The hate is back.

Back my halcyon days as a shock-and-awe libertarian newspaper columnist, I used to get a plethora of hate mail, some of it quite entertaining.

As a travel writer, a good hate is harder to come by.

But in a recent travel column I admitted to refusing to pay a $6 assigned-seat surcharge on airline tickets for me, my wife and three-year-old twins.

In my defense, I had no idea the plane would actually be full and that every other passenger would be a sucker and pay the surcharge.

Even so, I figured that, if worse came to worse, the airline would accomodate me rather than put one of my hellions next to a stranger. I was right.

Was it an asshole-ish maneuver? Of course. Were the other passengers suckers for paying six bucks? Of course.

Were the suckers, I mean readers, outraged?

You bet!

Would I do it again?

I just might.

Let the glorious hate mail flow.