airline fees.....

I am an experienced traveler and I have been flying on different planes since I was 14 years old. I traveled around the world in 1993 for just over £1000 and I went to New Zealand in 2001 for £800. If I did the same trips again nowadays I would have to pay very expensive airport tax, a fuel surcharge and baggage costs. Lately I have been trying to decide where to go to in 2009. I decided on Canada but then the airline I wanted to go on went out of business. I was sad about that because other airports are not as convenient for me as the one they flew from. Then I thought that I would go to either Tobago or Grenada with Excel but they went out of business as well. I am left feeling nervous that the same will happen to other small airlines in my home country. I looked at going to South Africa and the fare looked fine until all the extra charges are added. My 16 month old son would travel for 10% of the adult fare but he would still get a long list of extra charges. We went to Latvia this summer and I paid loads for the airline to carry my backpack and my son's travel cot in the hold. I think that the enjoyable days of cheap flights could now be over. With the cost of fuel going up more and more airlines will demand high charges. If someone gets a £1 flight on a budget airline in the UK they still have to pay lots of tax and charges.