May You Live in Interesting Times - Airline Edition

Oh, this is certainly looking to be one humdinger of a summer, as grandpappy used to say, if grandpappy had lived on a farm in Kentucky or something. Since mine lived in San Francisco I'm pretty sure he never used the term "humdinger" in his life. But I like it, so I've appropriated it.

Anyway, digressions aside and all, from the looks of it it's shaping up to be another summer horribilis for those who have a desire or desperate need to fly somewhere. American Airlines has announced that on top of the $25 charge for a second bag they're adding a $15 charge for the first checked bag. And they're cutting domestic flight capacity by 11 percent.

This means that the conditions in the main cabin on many American flights will resemble something from one of those movies where everyone's trying to get out of the capital city of some Third World nation before it falls to rebel forces. If you're not one of the first couple of dozen people boarding then good luck on finding that empty overhead bin.

Well, with oil surging to over $125 a barrel something has to give. It's inevitable that the prices the airlines have to charge are going to increase, probably substantially. That's why Mrs. Foolish Questions and I are going to spend the summer hunkering down up here in the mountains and restrict our travel to road trips for the most part.