I’ve been getting irrational about flying lately.

I’ve customarily flown one of the bigger old-school airlines like American and United. More recently, I’ve found myself on Southwest, JetBlue, and even RyanAir in Europe.

When I’m traveling by myself, I really don’t care which airline I take. I travel light and can sit anywhere. But when I have family along (especially my kids) flying on Southwest or RyanAir causes me inexplicable pre-flight anxiety. The reason? We don’t have seat assignments.

As we line up with our boarding passes and see the hundred-plus other passengers milling about with their big “carry-on” bags, I start wondering: will we be able to sit together? How am I going to find space in the overhead compartment?

It’s really pretty stupid. I know we’ll get seats, and we’ll probably be close to each other. Still, why is it better that –when I’m boarding a cramped American 727 and I’m in a hole they call 27E, I feel more comfortable?

I’ve been reading more on Maslow and his hierarchy of needs, and I think the fear is based down in one of the first few levels of the needs pyramid – particularly the level 2 need for safety or security (translate as “peace of mind”).

It’s irrational, but it’s real.

Let me know if you have other ideas on our irrational (but real) anxieties.

Last week I attended, with a couple of my Vox compatriots, the GEL (Good Experience Live) Conference in New York. GEL brings together a diverse group of speakers and attendees, all focused on different aspects of customer experience.

If GEL is anything, it is creative and fresh, especially compared to the countless other corporate and trade conferences I’ve attended over the years. The participants included chief experience officers, some customer experience and user experience consultants and techies, and even a gaggle of Google-ites. The first day found me running around the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a scavenger hunt in the morning and wandering Greenwich Village in the afternoon.

Speakers the next day – an alarming number of whom were educated at either Harvard, MIT, or Stanford – presented an impressive array of ideas and stories across industries and disciplines, from the traditional to the…well this…and these guys.

Overall, it’s a trip. Sign up here if you’re interested.