Flying The Costly Skies

It’s funny sometimes how things you talk about come back around.
Take for example a conversation I had with a Spirit Airlines flight attendant a couple of weeks ago. I had paid $25 to check a piece of luggage which was too large to take on the plane. My complaint was that our flight was actually being held up because so many people carried on bags and there was no room to store them. She admitted that it really didn’t make sense because very often it’s a large problem because many travelers try and beat the cost of checking luggage by squeezing bags onto the plane. She even told me that some of her fellow workers had proposed to the airlines that they charge people who carry on bags instead of those who check them in advance. Well it turns out she was on to something because Spirit has announced that beginning August 1 they will become the first airline to charge passengers for carrying on bags and it won’t be cheap. If you pay in advance it will be $30 but if you wait until you get to the gate than the cost will be $45. This is for items that are stored in the overhead bins and you can only have one. Things like purses and computers which will fit under the seat will not require an extra charge. While Spirit officials insist they have lowered most of their fares they do kill you in extra costs, including $16 for booking on their web site and it was $3 for a bottle of water on my flight and you had to pay with a credit card.

While at the Toms River North-Toms River South baseball game last night I heard for the first time about an incident last week that involved Rutgers basketball coach Fred Hill Jr. Turns out it’s one that could cost him his job just a few weeks after he appeared safe for another season. Reports indicate that Hill got into a profanity-filled tirade with the Pittsburgh coaching staff during a baseball game between the schools…his father Fred Sr. is the Scarlet Knights baseball coach. The incident is being investigated and there might be grounds for Rutgers to fire Hill based on his behavior and not be obligated to pay him the $1.8 million left on his contract. Ironically the biggest factor in Hill keeping his basketball job might have been the buyout he would have received for being fired…now he could lose his job and most if not all of the money.

By the way, South improved to 4-0 with a 9-1 victory over North, who is off to an 0-3 start. Andrew McGee tossed a 4-hitter and Michael Coon doubled, homered and drove in 3 runs.