Shareholder, most of what you say is pretty accurate -- I don't really believe in an out and out consiracy either. At least not the secret meetings in smoke filled rooms kind...

But you said "...and what additional charges will be to add levels of flexibility to the base ticket price."

US Airways isn't doing that. The base ticket price is the full fare. They are taking away existing flexibility and replacing it with a single option -- buy a full fare.

Try an experiment -- call reservations and book a flight. When they get to the part about telling you that it's non-refundable ask them what happens if you miss your return flight. They'll give you all the "oh, just call ahead" stuff. Listen patiently. Then ask them "exactly how much will it cost to get home?" (Since it's a walk-up fare and prices may very well change between now and then they can only answer this question speculatively -- but let them use today's walk-ups for illustration purposes.)