A few weeks ago I wrote an article for the Star-Bulletin with the headline, “;Oil prices are just an excuse to gouge airline passengers”; (Aug. 31).

In that article I questioned the rise in airfares that, I said, was well above and beyond the rise in oil prices and that, in my opinion, these increases were not justifiable. Furthermore, I criticized the practice that airlines have introduced of charging passengers, in addition to the price of the ticket, for everything and anything they touch. Competition seemed a forgotten principle as the airline industry closed rank and came out with the same line of defense: “;Oil prices have skyrocketed; we must take measures to protect our revenue,”; and so on.

Well, the oil price then was around $140 a barrel and although, based on percentages, the increase in airfares was disproportionate, all the airlines held that line and passengers had no alternative, for the moment at least, but to swallow the enormous jump in airfares.

  Now the price of oil has plummeted back down to below $70 a barrel. And airfares? Still up there, with no sign of being re-adjusted downward. What is the airlines' justification for maintaining these increases and extra charges?

A few weeks ago airline CEOs were tripping over themselves to try to explain to us, the consumers, all the reasons why they had to increase the fares. “;The oil,”; they said, “;is the culprit.”;

Now oil prices have come back down more than 50 percent from where they were four weeks ago, but the airfares have remained the same.

Have airline CEOs come up with any rational explanation that they can give to the consumers?