This is an especially good time for you vacationers who plan to fly,
because the Reagan administration, as part of the same policy under which
it recently sold Yellowstone National Park to Wayne Newton, has "deregulated"
the airline industry. What this means for you, the consumer, is that
the airlines are no longer required to follow any rules whatsoever.
They can show snuff movies. They can charge for oxygen. They
can hire pilots right out of Vending Machine Refill Person School.
They can conserve fuel by ejecting husky passengers over water. They
can ram competing planes in mid-air. These innovations have resulted
in tremendous cost savings which have been passed along to you, the consumer,
in the form of flights with amazingly low fares, such as $29. Of
course, certain restrictions do apply, the main one being that all these
flights take you to Newark, and you must pay thousands of dollars if you
want to fly back out.
-- Dave Barry, "Iowa -- Land of Secure Vacations"