Are We There Yet?

Times are tough and they are getting tougher, there's no denying that. All major industries are undergoing pressures to provide the same level of service to customers despite the rising costs of fuel and other items that can sometimes push companies to the limit. I mean if you think about it, most of us complain about having to pay to fill up ten gallons of fuel in our cars every week. Imagine paying more than premium prices to fill up with a couple of hundred pounds of fuel (which has an even higher octane rating than the fuel for our cars) and you can just imagine how costly it is for planes to fly from one city to another.

What many of us tend to forget or be ignorant of is the concept that the heavier the plane, the more power needed to generate the lift to keep it in the air. See in a nutshell, planes fly because they are pushed through the air by the engines which helps get air flowing over the wings and due to pressure differentials, lift is generated and the plane flies. Now if the plane is heavier, it's going to take more power to get that push so obviously it will require more fuel to get to where you're going. Therein lies the problem. We are all getting... ahem... somewhat heavier despite our best attempts and our bags are getting heavier as well and so the overall weight is going up. What to do? Get passengers to reduce the weight of course but that rarely happens these days. So what to do then? Why charge for extra bags! Not everyone is doing it yet but those days are coming.

Well that alleviates some of the problem but some people are not so cheap that they won't pay a few bucks to ensure they have sufficient wardrobe for the duration of their trip so though it helps add money to airline coffers, it's not enough to offset the additional fuel costs. So US Airways has hit on a novel approach to reducing weight. Get rid of the entertainment. No, I'm not talking about noisy unruly passengers or the aggravating clods who everyone enjoys watching bumble around the cabin, I'm talking about the seatback TVs or ceiling mounted televisions on all domestic flights. By doing so US Airways estimates that they will reduce the weight of their aircraft enough help lessen the cost to the airline. Now I'm all for helping stabilize prices though I'm just curious to know where this trend will end.

We are already shelling out more for smaller seats with nothing more than drinks and a bag of four pretzel sticks (if that) on most domestic flights. We have to pay for what was once free, we are paying to carry our bags on the planes and we're paying extra if we're a bit overweight (in some cases). There's talk of charging people based on how much they weigh, there's even talk of charging for carry-on baggage. That being said, isn't it becoming more of a case of reasons not to fly than reasons to fly? Now with the news that in-flight entertainment will be removed leads me to wonder how in the Hell some of us will make it through long-haul domestic flights. Sure most of us carry iPods, laptops, game systems, or portable DVD players but if we're being charged for carrying those as well, won't we start reconsidering? And why would it end there?

Now I wouldn't blame the flight crews for this. They are no more responsible than you are for deciding where your office builds their next location. As the saying in government goes, it's above their pay grade. That being said, I'm sure there will be reports of people lashing out at the flight crews for the loss of TV. Still, in the face of incidents with passengers being stranded in their plane for hours on end with nothing to do and no place to go, it just seems that this would be the wrong move to make. I understand wanting to limit weight and make flights profitable again but how about doing something like reducing the number of seats? If you give people a bit more room then perhaps they'll be more willing to fly. Plus you'll have fewer people and that means overall weight would be down wouldn't it? All I can think of right now is that I'd be wise to invest in some iPod battery life extenders before the next time I fly.