From the What’s Next? file:
US Airways says it is going to start charging coach passengers $7 if they want a pillow and a blanket.
Of course the Tempe, Ariz.-based airline is packaging this nifty little move as part of its “pay-for-what-you-choose-and-use model.”
First, airlines nixed snacks. Next, they started charging for checked baggage. Now this?
At this rate, pretty soon it’ll cost you 50 cents, maybe $1, to use the toilet on the airplane.
This is all being done in the name of squeezing the most revenue at a time when the recession is slowing air travel and airlines are taking it in the shorts for hedging on their future fuel costs.
Thing is, we’ve been through recessions before. So have the airlines. But how smart is it for them to be charging for the most basic of amenities as a short term revenue fix?
Seems that such moves are short-sighted, and will lead more folks to choose other modes of travel in the future.
2 Comments
I’m sure we’ve all seen how steers are transported… big aluminum trailers with perforated sides for air circulation. Otherwise it’s packed tight, without food or water, and the occupants left to soil themselves.
Airline passengers are treated like cattle, minus the excrement (for now).
It seems to me that air travel was much more civilized back in the days of regulation. Is this what deregulation gets us? Lousy service, airline bankruptcies, and erosion of compensation for the folks who do the actual work?
And what about the fact that seven airlines went belly up last year, leaving thousands unemployed? Or the fact that the real price of an airline ticket in this country has DROPPED about 40% since 1980, when accounting for inflation? Or the fact that you do not have to buy these things (think Greyhound or Amtrak gives out free blankies?)? Maybe if people considered what they were actually paying for (i.e., a ride) they wouldn’t expect to be treated like a king or something. Not happy with the airlines? Then drive to California. I’ll be laying on the beach for about two days by the time you get there.