Hah. I've said something like this for years. Now I see my observations seem to be backed up by testing. (link first seen at alternative complimentary knitting blog

And to think, people on the knitlist unleash incredible amounts of vitriol (considering the situation) when someone asks if it's ok to knit on a plane. Apparently, some people don't totally understand the nerves and fear that take over in some people when they're forced to board one of those demonic machines. For me, it's not so much the fear of crashing (although that's part of it) or the fear that someone will hijack the plane (though that's there too), it's more immediate fears: that I am going to be confined inside a small space for several hours, a space that I cannot leave, and, what's more, a space where the external environment is incompatible with life. Add on that the fact that I have personal-space issues to rival those of Adrian Monk (and that most American carriers, at least, design their planes to be slightly less roomy than egg cartons are), and you understand why I'm not happy contemplating getting on a plane. And the thought of being permitted to take along one small and simple item, something that will keep my mind and hands busy, remind me of home, and remind me that my whole life is NOT sitting in a flimsy aluminum tube five miles above terra firma hurtling along at speeds that frighten me to even contemplate...and I don't think that's something to be ridiculed. It's not an addiction, folks, it's a way of coping with what is a very unpleasant situation to some.

(And yeah, I realize the article is about people dealing with serious trauma, rather than the minor traumas of life. But couldn't something that helps someone who, say, observed a fiery car accident also help someone who digs in her heels and says "no, it's not really that important that I see Hawaii" when faced with a plane journey?)