Beginning May 1st, American Airlines will charge passengers $8 for a blanket.  Yes, $8. The article that discussed this topic didn’t mention whether or not you get to keep the blanket.

In November 1995, I flew from St. Louis to Norfolk, Virginia and paid $99 for the ticket. On board the TWA MD-80 (a nice spacious plane), we were served ham and cheese sandwiches on fresh croissants. A package of potato chips and a 12-ounce soda were part of the meal.

That was a scant 15 years ago. More recently, I flew from Norfolk to St. Louis onboard the Brazilian-made Embraer. For those who don’t know, this is a 48-seat “commuter” jet with one seat on the left and two seats on the right. I’m 5′9″ tall and can not stand upright in the center aisle of this very small plane. The seats are so tightly packed that I must do some fancy machinations to get my long legs comfortably situated.

The “meal” I was served on this flight was a boxed snack ($4) which contained about 18 cents worth of food.

It’s time to withdraw the $14 billion annual subsidies from United States airlines and throw that money at high-speed rail and see what they can do with it. The airlines have had their day. Let’s give rail service a try.