Remember when banks and credit cards had tons of fees to nickel-and-dime their customers to turn a profit?

Welcome to the new model of airline travel. First we had to buy our meals before we boarded the jet. Then we started paying extra for heavier luggage. Now we have to pay for extra luggage.

I never thought air travel would turn me into a toddler. I need to carry my blanket and pillow if I fly JetBlue because they want to charge me for it. Get the portable DVD player for US Airways flights because they're ripping out the movie system on domestic flights.

Blankets, carry bags and portable movies -- it sounds like a van full of little ones.

What happened to banking and credit cards? Someone came along and stopped the fees and stole away a gob of customers who were tired of it. Then all the fee banks stopped the fees to keep their customers. It was a new wave of banking.

It will happen with airlines.

One of them -- perhaps a new upstart airline -- will begin doing away with all of these extra charges, market their cheaper and hassle-free status, and fill their jets to the brim. To be competitive, the rest of the airlines will follow.

Airlines do a lot of follow-the-leader. That's how we got fuel surcharges and baggage fees in the first place.

Before then, it will get worse. When comes the weight surcharge? Oh, you have a 36 waist, that'll be $60 more, please.

MILE-HIGH WI-FI : It seems Delta Air Lines has found a moneymaker beyond charging extra for luggage. They're going to start offering Wi-Fi -- for a $9.95 fee -- to those who want to cruise the Internet while cruising at 30,000 feet.

Give Delta a nod for doing something for their business travelers who would rather be productive on their laptops rather than stare at the slow-moving drink cart.

WE'VE BEEN ZAPPED: In case you missed Friday's paper, Augusta now has an electric vehicle dealership. It is only fitting that we should be the first in Georgia to have such a dealership -- with E-Z-Go and Club Car headquartered here, we are the electric vehicle capital of the world. As educational and manufacturing campuses look to those companies for their non-golf golf cars for cheaper-than-gas transportation, GoGreen on Washington Road has started selling the cheaper-than-gas transportation for us common folk.

John Cooper's dealership sells ZAP brand electric cars ... and trucks. You'll get a smile out of seeing one: picture a three-wheeled green Chevy Citation hatchback. And then Mr. Cooper tells you the trip to the grocery store will only cost you 50 cents in electricity instead of $7 in gas. Suddenly the smirk turns into an eyebrow lifter.

He's honest about the appeal and the fact they won't be for everyone. You're not buying one of these to drive to Atlanta on I-20. It is more suited as the second car that is used to run errands around town.

OH, PLEASE: The gas crunch has gotten every public relations firm and financial Web site jockey from coast to coast sending out e-mail releases with advice on how to save gasoline. When the first item on the list is "shop around for cheaper gas," you've invoked the "duh" factor. I hit delete.

All these www.obvious-ways-to-save-gas.net people want on the bandwagon, but haven't figured out this is a bandwagon that left when we were shocked at $2.50-a-gallon gas two years ago.

Saving money isn't rocket science. People have it figured out: make sure the car is running efficiently, drive less, change vehicles if it makes financial sense.

DARROW KEEPS BUYING: Speaking of changing vehicles, the Wisconsin dealership group that owns Toyota of Augusta keeps getting bigger.

Darrow Automotive's latest acquisition in the southeast is in Charlotte, a Mazda seller, and Rock Hill, S.C., another Mazda seller.

Sometime next month Darrow should have completed the purchase of Augusta's Taylor Auto chain of dealerships -- except for Taylor Toyota which is going to Bob Richards Nissan because Toyota doesn't want one owner of competing dealerships.

The rest of the brands in the Taylor group, BMW, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover and Hyundai, go to Darrow.

Reach Tim Rausch at (706) 823-3352 or timothy.rausch@augustachronicle.com.