Comments on: US Airways’ dangerous soft-drink precedent

By: dmitriy

dmitriy — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:25:15 +0000

The $2 fee for drinks is not that horrible. I hear people ready to commit suicide over 2 bucks. Cmon ! What I am more upset is that $15 first bag charge. Thats a rip off.

By: Nate Harris

Nate Harris — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:16:59 +0000

I really don’t have a problem with this, with one major exception. It really chaps my hide that I pay an equal fare to some 1st class passengers who:
1. have a semi private bathroom
2. get meals included
3. get complimentary drinks

Why is that? Club membership? It’s really annoying, and I would pay a little more for a flight that had ZERO 1st class seats.

ALso, if I have to pay for this, then why not let me buy vouchers when I buy the ticket? I pretty much never carry cash, except now I have to either my water for ($4 bottle in the airport) or $2 on the plane, and since the plane doesn’t use plastic I have to pay the higher price.

Honestly, I hate flying. It’s annoying, loud, cramped, miserable and a microcosm of the world we live in today.

By: Janice Hough

Janice Hough — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:17:41 +0000

To Jennifer, I actually am a strong defender of the airport and onboard employees, I still think this proposal is wrong-headed. If airlines need to raise fares, so be it, but this nickel and diming makes it HARDER on airport personnel, and harder on those who can least afford to fly.

Some sense in pricing and executive compensation would save more jobs than charging for any of this little stuff. The CFO of Continental, for example, will step down next month and receive a 3 million bonus, partly to keep him from working for another airline… (not like he has done that well at Continental.)

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:59:04 +0000

It is amazing, we pay $ 2 for a bottle of soda out side a grocery store. Yet, when passengers are asked to pay for what they use there is out cry. This is standard procedure on European Flights. Water is not being denied to passengers who require it for medications or medical condidtions. The airline busines is not doing well because of oil prices. US Airways will fire 1,700 good people (pilots, flight attendants, airport staff, and mangement staff) before the end of the summer. Of course that bottle of water is so much more important over that right?. And y-all are bitching about a bottle of soda. Get your prioties straight. If you don’t want to pay it, don’t buy it…to easy.
P.S. Lay off the employees at the airport and on board, they are not the ones who asked for this either.

By: Addie

Addie — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:39:44 +0000

it is a little outrageous that we’ll have to pay for drinks soon, but what’s another $2 when you’re flying? it already costs an arm and a leg to fly, $2 will hardly make a difference. if you don’t like spending the money, don’t get the drink! they have to do something to stay in business!

By: Ed Kummel

Ed Kummel — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:23:47 +0000

I smell collusion here…The TSA in in cohoots with the airlines…I can imagine the secret clandestine meetings in darkened back rooms lit by a single bare bulb…”we need a way to get *more* money out of our cheap-skate customers. What if claim that terrorists are preparing to smuggle explosive liquids on airplanes to get carryon liquids banned, then we can charge whatever we want for normally free sodas? They’re 35,000 feet above the earth, what are they going to do, get out at the nearest 7-11 for a big gulp?”

Isn’t there a clause in the Geneva convention that says that prisoners are to have access to basic food and water?
Dictionary.com has as one definition of “Prisoner” as such:
“a person or thing that is deprived of liberty or kept in restraint. ”
This sound very much like a person the back of the airplane, doesn’t it?
Now isn’t that an image to keep in your mind…Pilot is the warden, the flight attendants are the jailers and the passengers are prisoners…Sheesh, Con-Air anyone?
Ed
web/gadget guru

By: larry bradley

larry bradley — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:14:42 +0000

US Airways drinks are apparently on sale. Spirit Airlines charged me $2 for water on my trip to Guatemala City and then raised it to $3 on my trip to Peru. Of course I only paid $44 each way to Guatemala and $69 each way to Peru. I thought I got a bargain on the total cost of the trip.

By: Anna

Anna — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 20:30:13 +0000

This has been normal on all budget airlines in Europe for years. And not just budget airlines. Scandinavian started charging for drinks in economy a couple of years ago.
It’s also standard on all charter flights, even those trans-continental ones. America is simply catching up.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 07:17:19 +0000

As I read it, you can still purchase water or soda from the airport vendors (usually $3/bottle or more) or bring an empty bottle and fill it, once past the TSA checkpoint. If you read what they have published, their avarage per passenger fuel cost has jumped from $70/flight to $299/flight. That is pretty much what has happened with your car gas too. Airlines (and many other businesses) price their tickets/products/services out 180 days in advance. That became impossible to do with the rapid rise of the fuel price. And what they are doing is only recovering $3-400 million of a projected $2billion increase in fuel costs.

Other airlines will follow suit or go out of business. If one airline fails then watch the price of air fares go up!

By: Keith Henrickson

Keith Henrickson — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 07:09:19 +0000

I think this is a great idea… If they could get the TSA to co-operate with them, they could make the security lines a real cash cow. For instance, get the TSA to ban laptops on planes. Then, the airlines are right there ready with laptop insurance for $500. A business traveller can’t afford to leave his laptop home, so… $500 extra in the airline’s pocket. Of course, if you DON’T buy insurance, they’ll go the extra mile to make sure it gets smashed. There are TSA approved locks, which is a start. But, why not TSA approved shirts and pants? People have to wear shirts and pants. And again, the airlines must be ready with $25 shirts and $50 pants. This is only the beginning, and good co-operation between TSA and the airlines will bring it to be.