Sideways

I know I'm an insanely picky person but dammit, that's what a proofreader has to be, right?

Look at this paragraph from this New York Times piece about airline reward programs:

But I, Mr. Gold Elite, did not fare much better on the same itinerary. I could get only middle-row seats on both trips. And I would rather take a brick up side the head than sit in a middle row seat on a long flight.

"Up side"? I spent a whole day trying to decide if this was worth getting pissed off about, which is to say that I was pissed off about it and I spent the day trying to justify this pissed-offness. (Well, I was at work. But it was in my thoughts from time to time.) Eventually--just now, actually--I decided that yes, I have every right to be pissed off about it.

Would the New York Times have let a journalist get away with "The down side to this is..."? I think not. The word is "downside", all one word, and so it is with "upside", one word, not two, one, even if the expression is "upside the head". Which it is.