Here’s a decision most of us will have to make the next time we fly: Should we splurge for a “premium” seat in economy class — an aisle or a window seat — or leave it to chance, and possibly end up in a middle seat?
LUGGAGE
Anne Newman’s holiday cruise from Baltimore to the Bahamas on the Carnival Pride got off to the worst start possible when two members of her party — her brother and father — were left standing at the dock because of a paperwork problem.
Luggage fees are a quick and relatively easy way for an airline to make money, but the European discount airlines have turned it into an artform. If your carry-on tips the scale a few grams over the limit, the price of your air transportation can routinely double, thanks to their punitive and arbitrary baggage surcharges.
Like many air travelers who are wary of having their luggage pilfered, Bobby Caldwell took every step he could to protect his property on a recent flight from Albuquerque, N.M., to Chicago. He packed his belonging in sturdy suitcases and secured them with TSA-approved locks.
Here’s a question I get all the time: Why won’t an airline cover a lost or damaged computer in my checked luggage?
Athena Foley and her husband wish they’d never stayed at the Hotel Ändra. When they checked into the Seattle boutique hotel this summer, one of their bags was stolen after they surrendered it to the bellhop.
Check this out: The latest luggage fee numbers, as reported by the federal government, show that the major airlines are collecting less for our checked suitcases. They haven’t returned to the early 2007 levels, which were still pretty reasonable, but well off the highs reached in the second and third quarter of 2010.
Adelle Gloger’s luggage claim may be the strangest case that’s crossed my desk. Ever.
Philip Bramson’s iPod vanished from his checked luggage on a recent flight to Mexico, and recovering it seemed impossible.
If the first word that comes to mind when I say “lost luggage” is Alitalia, then you’ve probably been reading this site for a while.
Jaime Sigal’s suitcase felt a little light when he picked it up from the conveyor belt in Sao Paolo, Brazil, so he gave the heavy-duty ballistic nylon bag a careful once-over.
When Linda Krasowski’s daughter Caitlin landed in London on her way to Malta, she was greeted with an unexpected fee. An Air Malta representative asked her to pay $250 because one of her checked bags was 10 pounds over the limit.
Jennifer Johnson was relieved when American Airlines offered her $175 for out-of-pocket expenses after it misplaced her luggage on a flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia last October. She was in town for a wedding, and needed to buy clothes and toiletries.
We got yet another painful reminder of how fee-crazy the airline industry has become when this video clip went viral yesterday. As if we needed one.
Maybe we should start calling this the lost luggage column. Last week, we tried to untangle the case of a skier who lost his gear in Telluride, Colo. Today, meet Rita Rosenfeld, whose luggage was misplaced by Alitalia on a trip to Italy.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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