Sorry to jump in to pick nits, but open space has nothing to do with over or under population. Sure the Earth has enough land for 1,000,000,000,000,000 (pick a number) people, but does it have the resources to support them? Further, even if resources can be stretched to cover that many people, what of the 'Quality of Life'?
And I agree, flying sucks. But driving over 10 hours sucks even more, so I fly. Just wish they would hurry the hell up and invent the Star Trek transporter...