PETER SAGAL, HOST:
Right now panel, time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. P.J., there have been plenty of stories of people losing their cool on airplanes recently - fighting with the flight attendants, other passengers. According to new research, it's in part because the first thing people do when they board the plane is often what?
P.J. O'ROURKE: Let's see, well, first thing that they do usually is drop their carry-on luggage on me.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: They seek you out for this purpose.
O'ROURKE: They do, yeah. They'll go - I mean, there will be empty space in the bin up at the front of the plane. They'll come all the way to the back, drop their luggage on me and take it back to the front...
SAGAL: Well, actually...
O'ROURKE: ...And put it in the back...
SAGAL: ...You almost got it because it does involve a journey from the very front of the plane to the back. It's a class thing.
O'ROURKE: Oh...
(LAUGHTER)
O'ROURKE: ...Now you're talking. Now you're talking - now you're talking a language Republicans understand.
SAGAL: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: The thing that according to researchers...
O'ROURKE: Because they have to go through first class before they get to their squalid little 6-inch-wide middle seat next to the toilet.
SAGAL: Exactly. You seem to be proving these researchers right even as you...
O'ROURKE: I flew today.
SAGAL: I understand.
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HELEN HONG: Do you fly first class?
O'ROURKE: Not to come to NPR.
(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)
O'ROURKE: When I'm going to - when I'm going to meet with or talk to grown-ups, yes, I do fly first class.
SAGAL: I love the idea, P.J., of you going into coach for the first time and you'll be like no, really, where do you like me to sit - really?
(LAUGHTER)
HONG: I do - when I have to walk through first class, I am definitely passive-aggressive about it. And I will save a fart for that moment.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Really?
HONG: Absolutely, oh yeah. I'll let a - I'll let a good one rip right in between seats one and two - boom.
TOM BODETT: The flight attendants have a - they call it crop-dusting.
SAGAL: They do. They enjoy doing it.
BODETT: They - they go...
HONG: Oh yeah.
BODETT: Yeah...
SAGAL: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: This is...
HONG: That's where I save them.
SAGAL: This is crazy. So you guys understand why it would be the case that people walking through first class to coach might get antsy and angry and upset. But apparently, it affects the first-class passengers, too. They are affected in the same way by this kind of plane.
O'ROURKE: Well, when you see 250 slobolla (ph) Americans dressed like 9-year-olds and dragging every possession they own...
(LAUGHTER)
BODETT: And - and knocking...
SAGAL: Oh, go on...
BODETT: ...Your preflight cocktail.
SAGAL: Yes.
O'ROURKE: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
HONG: And farting on you.
SAGAL: I know. I am looking forward, P.J., to your return flight.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, LAUGHTER)
SAGAL: Coming up, our panelists take a moment to celebrate a public official, so of course they will be lying. It's our Bluff The Listener game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play. We'll be back in a minute with more of WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME from NPR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.