Traveling by air

Let me start by saying I truly feel blessed to be able to travel and spend time with family. I just got back home yesterday evening from traveling for the second weekend in a row. Both times, I flew U.S. Airways. One ticket was a frequent flier free ($35 processing fee) ticket and the other was moderately priced.

I've always preferred flying over driving. I always say my time in the car is 3 hours or less - although I can really make it a little bit longer. But, flying has really become such a hassle. I've dealt with the post 9/11 inconveniences of not being able to be greeted as I get off the plane, not being allowed to have a friend or family member wait at the gate with me prior to takeoff, and limiting my carry on liquids. But the price of gas (they say) is really putting a cramp on my travel too.

I am generally the person who can chalk up five to ten dollars here and there for conveniences - I say, it's the cost of doing business. Like paying to park at the airport versus begging for a drop off and pick up from a friend, or valet parking the car for a minimal fee when we go out. But this pay to check a bag, pay to drink water on the airplane is about to be too much for me. I don't think it's the actual cost that is at issue for me, it just feels like we all feel the knife in our backs with the squeeze of the economy. These knick knack fees for things you expect me to need feel like the turning of the knife, worsening the wound.

I would honestly prefer if the $15 for the first bag U.S. Airways charges would just be included in my ticket price. I shared this with a travel companion and she said, but what if you didn't check a bag - my response was if the $15 was a build in to the price, it wouldn't matter. Fifteen dollars isn't going to be a make or break for me on the ticket price. And the times I travel with no checked bags, would be offset by the times I traveled with 2 checked bags and would now be paying $40. I just think we should share the costs. Although many people travel light, and lots of business travelers just need a carry-on overnight bag, when you travel there is a generally accepted expectation that you will have luggage when you travel. So why would you charge me extra for that? (I do understand there was to be a limit, it's the fee for the first bag regardless of weight that I take issue with.)

Consider the parent traveling with small child who can't carry on their own bags... imagine the bag fees they end up paying. And the reality of the situation is that what I normally would check I am now carrying on for free... so the airline is not getting money for the cost of the weight of the cargo I add. And both ways my cousin flew this weekend, there was not enough room on the plane for her bag in the overhead bins. So, her bag was checked for FREE each way. I suspect the reason her bag and the others that had to be checked were carried on to begin with is because other people think like me and carry the bag on they may otherwise have checked.

And then to complicate the issue, due to post 9/11 concerns, I can't even carry the lotions and womanly potions I normally would through the security checkpoint. So the airlines know you can't carry the stuff through security and therefore may be more likely to check a bag. That sounds like a GOTCHA to me.

So all that, and then I can't even get some water for free anymore on the plane. How do I get around this? I carry an empty water bottle through security, then fill it up at the water fountain. I feel like I am being such a cheapskate, when in general I am all about the splurge here and there to get what you want. I don't think I am changing, I just think I've had enough.