When I travel via plane, I try and pack as many things into my carry-on as possible. Why pay that $50 check-in baggage fee if I can avoid it, right? Well, that may soon be ending. Some airlines like United, are planning to charge fees for using the overhead compartment.

Is it just me or does the air travel experience seem to be deteriorating?

To answer this question for myself, I did a little bit of research and found that in the 1970s, some US airlines used to have cool perks like pubs and lounges in their coach section; today First Class doesn’t even have that. I also found that the average width of an airplane seat in the 1970s was 18 inches.

Today, that's shrunk to an average of 16.5 inches.

Shrinking seats has consequences according to Proxemics, which is the study of the human use of space. It states that anyone within 1 – 4 feet can be considered within our personal space.

So if you're unfortunate enough to sit in the middle seat of an airplane, you could have up to seven complete strangers all within arms distance of you. Proxemics states that people can feel discomfort, anger, or anxiety when a stranger is inside of their personal space.

Although travel is good for your health, getting squeezed onto a plane can create a lot of tension on an aircraft. Tension that could be avoided if 'Airplane Etiquette: the Unwritten Rules of Air Travel,' was required reading.

According to the International Air Transport Association, the rate of unruly passengers is increasing. It seems like every couple of weeks, there’s an airplane horror story in the news. From fights breaking out, to passengers having to restrain a man, to someone having a temper tantrum over baggage space.

With all of this stuff happening, I gave a call to David Cogswell, executive editor at TravelPulse.com, to get a better understanding of what's happening to the airline industry.

"I think what’s happened, the industries have become so consolidated; really monopolized," according to Cogswell. "You have 4 big airlines that control 86% of all domestic traffic. They divide the market up nicely so they don’t really have to compete."