39

What else can airlines charge us for?

A Spirit Airlines Inc. plane takes off from the Fort Lauderdale International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

To view this content, Javascript must be enabled and Adobe Flash Player must be installed.

Get Adobe Flash player

Kai Ryssdal: And now, ladies and gentlemen, it has come to this. American Airlines says economy-class passengers on its domestic flights are going to have to pay to stay warm. Starting May 1st -- just in time for the summer rush -- a pillow and blanket set will be available for 8 bucks. So how many more formerly free luxuries do you suppose airlines can possibly charge for? The Marketplace Players say, oh, lots more.


Rico Gagliano: Good afternoon, everybody, this is your captain speaking. We've reached our cruising altitude. Just want to give you a quick rundown of the amenities available for purchase on this flight.

In a few minutes we'll be cutting off the supply of oxygen in the economy cabin. Additional oxygen can be purchased for a nickel per minute, just slip your coins into the slot in the armrest. Exact change is required. If you need change, our attendants will provide it to you, for an additional fee of $1 per nickel.

In about an hour, we'll be flying over the Grand Canyon, and you can take a look by inserting a $5 bill in the slot beside your window. The window shade will pop up for exactly 23 seconds.

Thirty dollars to use the restroom -- $10 a flush. And when you get back to your seat our attendants will be happy to recline it for you -- for $57. Or, for $5 they'll punch you in the head so hard you'll black out for the whole flight.

That's about it. Now just sit back, relax and enjoy the next two hours. At that point passengers who refuse to pay our $200 completion fee will be thrown off the plane 36,000 feet above Wichita, while the rest of us continue on to New York.

Thanks again for traveling with us. We know you have a lot of choices when flying, and they're all bad, so shut up.


Ryssdal: Our own Rico Gagliano wrote, produced, directed and starred for the Marketplace Players today.

About the author

Rico Gagliano co-hosts and co-produces Marketplace’s “Small Talk” segment.

Pages

Lauralee Taylor's picture
Lauralee Taylor - Feb 10, 2010

You cracked me up. You are so right!!

Diane Hosey's picture
Diane Hosey - Feb 10, 2010

I had just pulled into my athletic club to go to yoga when I heard this story. "Busted a gut laughing" as they say here in Texas. It is time we go back and dance with the one that brung us which in this case is SWA!

Jay A's picture
Jay A - Feb 10, 2010

This is great! I posted on a few airline guru webpages to have the airline geeks get a kick out of it!LOL!!!!

Danny Decker's picture
Danny Decker - Feb 10, 2010

Pure win

Sean Dillion's picture
Sean Dillion - Feb 10, 2010

Classic

Olivia Caughey's picture
Olivia Caughey - Feb 10, 2010

Living in San Diego, we have many things to be thankful for here, however, we have no idea how to drive in the rain. Stuck in traffic for over an hour, this was the only thing that made my trip home. Thank you Marketplace for making me forget about the wall-to-wall traffic :)

Melinda Sisson's picture
Melinda Sisson - Feb 9, 2010

100% pure awesome. Good job!

Marika McCall's picture
Marika McCall - Feb 9, 2010

Hilarious! I even played it for my pilot husband when I got home, and we were both almost crying laughing! Great, Rico!

Tori Weld's picture
Tori Weld - Feb 9, 2010

I just had to see if Rico Gagliano is a real person only because of the names itself:
"Rico" = rich
"Gagliano" = as in "gag"
(Italian derivative of joyous & hard --- hard joy --- sounds to me like laughter busting out loud.)

Okay, I know Rico exists --- photos on the Web confirm it (I think, unless you, you . . . oh, dang.).

Bill Peters's picture
Bill Peters - Feb 9, 2010

so true so true

Pages