So I just read
yet another article about all the new fees that airlines are tacking onto the usual fares. Basically, the airlines aren't raising ticket prices because we are in a recession and they don't want people to stop flying, so they're creating new fees like charging even more for bags checked in at the desk instead of checked in online, and fees for a few extra inches of leg room (a fee I've paid and I can report that the extra comfort is negligible).
Here's what no one ever says in these articles, though: the money has to come from somewhere. We're in a recession, yes. Fuel is expensive, yes. And yes, these planes are getting old.
Do you want these airlines to go deeper into the red and cut corners by not updating and maintaining equipment, not paying and properly training good pilots, and not keeping the planes safe? Because it's becoming clear to me that in order to keep their businesses running, they
have been cutting those corners already, for awhile.
I've always been afraid of flying, but in the last 2 years I feel even less safe that I did growing up. Because I look at those rivets and seams and go, when was the last time someone checked that? And what on this plane is broken or wobbly that they can't afford to fix or tighten up right now?
The horrible, unthinkable mid-air break-up of Air France Flight 447 wouldn't have happened in a world where there was enough money for the airline industry to take care of itself. Yes they were flying in crap weather, but so many little things went wrong on that plane all at once. Now they're scrambling to replace the likely faulty parts and equipment on other Airbus a330s. But it will take time and money.
I am flying to Europe this summer (incidentally on the same type of a330 that Flight 447 was) and I'm taking three Klonopins, and I will buy a shotglass of red wine for 5 bucks. And after that, I think I'll drive everywhere or take the QE 2.
I don't think they're charging for pillows out of greed. It's desperation. And I just can't trust these folks anymore.