Sniff and contrast.....
Fee-weary air travelers get a break -- for nowFive major carriers on Sunday agreed not to follow the lead of a small Florida airline that plans to charge for carryon bags. Their commitment comes just in time to keep travelers from running for the exits during the peak summer flying season, but it is doubtful that it marks a change in strategy.
Airlines are going to tack on every fee they feel they can get away with because it bolsters their revenue stream while allowing them to keep base fares lower. They just don't feel like passengers will tolerate losing their sacred free carryons -- at least not right now.
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The promise to New York Sen. Charles Schumer from American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, US Airways and JetBlue Airways comes despite the fact that some of those same airlines are expected to report first-quarter losses next week. They were stung by higher fuel prices and the heavy February snowstorms.
Ancillary fees for air travel -- including baggage fees, reservation change fees and other miscellaneous operating revenue -- have been piling up.
Schumer and five other Democratic senators -- New Hampshire's Jeanne Shaheen, Maryland's Ben Cardin, Minnesota's Amy Klobuchar, and New Jersey's Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg -- support legislation that would tax airlines if they charge carryon bag fees.
Schumer said the legislation will move forward until it becomes clear that no airline will institute the charges. He will have an uphill battle changing the minds of Spirit executives when he meets with them soon.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-airlines-wont-charge-for-apf-1426354844.html?x=0contrasted with.....
Mitch McConnell Asks Hedge Fund Managers for $$$, Declares Opposition to Finance ReformAbout 25 Wall Street executives, many of them hedge fund managers, sat down for a private meeting Thursday afternoon with two of the most powerful Republican lawmakers in Congress: Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and John Cornyn, the senior senator from Texas who runs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, one of the primary fundraising arms of the Republican Party.
The stated topic of the meeting: The Financial reform bill being sponsored by Senator Chris Dodd, the Democrat and chairman of the senate banking committee.
Oh yeah–and the meeting also focused on fundraising for Republican Senate candidates:
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/04/13/mitch-mcconnell-asks-hedge-fund-managers-for-declares-opposition-to-finance-reform/