Originally Posted by
graraps
OTOH, I think that the advent of LCCs has gone a bit too far. Much more than the "freedom to travel", it now gives PACKS of people incentive to just go someplace and ruin it. The UK, in particular, has excelled in exporting drunkedness and a bit of violence to previously quiet, charming places like PRG and TLL. I think that these people, while they could afford to fly for more money, would be more considerate to the whole travel experience if they actually had to pay for it. Is taxation the right way to do it? I don't know....
Who will really lose if the global warming true believers succeed in raising the cost of air travel significantly? Yeah, maybe a few lager louts here and there, but I really see very few of them when I travel. On the other hand, I do see a lot of young people backpacking, travelling on a shoestring and soaking up culture. The tax-happy wing of the environmentalist movement may well sever their shoestring, and that would be a sad day indeed. Also, I see a fair number of retirees enjoying their golden years. My own grandmother never got on a plane until after she retired, and then went all over, Europe, the Holy Land, Central America, Australia, etc. Like many retirees she was on a fixed income and had to watch her pennies, but she really enjoyed getting to travel in her sunset years. These are the types of people who would be the victims if the doctrinaire global warming ideologues in our governments succeed in soaking the poor and middleclass with their big new taxes.
The freedom to travel is iimportant to all, not just the rich who can afford big taxes.