I've been upset by airline behavior before, but until now I've never been literally disgusted.

Yet how else to feel about this report from Boston-area television station WCVB Channel 5, which says that AirTran actually gave a urine-soaked seat to a passenger on a flight between Florida and Boston? Talk about Hell on Wings.

"I was sitting maybe 30 seconds to [a] minute and realized that my pants were soaked," says Jennifer Castellano, the passenger in question, who was then informed by a flight attendant that another passenger had "gone to the bathroom in the seat" during the previous flight. Urine-soaked and wrapped in a blanket, Castellano moved to another seat for the duration of the flight.

AirTran says it is "investigating" the incident, and will refund Castellano for her flight and damaged clothing. But they're missing the point. The time for action on this is not after the fact. Since the flight attendants were able to find an alternate seat for Castellano after the incident, they clearly should have warned her ahead of time that her assigned seat was not suitable.

So, anyone still think we can do without a passenger bill of rights?