Thank you for pointing out these threads, definitely useful. The reality remains: the enormous hike in fares over the last couple of years, industry-leading profits by imposing surcharges which, in reality, do not cover anything operational and benefit the company as direct cash, and a recent (a matter of 2-3-4 weeks) fare "restructuring" to add more surcharges and remove them from the fare itself (which is probably some smart accounting move to treat those fees differently on the books; I am not an accountant though). The net result: flying with Delta, we are paying more and are getting less.