You Want Me to Pay for What?

Have you ever seen a story on the Internet and scanned it quickly to see if it is a joke? This was my reaction earlier today when I read that Ryanair, a low-cost airline based in Europe is working on a plan to charge for the use of their restrooms on flights of one hour or less!

Quick, where's the punchline?

It must to be in the CNN story somewhere, following so closely on the heels of the announcement that Spirit Airlines in Florida was going to charge for carry-on luggage.

As someone who grew up in the era when the announcement that you made that "you were flying in" was greeted with awe and envy from the less fortunate, the deterioration of our lives seems almost complete! Can there be anything left that can be taken away that we once took for granted? The elimination of meals, the charging for checking luggage, the pre-boarding indignity of taking one's shoes off, exposing that hole in the toe of your sock that you forgot about, and all the other reductions and add-ons we accept to get from point A to point B, rapidly, Americans will accept and adapt to. But watch out, Mr. Airline Executive, this could get ugly.