Hp - thanks for the updates, I used to be ontop of all this stuff, but have been off the ball for most of the last 3 years due to illness! So I had understood Peel to be same group that owns(/ed) much of Trafford Estate in MAN, including the shopping ctr.
I am well aware of the practice of sales-tax markup, having previously operated a door to door sales outfit in suburbs of BOS & DEN! Just wasn't aware of the Canadians playing same tricks.
Truth is that we have become more used to extras being added on as this was pioneered by the loco airline industry, but also because it is common for websites to add huhge extras for shipping. I think the 'licence' to charge a cash fee on departure was pioneered some years back @NOC, then it seeped across the Irish Sea - but your assertion that it comes from a directive the other side of the Atlantic might well be true too.
All I can say is that any kind of cash fee - ontop of extras that can be weighed up at the click of a mouse - is a serious deterrent, not to mention an accounting hassle for biz pax.
Holgate, modernisation means investment which means an investor looking for ROI. However good KLM may be @MME (and my experience of them @BHX is good too), they will never put enough bums on seats to pay for new facilities. Only a loco with based frames can do that. The question is - are there any airlines left out there to come (back) to MME in a big enough way?