Saturday, July 26, 2008

Not hotel related - however plane related

There is no real news on the hotel front, so to speak. All is quiet and the squirrels have been fed. But something I have noticed on the main page of that mainstay of internet tabloid journalism [not to mention questionable taste] - that being the AOL Homepage which is somewhat bothersome. This being airfares that look as though they were being sold by Crazy Eddie.

True believers, as you remember a while back in this space, that chain was mentioned in a previous post and it looks like his ghost [and the multiple children of same] has come back to haunt us again. Over the past few weeks there has been a listing of fares from $39 to some destinations. But as some people would intone with a voice like Ben Stein: 'read the fine print' because there may be additional fees that will make this almost seem like a joke. Such as:

-soft drinks
-pillows
-use of headphones
-additonal seat room
-extra checked bags
-real food
-newspapers
-facilty usage
-ancillary and sundry taxes

It is getting to the point where even buying a ticket to fly from let's say Seattle to Spokane is going to look like one bought a fully loaded Ford Taurus [or for you fans of the movie Fargo, a tan Oldsmobile Sierra]. And that is without the frills. Plus no one can negotiate the price at the gate. Then again...would anyone here actually trust an agent at the counter who was a former car salesman?

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