For the June 5 issue, I wrote a Stonewall Baby column ("Bye Bye Birdie") lamenting the effects of rising fuel costs on the airline industry. In that column, I cited my last long-haul flight: Thai Airways from JFK to Bangkok, roundtrip, last November.

Sadly, less than a week later, Thai Airways announced that it will be cutting the New York-Bangkok nonstop service, and cutting back service to its only other U.S. destination, Los Angeles. The reason cited? Fuel costs, of course. And so it begins....