August 18, 2008 11:16AM 

# Please Ensure Your Sense of Entitlement Is Stowed 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

This week, I sent the following letter to the editor of *The Washington Post*:

> With fuel prices surging, commercial airlines have started charging passengers for once-gratis amenities (sodas, the first checked bag, pillows-n-blankets) and have increased fees for other amenities (alcoholic drinks, additional checked bags). A recent editorial [“[Pillows and Planes](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/12/AR2008081202865.html),” August 13] describes these fees as “picking passengers’ pockets” and “idea[s] to separate you from your money.”
> 
> Are you kidding me? Those amenities weigh down the plane. The fees therefore distribute higher fuel costs to passengers *who consume more fuel*. As important, they allow passengers to *avoid* getting their pockets picked by avoiding those amenities. (Don’t want to pay for checked baggage? Pack light.) The only people those fees hurt are the free-riders whose amenities were being subsidized by everyone else. The fees don’t allow pocket-picking; they put an end to it.
> 
> The next time I hear a temper-tantrum coming from the main cabin — or first class? — I’ll know it’s a Post editor who had to pay $14 for his vodka tonic and pillow.

Today, I saw that my letter had been passed over for [one](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503331.html) that piles the … wisdom higher by wondering when the airlines will begin charging “a $20 fee for use of the emergency exit.” Good grief.

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).