Delta Will Charge For Free Flights

From ABC News:

Delta Air Lines Inc. said Friday it will start adding surcharges of $25 or $50 round trip on frequent flyers' free tickets to help offset soaring fuel costs.

I've been earning some pretty decent mileage flying United Airlines back and forth during this Seattle project. It wouldn't surprise me if they followed Delta on this. Without assistance from the current incompetent government, how else are these already-hobbled airlines supposed to make up for the huge increases in the cost of fuel?