The summer of 2008 is shaping up as a summer to stay home, or at least close to home. Traditional summer vacations involving highway or air travel will be more trouble, and more expensive, than ever.

With gasoline prices already passing the $4-per-gallon mark, long-distance drives in a van or SUVwill put a real dent in a family's travel budget. Many people already have begun to downsize their cars for better mileage, and reducing the miles driven is the only option for many wanting to trim their gasoline costs.

Flying, too, will become more of a headache than ever this summer. Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, heightened security measures at airports have caused additional hassles for travelers. Long lines for security checkpoints and various other travel restrictions have added both time and frustration to the air travel experience.

In the past few weeks, several airlines have announced changes that will only make matters worse.

Rising fuel prices are not only being felt on the highways. Airlines have seen their fuel costs nearly double in the past year. Skyrocketing fuel prices have put serious financial pressure on airlines, and the airlines have responded in ways that are reasonable from a business perspective, but will not make the travel experience any more pleasant.

American Airlines made headlines in recent days with its announcement that it will start charging for checked luggage. Travelers have long understood, and generally accepted, charges for extra baggage, or oversized baggage. But now just checking in a suitcase will add to the cost of a plane trip. American, the nation's largest airline, plans to charge $15 for the first checked bag, $25 for the second, and $100 extra for a third or fourth bag. An average family, with two bags each, would spend several hundred dollars extra on a round-trip vacation, just for luggage.

Those charges will make the already jam-packed overhead compartments even more of a battleground than they already are. It's not hard to imagine that in an effort to avoid the extra charges, more and more passengers will be trying to cram larger carry-on bags into the overhead storage.

And there is another economically justifiable move many airlines are making that will cause additional troubles for travelers — reducing the number of planes flying. Several airlines, including American and Continental, have announced that they will be grounding many of their older, less-efficient planes to save on jet fuel.

Several of the major airline carriers in the United States have announced capacity reductions of 10 percent or more. And fewer planes in the air will mean fewer flight options for travelers and more inconvenience in getting to their eventual destination.

But fewer planes will mean fuller planes, and full planes mean more money for the airline, but they also mean a more taxing experience for travelers.

The airlines can't be blamed for making these changes — they are fighting for their financial lives.

The well-known airline advertisement line of a few years ago, featuring the "friendly skies" theme, might soon seem like a quaint anachronism. With the recent changes by airlines, the skies — and the airports — are decidedly less friendly. And with gas prices at record levels, the highways might be more friendly, but no less costly.