Several recent commercial fights were emergency landed because of passenger fights about reclining seats and sore patellas. Spirit, the upstart budget airline, is taking advantage of the situation by revealing that no such troubles can happen aboard their flights. Their seats simply don’t recline.

The airline happily advertises "the new definition of luxury: flying all the way to your destination without someone's chair in your lap." Spirit schedules flights to more than 39 destinations in the U.S., Caribbean, Bahamas and Latin America. For current schedules, ticket prices and other info, go to www.spirit.com

If you’ve toured Japan lately and shelled out money in hotels, restaurants and theater in Tokyo, Yokohoma and other large cities, it was very costly. You spent $700 a day and higher. Consider a similar experience at much lower cost.

Book a nine-night cruise around Japan aboard the Diamond Princess, with prices starting at about $115 a day per person. Even more of a bargain, it includes cabin, meals, entertainment and local transportation.

From now through September, and starting again in April, the Diamond Princess cruise out of Yokohama includes visits to Nagasaki, Kyoto, Beppu, Kagoshima and other Japanese ports. For more info about these and other Princess schedules, go to  www.princess.com/learn/cruise...cruises/cruises/japan

RCL offers passengers opportunities to contribute to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The organization sends kids with life-threatening medical conditions on free trips to Disneyland and other wonderfully wishful destinations.

On a day during many RCL cruises, volunteers can take An International Walk for Wishes. Participants pay $10 and up to hike around the ship's exercise deck for a specified period of time. It earns them a logo t-shirt and warm personal pride. Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines offer a variety of incentives to encourage passengers to contribute to worthy charities.

For more volunteer info, check with your cruise line or go to www.usatoday.com/experience/cruise/best-of-cruising/best-of-cruise-line-charities/13357099. For info about Make-A-Wish, go to www.wish.org

On a recent trip through Tokyo’s Narita Airport, we noted rows of shiny metal structures near the parking area. They looked like up-and-down washer-dryers in a do-it-yourself laundry.

They’re actually sleep pods, bringing back memories of serving aboard a Navy transport. Our troop compartments had similarly jammed-in bunks, four to six high, and they were about as comfy as being stuffed  into a hospital MRI tube. There are communal bathrooms near the pod compartments, but seniors who need frequent usage must find sliding in and out challenging.