Skyrocketing fuel prices are taking their toll, and in more ways than just at the fuel pump. Want to see for yourself? Take a trip (if you have the spare gas) to your nearest airport, and you'll see first hand the fear in the eyes of airline workers, taxicab drivers, and anyone else whose livelihood depends upon the transportation industry.

Taxi drivers are feeling the squeeze, with increased fuel charges cutting into their take-home pay. Some taxi companies have simply added a fuel surcharge, standard on every fare. Others are offering lower fares to those travelers willing to get out and push when going uphill or who siphon gas from other cars and add it to the taxi's tank.

When airline workers clock out at the end of each day, they're never sure whether their company will still be in business the next morning.

Airlines are folding seemingly every day, to the point where buying a plane ticket more than a week ahead of time is a little like playing the lottery.

If you win, you still get to go on your trip. If you lose, your ticket becomes a collector's item from a defunct company. Airline executives are scratching their heads and trying to think of how to offset increasing fuel costs. They've been experimenting with using alternative fuels, made from corn, or licorice twists, or company stock that's bottomed out at a dollar a share. They've tried making the planes lighter by taking out nonessential items such as the in-flight magazines, the co-pilot, or those flotation devices supposedly kept underneath the passengers' seats in case of a water landing.

See too the fear in the eyes of the travelers themselves. Thanks to cost-cutting measures, long gone are the days of complimentary in-flight meals for us to pick at and complain about. We hungry travelers consider ourselves lucky if we're thrown a measly pack of peanuts or pretzels without a five-dollar price tag attached.

Later this month, one major airline will start charging a fee to everyone who has the audacity to check a bag. Next they'll rent out the overhead bins at a premium for those travelers who wish to keep their belongings with them on the flight. Our choice in the future may be between paying to have the airline lose our luggage, or paying to have our bags squeezed into an overcrowded overhead compartment.

What can we do to stem the tide of these cost increases? Fellow travelers, it's up to us to help the airlines conserve money, or else airline travel may become something available to only the truly wealthy. I am at this moment penning a letter to the airline bigwigs with a few of my suggestions, which include the following: raise money by auctioning off the right to land the plane to the highest on-board bidder; eliminate the need to provide snacks by making all flights mandatory potluck; and save fuel by making everyone roll down their windows and flap their arms at takeoff! Write a letter to your airline executive with your great ideas; save the airlines!

BILL ZUCK would like to offer his services as an in-flight mime, free of charge. You can reach him at wcz78@yahoo.com.