The End of Affordable Air Travel?

For thirty years now, more and more Americans have flown at the drop of a hat. Cheaper flights and more flights made the country seem smaller.

Home in Dallas. Cabin in Vermont. Kids in California. Parents in Florida. Vacation far away — no problem, we'll all fly.

But the oil price surge that is spiking gas prices and rattling the economy is whipping up jet fuel prices, too. Nobody knows when or if they'll come down. Airlines are chopping flights, mothballing planes, preparing for "extreme" fare hikes.

An era, it appears, is ending. This hour, On Point: Grappling with the end of affordable air travel.Guests:

Micheline Maynard, correspondent for The New York Times covering business and the airline industry.

Andrew Goetz, professor and chair of the geography department at the University of Denver

Deborah Smith, professor of sociology at the University of Missouri, Kansas City