Perhaps I chose a bad turn of phrase. As I stated before, I couldn't care less about having to pay for Old Weather Flying. But my point still stands that if they charge too much more than 250g in order to make flying in Azeroth feel special (as the article suggests) then they'll alienate those who can't/won't raise the thousand(s) required. Likewise, by having no charge at all, they run the risk of making flying mounts in Azeroth a "right" and not a privelege. You should, of course, have to expend effort in order to reap rewards, and if spending a bit of gold is considered an adequate amount of effort required to obtain the reward of flying mounts in Azeroth, then so be it.

However, I don't think it's necessary to put this levelling tax in. Let's be fair, who can't afford 250g these days? It seems to serve no purpose. In my opinion, for what it's worth, if Old Weather Flying is supposed to feel special, as epic flying did back in TBC, then the cost of obtaining the riding skill should be much MUCH higher. 250g won't make a difference, either to making the player feel that they've earned something, or to remove excess gold from the economy. If this is their aim, then 250g isn't enough. And if it isn't their aim, and they only want those with the expansion to get flying mounts, why have a charge at all? They've already made their money through expansion sales.