Post by roycastro on Sept 20, 2008 18:33:16 GMT -5
Steve Benson, Arizona Republic 09/18/08
Traveling by flight nowadays can be very expensive. In the past year, prices for airplane traveling have skyrocketed due to all of the mandatory additional fees. In this cartoon, we can see a flight attendant demonstrating how to use an oxygen mask, but she says, "In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, an oxygen mask will drop from the compartment above your head. For $15.00 you can activate it." Obviously, the passengers are perplexed by what the flight attendant has said.
A loss of cabin pressure would be caused by a serious problem on the plane; maybe a catastrophe that can prove to be fatal to the lives of the passengers on it. Not only do people have to pay for the flight, but they also have to pay for the bags checked, their seat on the plane, and sometimes even insurance. These are all additional fees that weren't there quite some time ago. The mockery in this cartoon sheds some light on the severity of the situtation and how prices and fees are getting to the point where they are being ridiculous. This cartoon mocks the irrationality of the prices by actually setting a price on one's life. In the event of a catastrophe, one has to pay $15.00 for oxygen? It is highly unreasonable. Airports should charge only for what is actually provided, a flight. It would seem more reasonable to slightly raise the prices of the flights and remove all of the additional fees that seem so ridiculous.
