I guess somebody had to be the first to try this one, and I hope CO gets enough misery as a result that they have to roll it back.

DON'T BUY the bit about the better food. While there's plenty of room for improvement with their food, history AMPLY SHOWS that any improvements will be swept away in a future cost-cutting round while additional charges will be retained. They simply don't have the credibility or the track record to claim otherwise (Look at the experience with fuel surcharges or Gordon's message that elite benefits wouldn't be cut).

The proper place to fund improvements to the food is from the fares, not from inventing new charges. Also, shame on them for once again using the divide-and-conquer bit about such-and-such thing only benefiting a "few." (By that selective logic, special meals should cost whoever ordered them a hefty surcharge, and all costs for wheelchair assists or disabled access would be borne by the user!)

As a practical matter, they deserve to have enough implementation difficulties to make this not worth their while. What about planeloads of heavy spending Japanese people carrying yen only to Guam? Or any other flight to the U.S. where people aren't carrying dollars? They have problems enough making change for $20s in domestic coach!

Hopefully that, plus complaints from flyers and reluctance of other airlines to match will finish this one off. I think it's another case where they're hoping the rest of the industry goes along.

In the meantime, to me it's another minor ding and indication that they're going in the wrong direction. The dollar impact on me if I had to pay $4 a pop would probably total less than $30 a year...it's more the principle. And the worse types of revenue "enhancing" moves it could foreshadow. Might be time now to shop for other programs to comp my plat status.