A New President and Fixing the Airlines

Higher Airline Fees

That same year saw the introduction of fees -- for bags, for redeeming frequent flyer miles, for changing tickets -- fees that were temporary (in theory), but have yet to go away.

And at the same time, ticket prices rose by 20 percent to 40 percent -- with the highest prices in the smaller towns. All in all, during that July '07 to July '08 time period we saw 33 attempted price hikes -- and most of them were decidedly successful.

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But, thanks to the energy crisis, those hikes weren't enough -- which was the catalyst for the start of the most massive seat cutback in domestic aviation history. Hundreds of thousands of seats -- poof! -- gone, just like that.

And passengers kept flying.

But then, why not? Beginning in July of this year, the energy crisis started to fade away -- oil prices have now dropped to July '07 levels -- and people are beginning to whisper that the energy crisis "is over."

Funny thing about that energy crisis -- it may be over, but you'd never know it from the fuel surcharges. Or the ticket prices. Another funny thing: People aren't taking to the skies like they used to. Airlines still swing their axes to chop employees, as well as seats, from flights, but recently some empty spaces have been spotted in more than a few cabins as businesses prepare for the worst.

It's unfortunate, any way you look at it, but here's what's happened: the airlines no sooner got "done" with one crisis -- energy -- when they were slapped in the face with a potentially worse one: international economic disaster.