Friday TOON Roundup part 5

They have to pay airport fees/taxes based on ticket prices. Lower the prices, lower the tax liabilities. Get the same money (or more) from travelers via untaxed fees.
IT'S TAX EVASION. It is especially nasty because it burdens local areas where the airports still have to be maintained, still create costs for the local taxpayer.

Don't fly. If they will duck legitimate taxes and fees, they are probably cutting corners on maintenance and repairs too. Don't support such immoral businesses.

:puke:

And lest some here think those of us who can take a vacation to Ireland deserve to be gouged in our own country, let me point out that practically my whole life has been spent hundreds, and usually thousands, of miles away from those I love. Taking a vacation purely for its own sake was almost unheard-of until recently,

My family did the American thing and scattered all over the continent. Since I was raised in Hawai'i I chose to stay there for quite a few years after the parental units moved back to California, and let me tell you, it's a damn long swim. I'm now in California, but our late parents retired to Utah, I have a brother in Oregon, a sister in upstate New York, a son in Nevada, and another brother who's a mere 200 miles south of me. Thank gods my daughter lives only 10 miles away with the grandkids.

Air travel IS mass transit, and it should be treated as such for those of us with long distances to cover in a short amount of time. A "Passenger's Bill of Rights" with some real teeth in it is long overdue, as is re-regulation of the industry.

I agree with you that they are cutting corners on maintenance -- I knew that years ago when I read that routine maintenance was being outsourced as far away as the Philippines in some cases. The entire fleet is old. However, in terms of risk to life and limb, freeway driving is still more dangerous.

Hekate

and we could use for reasonable costs.
I wanted to take the train to Chicago to see my son, instead of flying...I thought it would be a great experience. The fare was about 5 times what the airfare was... I was stunned.