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.....

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?