I'm a huge Coco fan, so I wrote him a love song. Enjoy!

And the airlines can't figure out why fewer and fewer people want to fly. Just like how movie theater owners can't figure out why fewer and fewer people visit them when tickets are over $10 a person and it costs you $20 for a popcorn and soda. And how banks are losing more and more customers because they charge the same ridiculous "fees" for everything under the sun just because they can. We, as consumers, need to hit these companies where it hurts by refusing to purchase their services... their wallet.

No one is going to thank the airlines for paying passenger's fuel bills which is exactly what they have been doing. They haven't been able to fully pass down the cost of flying to passengers. People love to fly, and travel around, however they should be understanding of what the airlines are having to deal with, especially regarding high fuelprices. Airlines are swimming in debt also, so they ain't 'rich'.

Biggest problem I have with airlines using the "we have to charge for checked bags cause the extra weight causes the need for added fuel" card.

BS...I'd go along with that except for one thing...get one of those "airline credit cards" and bags fly free...

Yeah last I checked, I had "stupid" tattooed on my forehead (NOT)!

Next...Oil companies.."Why we need our Subsidies"

Decades ago, when the airline industry was screaming for deregulation, their justification was that government-controlled pricing only made flying available to the wealthy corporations and individuals. Deregulate so everyone can fly. Well, now they're slowly moving their industry back to that point, without the government's help.

I sounds like the industry needs to be regulated again. Airlines are using a finite resource, airspace, which in this case should be regulated for the good of the flying public.

Here is some history:

Ron Paul for President 2012 yes we can!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The real shame in all of this is that the airlines are indeed not in good financial shape. If you look at the real problem though it is not in just the raising fuel cost. Employees of today's airlines in many cases make less than they did 20 years ago. Reservations, baggage handlers and counter workers are nearly all making less. Pilots is some cases are making less (not many though), however the number of executives and their salaries has increased dramatically. It now for some reason takes twice to three times the number of execs to do the same job and at four to five times the cost. The airlines may be going broke but their execs are not.

And they wonder why the only airline I fly is Southwest... Not addicted to fees.

Happenstance - that's the issue across most of the large companies in America. The executives continue to give themselves raises and promotions while denying the regular employess benifits because of cost cutting exercises. So why do we need several hundred directors making 6 figures? And if they all went away, would the people actually making the company move forward even notice? Probably not. Large companies are going to continue to flounder as more and more smart folks walk away because they aren't appreciated while the people that play the "corporate game" are promoted.

It would seem that few observers generally understand exactly what is happening here and why the airlines are choosing to engage complex (essentially unpredictable, and this is the point precisely) fees rather than adjust the price. The answer is simple. Once upon a time, it was very difficult to shop for price on airline fares, and so the public had a distinct disadvantage when attempting to do so. The Internet, and many secondary information providers, have created what would have essentially been an 'efficient market' being one in which all buyers can know pretty much all prices. This will inevitably force prices down (to the marginal cost curve, this is Econ. 101, folks), and did so. Fees of varying kinds prevent the buying public from being able to actually know what the cost of the service will be, disabling our ability to effectively shop a commodity by price. In this way, you and I can no longer shop air fare by price. The result is that the airlines make more money ... a lot more. Whether this is a good thing is a subject I shall not debate. I will point out that the airlines are by no means the first to engage in the systematic obfuscation of pricing. Have you ever tried to go to a Cable TV web site and see how much they charge for their various tiers of service? Good luck with that. In fact cell phone companies generally do that same (I use Sprint because they are straightforward there, and I wish they offered cable TV). Have you ever tried to find out how much tax you pay in a year? This is not that hard in Federal Income Tax as it is on your return, but what about sales taxes and excise taxes and fuel taxes and the other myriad of fees and taxes we all pay? Also remember that you have to add all of the involuntary Social Security contributions which do not go into your account; they go into the general fund and exist separately only in theory. Again, this is intentional obfuscation because people would likely get upset if they knew that over 40% of every cent they make goes to pay taxes ..... never forget that knowledge is power .. and the lack of knowledge is weakness .... it always will be.

I work there (Delta). Seen my wages and benefits hacked almost in half, work rules decimated, hours flown obligatorily increased, health care benefits hacked, been the target of terrorist attacks, my union busted, and am now staring down the barrel of being outsourced. During this same period executive pay skyrocketed, and pilot pay has steadily increased (except for a brief period of concessions). I'm glad Delta is making money..too bad the front line employees are treated like slaves and undervalued. I probably qualify for food stamps, and I literally live on peanuts sometimes. This is the new face of employment America.