American Airlines has taken the trend in flight pricing to its inevitable conclusion by unbundling its rates─lowering the base fare but charging for more ad-ons than a shady car dealer.

The airline will lower its base fair starting in 2009 but will be stripping down the included services and charging passengers a surcharge for luxuries that were once standard, such as beverage service, blankets and seat assignments.

However, people taking flight on American starting next year may have the option of paying for preferred seating, refundable tickets and even carbon offsets, depending on what’s important to them. For someone like me who doesn’t care where he sits, rarely changes plans and never needs a blanket (planes are incredibly warm!), the carbon offset might be a cool trade-off if it ends up being the same price as a flight would be today.

No word on whether more airlines will follow suit, but it’s likely that other domestic carriers will adopt the method already used by many European and Canadian airlines.