US Airways to charge for drinks

US Airways Group Inc. will become the first major American airline to charge for coffee and sodas Friday. Many passengers may still get beverages for free.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA is objecting to collecting the $1 and $2 fees for non-alcoholic drinks, which US Airways is imposing to counter record fuel costs. Should travelers balk, they probably won't have to pay, the union said.
"We're trained to keep order on an airplane and defuse confrontation," the president of US Airways' AFA chapter, Mike Flores, said yesterday in an interview. "If it takes giving a free beverage to somebody to do that, so be it. I expect there will be flight attendants who just give everything away." The union's complaints mean the airline will set a new industry standard while relying on employees upset at having to implement it.