don’t pay themselves after all.

I was offered this supposed upgrade when I checked in at the self check-in terminal (why spend extra money on people to man the check-in desk?). The cost of the upgrade was US$44. However, I was told that just for me the cost would be… US$44. Boy, do I feel special. All those frequent flyer miles are really paying off.

Well, it turns out my flight was overbooked. I had a confirmed reservation, but no seat assignment. Guess which seats tend to be available after every other seat has been filled. That’s right, all those seats no one felt were worth a quarter of their original ticket price.

So, if you want extra leg room on a United Airlines aircraft, you can pony up the cash for the privilege–or just book your flight late.