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US Airways Stops Charging for Water, Coffee and Soda

(Thomas Becker)

We’ve all seen prices of produce and other goods go up when the price of oil goes up, and we can make sense of this: It costs more to get products to us, and the sellers pass the increase on to the buyers. It’s America, it’s capitalism, we pretty much roll with it.  Airlines operate on a somewhat different model, however, with prices fluctuating day to day, even hour to hour. The airline industry has to try to balance its need for profit (or at least try to avoid filing for Chapter 11) and the presumed desire to give passengers as nice a flight as possible. New fees for checked baggage have cropped up, as has US Airways’ quietly announced plan to charge for previously free drinks.

When US Airways started charging for water, coffee and soda, passengers were understandably very angry. What I believe is that US Airways decided on this budget-cutting measure with the hope that other airlines would follow suit. After all, we see different airline companies raising and lowering ticket prices practically in sync anyway; they keep an eye on each other.  But other airlines must have realized that this was crossing a line (nice to know there is one) and did not institute a similar new charge. What a relief! If even a couple of other major airlines had decided also charge for water, it probably would have eventually become a new standard fee.

The bad press apparently outweighed whatever profit US Airways was pulling in by charging for drinks. This month, US Airways abandoned this ill-conceived plan, and now, soda, water, coffee and tea are once again free. I wonder if the powers that be expect us to be grateful. Air travel can be stressful, and most everyone knows somebody who has a fear of flying. At least we don’t have to fear shelling out a couple of bucks for a cup of in-flight water anymore.

Source: MudslideMama