Maybe we should find other ways to travel than by air

20,000 FEET – Air travel is noticeably less fun these days. Long lines at security, cramped planes stuffed with hassled passengers and a host of new price hikes and additional charges. On top of this, flying no seems longer a guilt-free adventure as we realize how many ‘greenhouse gases’ these winged machines pump into the atmosphere.

I am on a flight bringing me home to Independence for a short break. I had a little time so thought it would be nice to reconnect with family and friends. I am looking forward to seeing the lush green of fields near my parents’ house, sipping coffee in the Square and admiring the spiraling splendor of the Community of Christ Temple.

Unfortunately the process of getting there is no longer quite as pleasant. As they struggle under the weight of higher oil prices, the airlines seem intent to find ways to squeeze every last dollar out of us.

While I was lucky to have enough air miles for a ‘free’ flight, the airline found a way to spoil the fun by charging a substantial ‘booking fee’. Surely it can’t cost $50 for them to book a flight online?  Amazon doesn’t charge me a $50 fee for ordering a book online, so why does the airline need to slap us with such fees?

Many of the big carriers have also started levying a fee on checked baggage. While it does make sense that those carrying more weight should pay more, it still irritated me, as I handed my bag to the agent, to find that my ‘free’ flight kept getting less free.

Finally, as I checked in I was surprised to find that to get a snack on one of my flights required another dive into the wallet. Whatever happened to the cardinal rule of free pretzels and peanuts for the passengers?

What next? Perhaps in the next few months we will have to fork over a dollar bill to use the bathroom on board, give up a couple quarters to use the reading light above the seat and place online bids for the guarantee of oxygen masks and a lifevest should things go wrong.

Maybe it is right for us to pay more for air travel, to cover what economists call the ‘external costs’ of the damage to the environment. Flying is one of the more inefficient uses of fuel per person.

However, the higher ticket prices and airlines’ multitudinous other creative ways of draining our bank accounts are not going to taxes to fund environmental protection or voluntary contributions to offset carbon emissions. They are simply propping up an already bloated and inefficient industry that seems to constantly teeter on the edge of bankruptcy.

If the airlines want us customers to keep flying, they are going to have to clean up their act, treat passengers with respect and stop finding every conceivable way to pick our pockets.

At the same time, as a society we should look for creative alternatives to air travel. Maybe we should consider a return of trains, buses and boats as a way to save money and be better stewards of our earth.