American travelers tend to purchase tickets based solely on price. If your consumers are very price conscious, you move as much as you can out of the base price.<p>Don&#x27;t blame airlines in the US, blame airline customers.<p>Personally, I like the nickel-and-dime scheme, as you call it. I rarely take cross country flights. My typical travel is 3-4 hours of flying at the most. I absolutely prefer a cheaper base ticket price, because I don&#x27;t care if they give me crappy food for &quot;free&quot; in that time frame. At 6&#x27;2&quot;, I fit comfortably even in Spirit&#x27;s closely-spaced seating. I travel very light and typically have a single bag.<p>For me, a lower base fare with extra charges for the rest is something I prefer. I am very happy that the US air-traveling market agrees with me and has pushed the industry in this direction.