Sun Country is on shaky ground, which has been a known for a couple of years. Now the ground is even shakier. Losing Sun Country would be a sad day for Twin Cities travelers for a number of reasons. The airline has challenged Northwest on popular routes, keeping fares low. It has also challenged Northwest with its customer service, which has consistently been a bright spot. The only travelers I know who prefer Northwest prefer it for the frequent flier miles, which are less and less valuable. Southwest’s entry in the market is good news, and the possibility for connections to the west (probably Salt Lake to begin with) are strong after the Delta merger is complete. A year from now, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is likely to be a very different place, quite possibly with fewer travelers, if current economic trends hold. Could be more competition as Southwest enters the market, or less, if Sun Country and other airlines on the margins can’t survive. Anyone out there care to speculate on the foggy scenes in the crystal ball?

A friend’s long planned trip to Orlando went awry in several ways. First, the direct flight became an indirect flight, rerouted through Washington, D.C., for an overnight stay. Bad enough, but then the plane sat on the tarmac for three hours because crew to open a gate couldn’t be found. In this summer of travel discontent, horror stories like hers abound.

July and August 2008 is when the tickets that were bought in spring (when things did not look quite so grim) are being used. As airlines cut flights and tighten schedules, passengers are getting bumped, delayed and annoyed to new heights. We all know the airlines are in trouble, and that ticket prices, surcharges and other fees will continue to rise until they’re profitable once more. (And we’re likely to lose some airlines too. I shudder to think of the Twin Cities without Sun Country. Hello, $800 to Cancun).

At this point, shouldn’t there be some limits on what the airlines can do to us as consumers once we’ve paid our fair fare? When we buy a ticket, we are agreeing to a very one-sided contract, with the airline holding most of the cards. I notice Rep. Jim Oberstar reintroduced his Passenger Bill of Rights measure (H.R. 6355) last week. Anyone want to start a movement to support it?

OK, now they’re charging for soft drinks and coffee. Prices are soaring. And service is the pits.

No surprise then in the results of a Travel Industry Association survey that dropped these bombshells:

78 percent of air travelers believe the system is “broken” or in need of “moderate correction.”

62 percent believe the system is deteriorating.

28 percent avoided at least one trip because they wanted to avoid flying (41 million trips avoided).

The top complaints: Delays, cancellations and inefficient security screening.

By the TIA’s calculation, that drop-off in air travel cost the U.S. economy $26.5 billion.

I don’t think it’s news that people are unhappy with the air transport system. On the other hand, that people are changing their behavior to avoid flying is big news (especially since cost wasn’t in the top reasons cited). Have we reached a tipping point?

Several times in the last three years I’ve had the feeling (while sweating clammily in a poorly ventilated plane on a runway, while sleeping an extra night in a place I didn’t want to be because of a canceled flight, when going hungry because even wretched snacks weren’t available for purchase) that I would avoid flying if I could help it. But somehow my memory edits out the horrible events of getting there and back and leaves only the pleasant recollections of the things I did when I was there.

What about you? Has it become so unpleasant to fly that you are avoiding the airport?

A passenger who arrived at Tokyo’s Narita airport on Memorial Day weekend may have found a surprise in his or her suitcase — a bag of marijuana, courtesy of customs, according to www.msnbc.msn.com. A customs official hid the goody bag in a passenger’s suitcase as part of a training exercise for sniffer dogs, but lost track of both the drugs and the suitcase. Normally, special training suitcases are used, but the offending official said that he’d used passengers’ suitcases in the past and the dogs have always found the drugs. This time, the pooches missed the pot.

American Airlines today announced moves to counter the high cost of fuel. Layoffs and a raft of new fees are at the top of the list. One of these moves goes against common sense and is  counterproductive to safety: That is the $15 fee for a first checked bag.

Airlines are businesses, and they have to charge fees that allow them to be profitable; that’s capitalism at work. But charging $15 for a first checked bag is irresponsible, and as Ed Anger used to say, I’m pig-biting mad about it. Add $15 to the price of every ticket if it’s necessary to get into the black. But don’t create an optional charge for what is for many people (especially business travelers and families) a necessity. This charge is going to cause people to bring even more and bigger carry-ons, slowing down loading and unloading of the plane, creating a safety hazard and fraying already frayed nerves. It’s not justified, it’s not safe.  This is a case where updated federal standards and a passenger bill of rights are clearly needed.

I rank MSP in the middle of the pack, or even slightly above. My biggest complaint is the poor organization of the main concourse — a hodgepodge of improvised people-moving strategies. It wasn’t designed to be used the way it is now. After 9/11,  the airport moved security to the main concourse from the gates, creating a confusing, deranging logjam of  security and check-in lines that does give a bad first impression of the airport, especially on busy days. Beyond the main concourse, however, the airport has consistently improved its set up and its offerings. The monorail cuts walking time on the longest concourse (C, leading to the A and B regional gates). The restaurant offerings are way above the average, and I find the waiting areas at the gates to be much more roomy and less claustrophobic than those at Memphis, for example (which should not have been ranked above MSP.) My least favorite airport in the U.S.? LAX. It’s a dingy paper mache maze, lacking substance or design integrity, and the constant loud announcements make me feel like I’m in a bad science fiction movie. My favorite? It’s a tough question, like asking, which is your favorite molar extraction technique. But I do give McCarran high marks for speed (low marks for noise and ambiance). I also think the airport in Anchorage (larded with federal money from Sen. Ted Stevens, whom it’s named after) is pretty spectacular. Let’s have some other road warriors weigh in.