Cause I'm Leavin' On a Jet Plane...

Alright, we all have at least one strange interest or field that we follow. For me, as many people know, it's the airline industry. I happen to know which airlines operate hubs out of which American cities. I can name the 3-letter airport code for most major American airports. I can entertain myself for way too long on flights by looking at the airline's route map. So upon coming across the following bit of information about Spirit Airlines' new policies on The Washington Post's travel blog, I had to comment:

On Spirit Airlines:
1) Beginning June 20, you'll pay $1 for juices, sodas and hot drinks (water will still be free).
React: OK, this is kind of a bummer. By the way, if your "free water" is blue, you should probably call for the flight attendant and shell out $1 for that Diet Coke. This is all fine, until...

2) And, also beginning June 20, you'll pay $5 each for the first or second checked bag (up to 50 pounds) if you book it online ahead of time ($10 each if you do it at the airport).
React: Wow. So now because I can't bring more than 3 ounces of liquid on the plane with me because my shampoo could be thrown in the eyes of the Captain to bring down the plane (since I don't use Johnson & Johnson's No More Tears shampoo), my only alternative is to check said item in a suitcase. Which on top of waiting 45 minutes for my bag to arrive, if I'm lucky enough for it to arrive, I also get to pay $5 for the privilege of having your airline carry my bag. And the kicker...

3) "For each additional checked item [over 2], Spirit will charge $100. Spirit can only guarantee the transportation of one item as checked luggage per fare paying customer... Spirit cannot guarantee that there will be space for extra bags, and will not be held responsible for any additional items brought to the airport by the customer."
React: So it seems like the next logical place for Spirit to go is to put big scales at the check-in counter. For every 10 pounds you are over 100 pounds (rounding up, of course), you pay $10 for the extra fuel it will take the plane to carry the extra weight. This will go over extra popular in Fort Lauderdale, one of Spirit's hubs, and also one of the busiest cruise ship ports in the country, where suddenly people would need to bring a long a little extra pocket cash to board the plane to return home from their cruise than they would to get to the cruise.

Anybody else remember the good 'ol days when you could actually get a deck of cards for free on the plane? God forbid what that'd set you back now.