>My sister-in-law had her second hip replacement at the end of June. The pain wasn't too bad: some days worse than others, but certainly very manageable. She's off pain meds altogether now and is walking, albeit with a cane for now, very well.
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>That is good to know. I asked my surgeon if I would be able to fly on October 15th and he said that it would be cutting it close. It's 7 and 1/2 weeks after my surgery, so I think I should be OK. I also booked business first tickets in row 1 so that getting on and off the plane would not be too stressful :)

Business first class is a big price hike. I have an abiding sunniness about people in general and bet if you explained the situation to a stewardess she would announce before touchdown that we have a passenger who just had hip surgery, please stay in your seats until she is safely off the plane. I think they would and would wish you well, too. If they aren't complete air pigs -- and lord knows there are plenty of those -- they will be willing to wait for two damn minutes. If not, just wait and get off last.

That said, it always bothers me when the air pigs pillage the scene. It used to be that people needing assistance or families traveling with young children boarded first. That was respected. Then, right around the time frequent flyers were added to the early boarding group, things changed. If I still had young children I would hang back so they didn't get trampled by beefy salespeople and their ilk. It's not like the plane is going to leave without us. And so-called elite seats are overrated. The last time I flew, to a tech conference in Orlando earlier this year, I had a window seat purely by having made the reservation early. I willingly swapped with a girl, maybe 8, who was making her first flight, so she had a better view out the window. It was just another flight for me. It was a big adventure for her.