And now the other shoe has dropped with the airlines

For those who are either frequent fliers or those who want to plan that trip to Aunt Harriet's with the kids, the worse is about to happen:

http://www.walletpop.com/article/_a/bbdp/fliers-brace-for-sharp-changes/153369

It is not just that the fares are being raised across the board, but it is cutbacks in service. Not so much to smaller towns [the universal example given here in the states is Bemidji, Mn...the smallest city in the US to still have jet service.....until these recent cuts and the pending merger between Northwest and Delta] but to larger towns like Sacramento, Oakland, Kansas City, Tucson and others.

All of this is adding insult to injury, in that there are the cutbacks in the ammenities [see a previous post in re: same] that many of us had become used to. Grantted very few extras in return for low fares were and are what folks expect when they fly on Southwest or JetBlue. But now, for what would be either a king's or queen's ransom, there may end up being trips which would be a slight step up from riding a Greyhound bus from Baltimore to NYC. And that is a scary thought in itself.....