Time for a gut check. There was a story out Thursday morning about a government report showing that average domestic airfares rose 4.4 percent in the first quarter. No surprise, right?
But if you take a closer look at the Department of Transportation press release you see that the agency notes that from the first quarter of 1995 to the first quarter of 2008 average domestic itinerary fares rose 11.7 percent while inflation surged 41 percent.
Average fares include round-trip and one-way fares, taxes and fees and exclude abnormally high reported prices as well as freebie frequent-flier deals.
So I took their numbers, adjusted for inflation, graphed it out, and discovered that there's actually been a trend downwards -- a 20 percent drop from '95. Witness my handiwork above.
Surprising? Not really. Think about it. One of the first times I flew, in the mid-1980s, I did it on the budget-pioneer People Express, which basically priced itself out of existence. A round-trip, coast-to-coast ticket was about $200, which is a bit over $400 in today's dollars. About three weeks ago, I flew from Boston to Sacramento for a total of $465.
Some will want to quibble about details (Is the Department of Transportation Domestic Average Itinerary Fares the best way to gauge prices? And is the Consumer Price Index the best way to compare rates of inflation? Are first quarter prices the best period for comparing numbers), but apply your own life experience to this. Think about a flight you took about 10 years ago. Then plug those numbers in the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator. Not look around to see what that fare is now. And be fair.
Bottom line: Airfares are on the rise and for good reasons (in '95, a gallon of regular gas set you back $1.10-$1.20). But, historically speaking, they aren't that high. Yet. So let's turn down the volume on the kvetching.

I was in an airport in Sacramento earlier this month, getting ready to board a flight back here. And for those who have not traveled in a while, let me make this clear: The airlines are deadly serious about new baggage rules, including size and weight. We're talking both checked and carry-on.
While checking in, there was a woman in front of me who had been told that her suitcase was about 5 pounds over and her options were either to make it lighter or pony up about $80. So she popped it open right there and started pulling out a travel iron, knick-knacks, various articles of clothing (I leave this to your vivid imagination). And got the bag down to fighting weight.
Similarly, I saw a man trying to carry on a questionable-sized suitcase who was forced to check it (and pay for a second bag).
Anyway, the Washington Post, compiled this list of the current rules and if you are planning soon it might be worthwhile printing, clipping, and saving on the fridge:

I'll fess up: Jet lag does me in. I just got back from a quick trip to the Golden State. There's only a three-hour time difference, but it takes me about a week to get so I'm not still squinting quizzically through bloodshot eyes at the sun at 8:30 a.m. on the T.
I'm willing to try anything. Reader's Digest (I once had an English professor who likened the reading of digested material to the consumption of already digested material) has some tips. Most of them involve trying to get your body ready for the changes in advance; some focus on your general well-being; some are fabulously ridiculous. Here are a few (along with my own insights):
ACCLIMATE. If you’re going to be gone longer than a couple of days, begin acclimating your body to the new time zone by altering your eating schedule three days before your plane takes off -- cool, dinner at 3 sharp.
AVOID AIRLINE FOOD. See above. It seems if you're going to be tricking your body by eating closer to the new time zone you don't want at airline repast to mess up your schedule. Besides the food usually sucks anyway.
CHUG. Stay hydrated, but avoid alcohol and caffeine, as they can dehydrate you, mess up your internal clock, make you unpopular with the seatmate you have to climb over to get to the restroom, and exaggerate jet lag symptoms.
HIT THE LINGUINE. Or any other carb-dense food at dinner on the night before your flight. Recent research suggests carbs boost your ability to sleep — particularly when you fly westward. Wonder whether a Sam's summer ale would count. Carbs is carbs, right?
REFRIGERATE. Particularly if you need to sleep on the plane. I call this the suspended animation tip. Use earplugs to cut noise, an eyeshade to kill the light, and turn the air-conditioning valve on high. A lower temperature lowers your body’s core temperature and signals it’s time for sleep.
Here's the whole, unadulterated list.

James Bond's spy-gadget-equipped Aston Martin DB5, which first appeared
in the 1964 film "Goldfinger,'' on display at the International Spy Museum.

Orbitz is offering up to 30 percent off hotel rooms in a number of cities around the nation.
What does this mean? Maybe you want to get your Sean Connery on and go check out the International Spy Museum in Our Nation's Capital? You can score 30 percent off for stays of three nights. This translates into rates starting at $129/night (And this is no dive if TripAdvisor's reviews can be believed: They give it a 4 out of 5).
The only catch is that you have to book by Aug. 31, and your carriage turns back into a pumpkin Nov. 24. Worth a look.

Joining US Airways, American, and United, Northwest says it too will begin charging $15 to check a single piece of luggage. The new fee will apply to tickets sold after Thursday for travel starting Aug. 28 in the United States or to Canada.
In addition, Northwest, which also said it would cut 2,500 jobs amid surging fuel prices, plans to start charging for mileage-award tickets for travel starting Sept. 15. The carrier says those levies -- $25 for domestic, $50 for trans-Atlantic, and $100 for trans-Pacific -- are temporary.
Delta, Northwest's merger partner, said late last month that it would begin charging similar fees on frequent flier tickets.

The clock is ticking on JetBlue's 10 percent or $10 off sale, which will expire Friday at midnight.
This deal covers flights between Sept. 3 and Dec. 16, with blackouts apparently from Oct. 9-14 and Nov. 25 - Dec. 1.
To avail yourself of the savings you need to follow this link to a special page, where you can select where you want to go, and then use either JET07 to save $10 off a flight ($20 for round-trips) or JET17 for a 10 percent discount in the promo code box.
Think of it. Enjoying the vibrancy of fall in Oakland. Or Long Beach.

At long last. American plans to start testing its in-flight Internet access on flights starting tomorrow. And if it's successful, they're primed to roll it out to more planes in the next few weeks.
The test of the Aircell system will begin on one flight from New York to LA and one return flight, said Doug Backelin, American's manager of in-flight technology. The test service will be free.
The carrier says it's poised to initially launch paid service on its Boeing 767-200 jets that fly from New York to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami. It plans to charge $9.95 to $12.95, depending on flight length.
Besides the paid service, passengers will be able to connect free to American's site, Frommer's travel guides, and limited news headlines, Backelin said.
Besides American, Aircell is also working with Virgin America, and JetBlue started testing free e-mail, instant-messaging and some Amazon.com services aboard one of its planes in December.

Orbitz is offering a very interesting deal right now. If you book on the site and pay their $7-$12 service fee they promise to reimburse you the difference if the fare for your flight drops before you take off.
This is the way it works: Orbitz will track prices from the time you buy your ticket until the day of the flight and will issue qualifying refunds of $5 to $250, according to details on the site.
There is, however, a good bit of fine print involved. Two big things to keep in mind. First, the reimbursement won't apply if your carrier goes under. And the second involves the way Orbitz keeps track of fare decreases: Specifically, another customer must get a lower priced fare on Orbitz for the exact itinerary you have. So, if a lower fare is available, say, through a carrier's own website it doesn't count. And since Orbitz only sells a fraction of the tickets for any flight (the folks at Online Travel Review put their estimate at about 7.5 percent on average) and since flight prices tend to go up as you get closer to departure the odds that they'll need to pony up a reimbursement seem a little low.
Orbit's plans were first reported by the WSJ.
A little complicated but what a concept, yes?

Not a big surprise, but United and US Airways have decided to join rival American and start charging many customers $15 to check even one bag.
United, which said it was considering making the change when American announced its move last month, also plans to increase fees to check three or more bags, overweight luggage, or items that need special handling from $100 to $125 or from $200 to $250 depending on the item.
US Airways, which also plans to start charging domestic coach customers $2 for nonalcoholic drinks Aug. 1, detailed other cuts, including trimming its domestic schedule as much as 8 percent by year's end and axing 1,700 jobs.
The $25 fee that both carriers charge for a second checked bag will not change.
United's new policy will apply starting June 13 for passengers who buy seats for domestic travel and starting Aug. 18 for those headed to and from Canada, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
Exempt will be travelers flying United First, United Business, and those who have premier status with either United for the Star Alliance. Here are more details.
US Airways' new baggage fee will apply to tickets booked on or after July 9 for domestic flights and those to and from Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The airline will exempt Dividend Miles Preferred members, First Class and Envoy passengers, Star Alliance Silver and Gold status members, military personnel on active duty, unaccompanied minors, and passengers checking assistive devices. Here are the details.
All this should come as no shock. Sit tight. There will be others

Continental says it will drop service to 15 cities and trim flights to about 40 more as of Sept. 3.
The airline, which carries about 4.2 percent of the passengers at Logan said last week that it would cut its schedule by 11 percent in the fourth quarter.
The nine cities on the chopping block domestically include Oakland, Palm Springs, Reno, Sarasota, Tallahassee, Green Bay, Chattanooga, Toledo, and Montgomery, Ala. The six international destinations include: Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia; Cali, Colombia; Cologne, Germany; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Monclova, Mexico; and Santiago, Dominican Republic.
What this means to you is this: Obviously, you won't be able to get to any of the cities listed above on Continental. And you may have fewer options to other places it flies.
This is the reason why: From Logan, the carrier only flies to its hubs in Houston, Newark, and Cleveland, and from there to other cities. That service will continue without change.
The airline is cutting service cumulatively from those three hubs to about 40 cities. So, if you need to get to, say, San Jose, Calif., right now you can get there by flying first into either Newark or Houston, according to the flight map on the carrier's website.
In the future, you will no longer be able to get to San Jose from Newark, but you will still be able to from Houston, so it might be harder to get a flight when you want it. Or it might not. Service to any city will depend on demand. But the carrier is cutting flights overall, so clearly things will tighten up.
All the big carriers are cutting flights. At the very least, I give props to Continental for trying to get as much of it out there as quickly as possible. Still for consumers, things are going to get more expensive and more complicated.

Good morning, travelers. Continental said that it is cutting 3,000 jobs and reducing its flight schedule in the fourth quarter by 11 percent. Continental currently carries 4.2 percent of the passengers at Logan (and they anticipate being able to talk details about schedule changes as early as next week so stay tuned).
This comes just a day after our friends at United said they would trim their domestic schedule 17 percent by the end of 2009, two days after Delta said it would need to cut flights beyond the 11 percent already announced.
Oh, and let's not forget American who, a couple weeks ago, announced its plans to reduce flights 12 percent.
What these guys are doing is getting rid of unprofitable routes and grounding older, more fuel-guzzling planes -- we here in the US have the unenviable distinction of possessing among the oldest fleets flying.
With all these cancellations, more and more travelers, who made reservations before the reductions were announced, are going to have their itineraries involuntary shifted.
I took a quick look yesterday at what this will mean. If you missed it, here it is.

Delta says it will stop offering its daily flight between Boston and Los Angeles on Aug. 19 as record-high fuel prices force carriers to reexamine the viability of gas-guzzling nonstop transcontinental routes.
The cancellation comes a month after JetBlue axed its plan to launch a daily flight on the same route starting May 21. And last week, American said it would discontinue its daily flight between Boston and San Diego as of Sept. 3.
As a result, travelers will have to take connecting flights or scrounge for fewer seats on airlines that are still flying the routes nonstop. Trips are likely to be more inconvenient due to stopovers or more expensive due to a lower supply of seats -- maybe even both.
Nonstop service to eight West Coast cities is available from Logan.
Delta's move means flying on the carrier between Boston and Los Angeles -- or any other city on the West Coast -- will now require a layover in Atlanta, New York, Salt Lake City, or Cincinnati, said airline spokeswoman Susan Chana Elliott.
Posted by Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff

Airlines already charge us for things that used to be included in the ticket price: headphones to watch movies and snacks, for instance. Now some airlines have begun to charge a fee to check a bag ($15) and for a window seat ($5). Outrageous, you say? Think again, say I, and brace yourself for these possible new fees:
1. Bathroom. $1.00 per use. There are two ways the airlines could charge for using the bathroom. One is to provide flight attendants with a key. Pay a dollar, get the key plus three squares of toilet paper. (Extra paper: 25 cents per square.) The second way is to have a coin lock on the door: Deposit 4 quarters (one Euro on international flights) and the door twists open. Unlimited use of tiny squares of paper included.
2. Light. Just like in churches in Italy, the overhead light would be controlled by inserting a token. Each dollar token would provide 15 minutes of illumination, almost enough time to complete the crossword at the back of the in-flight magazine. Which reminds me:
3. In flight magazine: $1.00. You think glossy paper is free?
4. Questions. $1.00. If you press the button for the flight attendant, you had better have an important question to ask, something more compelling than "Which gate number did you say my connecting flight will be at?" Which reminds me:
5. Connecting flights: $15.00.
6. Air: $5.00. You want to twist that little nozzle on? It's gonna cost you.
7. Reclining Seats. $10.00. If airlines stopped selling seats that recline they could fit an extra row in each aircraft.
8. Beverages. No more free ginger ale, diet cola, or tomato juice for you. $1.00 per beverage. Cup with ice (if you B.Y.O.B.): 50 cents. Napkin: A quarter.
9. Mini-pretzels or peanuts (.05 ounces): 50 cents. Bundle price $2.00: above, with cup, ice, beverage, and napkin. A bargain!
10. Blanket. $5.00 (used) $10.00 (in sealed plastic bag).
11. Pillow. Ditto.
12. Child-free Zone. $30.00. This ticket guarantees that no child under the age of 12 will be seated within 5 rows of your seat.
Unthinkable, you say? Check back in six months. Or add your own predictions now.

And so the cuts begin. American says it will cancel its daily Boston-San Diego service Sept. 3. The struggling carrier also says it will halt New York-London Stansted as of July 2, Chicago to Buenos Aires Sept. 3.Chicago-Honolulu Jan. 5, and trim American Eagle service in September to 33 flights, from the normal winter schedule of 55 daily departures.
These reductions are all part of the carrier's plan to reduce its schedule by as much as 12 percent and that of its regional Eagle service by as much as 11 percent. American detailed all this about a week ago -- at the same time it dropped the bomb about charging passengers $15 for even a first checked bag.
Be forewarned. This is just the beginning. News of more cuts will continue to trickle out.
If you are planning travel in the fall, you might do well to start making those plans soon. Decent fares and available seats will not be easier to come by as time passes.

Hold tight, folks. American said this morning that it needs to tighten the belt big-time. What that means is that it will start charging $15 to most passengers to check a first bag, and that it plans to cut its schedule by as much as 12 percent. American also said it would raise other fees from $5 to $50 for a range of services like reservation help to oversized bags.
The carrier's decision on baggage comes just a month after it decided to join other major carriers in charging $25 for a second checked bag. This means if you arrive with two bags the tab will be $40 each way. The baggage fees will kick in for flights booked starting June 15. But it won't affect some American frequent-flier program members or those paying full fare or international passengers. American put the details on their site.
Delta reacted almost immediately, saying it wasn't planning to adopt the first-bag fee, but United said it would consider it.
Ned Raynolds of American said that the airline will take 40 to 45 big jets and 35 to 40 regional ones out of service in the fourth quarter, so this will affect schedules for regular American flights as well as those of its regional American Eagle service.
The airline hasn't decided which routes it will cut. But the odds that Logan will be affected appear pretty strong, as American serves about 17 percent of the airport's travelers, behind only Delta and JetBlue.
Amid fuel costs that have risen 84 percent in the last year, Raynolds said American was in the process of "unbundling'' services: Basically, offering a menu of services -- some of them formerly free -- and letting travelers choose which ones they want and are willing to pay for.
"As much as we love our customers,'' Raynolds said, "we need to survive and thrive in the current climate.''
Why do we always hurt the ones we love? Did I hear somebody say, "Ouch?''

The Student and Youth Travel Association (SYTA) has released these Top 10 rankings for US, North America, and International hot spots for student and youth travel from their annual member survey, which polls student and youth travel industry professionals on current and emerging trends:

Top 10 U.S. Destinations
1. Washington D.C.
2. New York City
3. Orlando
4. Chicago
5. Greater Boston
6. Historic Virginia
7. Southern California
8. Philadelphia Area
9. Baltimore/Annapolis
10. Hawaii

Top North America Destinations
1. Toronto
2. Montreal
3. Quebec City
4. Vancouver
5. Cancun & the Yucatan
6. Calgary
7. Edmonton
8. Ottawa
9. Oaxaca
10. Mexico City

Top 10 International Destinations
1. United Kingdom
2. France
3. Italy
4. Spain
5. Australia
6. Germany
7. Greece
8. Brazil
9. Peru
10. China

Welcome to another episode of: You Can't Make This Stuff Up. First up is the case of the airline passenger from Austin, Texas, charged with disorderly conduct after refusing to get off the wireless during a Southwest flight from Austin to The Big D.
According to the Dallas Morning News, flight attendants repeated asked the passenger -- one Joe David Jones, president and CEO of an Austin environmental start-up called Skyonic -- to please shut the phone down, as the FCC prohibits in-flight wireless calls.
Turns out Mr. Jones, apparently a black belt of witty repartee, nearly a Shakespeare of the clever comeback, reportedly responded: "Kiss my [expletive]." When asked for clarification, Mr. Jones, fearing his terse and pithy mots juste had not been properly recorded for future generations, repeated, "Kiss my [expletive]." Then delivering a linguistic coup de grace, he finished with: "Not happening.''
Mr. Jones remained on the phone for 20 minutes and when Dallas police later met him at the gate to question him displayed disorderly conduct and was charged with a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500, according to police reports.
For his part, Mr. Jones, through a representative, explained that he was on the phone because he had been trying to reach officials in a cardiac unit after getting a message his father's heart had stopped.
Beth Harbin, a Southwest spokeswoman, was sympathetic but said, "It was a safety regulation that we're required to enforce, and we're simply not in a position to make exceptions."

Good morning, travelers. While you were sleeping, oil prices went off without you and hit a record $120.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
And JetBlue decided to call off, at least for now, plans to start flying between LA and Boston and New York because of -- let's say it all together -- the high cost of jet fuel. While it has dropped its LAX plans, JetBlue still offers service from Long Beach to JFK and Logan.
The discounter said in February it would launch service May 21 at LAX with one daily flight to Logan and three to JFK. But Bryan Baldwin at JetBlue said that the discounter decided that high fuel costs made the move too pricey.
The LA Times, which first broke the story, talked to an unnamed JetBlue official who illustrated the conundrum with this bit of math: Last year it cost $9,600 to fill up a JetBlue Airbus A320 for a transcontinental flight and now it's $15,000.
I myself just shelled out $45 to fill my Subaru on Morrissey. Life is tough. And for travelers prospects for the summer travel season are looking expensive.

How refreshing to find a hotel "deal" that is actually a bargain! Shell Vacations Hospitality is offering family-friendly summer deals at some of its resorts in the US and Canada. Included are a $15 gas card (OK, that's not even half a tank these days, but at least it's something), room rates ranging from $68-$189 for guests staying four nights or more, and a gift pack of beach games for the kids. Packages are valid from June 2 until Sept. 5 and can only be booked online through Shell's website. Shell's resorts include:
Peacock Suites, Anaheim
Orange Tree Golf Resort, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Legacy Golf Resort, Phoenix
Starr Pass Golf Suites, Tucson
Desert Rose Resort, Las Vegas
Carriage Ridge Resort, Horseshoe Valley, Ontario
Mountainside Lodge, Whistler, British Columbia
Waikiki Marina Resort, Oahu
Kauai Coast Resort, Kauai

We like deals. Like 'em a lot. Bank of America has been running its Museums on Us program in May -- which is National Museum Month, for those of you keeping track -- a few years now. Bank customers got free admission to a bunch of museums by showing a check or credit or ATM card. First it was just regional and later it was expanded to the Northeast.
B of A now has decided to take it nationwide and change it from the month of May to the first weekend of every month (like this weekend, say). What does this mean? Well, besides museums like the MFA and DeCordova and others around here, you could hit the Met in New York, or perhaps the DeYoung in San Francisco. Ever been to the Art Institute of Chicago or the Houston Museum of Natural Science? You get the idea. There's a museum locator on the website.
Besides the B of A deal, Baskin Robbins -- they of the 31 flavors back in the day -- are offering a 31-cent scoop night (from 5-10) at all 2,700 locations nationwide as a benefit for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. So we're talking three scoops for less than a buck. And you get to help Jakes. Here's the store locator.

Once again it's Us vs. Them. Beantown vs. The Big Apple. Final score? 667-142. We lose. Say it ain't so, Papi.
Actually, this isn't about baseball but restrooms in public places as measured by Imodium's Bathroom Finder, an admittedly unscientific, incomplete -- and potentially inaccurate -- yet for our purposes authoritative and informational source of Where to Go in America. (Thanks to Consumerist.com for the tip.)
OK, the battle of Us vs. Them is obviously unfair, they being not only much bigger but so full of it.
But let's see how we stack up against a handful of cities of our approximate size. At 142 we absolutely rock next to El Paso, Texas (94) and Milwaukee (134).
Sadly, though, we compare unfavorably with Seattle (247 -- but all that coffee those people drink...), Denver (200 -- I'm sure it's somehow related to that Mile High thing), and Washington (220 -- perhaps the only American city that could probably outdo New York in per capita generation, given the unfair advantage bestowed by Capitol Hill as well as the White House).
So we end up someplace in the middle. At least this time there's no Curse of the Bambino. Besides, who could wait 86 years?

If you're looking to fly this summer, maybe you'd better think about buying soon.
Delta and United have once again raised fuel surcharges, the second time in two weeks. This time the increase amounts to $10-$40 round-trip.
This increase pushes the domestic tote board figure for round-trip fuel surcharges to as much as $110 (!!) and the transatlantic figure to $230 (!!!).
Thanks to Rick Seaney at farecompare.com who has been keeping track and doing the math.
The latest hike comes a week after United pushed a similar one, which was joined by all the majors by Saturday.
And it was a week ago today that Delta CEO Richard Anderson said that US carriers would need to raise fares 15 percent-20-percent to offset rising fuel prices. They are most of the way there at this point so it would not be surprising to see a couple more increases heading our way.
Bear in mind, that these increases are not simply across the board. It's still possible to get a sale or a good deal on highly competitive routes. But this trend isn't going away any time soon.

The May issue of Parents magazine has compiled of list of what it considers the 10 best US and Caribbean beach resorts for families. Lo and behold, a Cape Cod resort clocks in at number 8, competing alongside heavy hitters in Florida, Hawaii, California, and the Caribbean. The rankings are based in part on cost, quality of supervised children’s programs, variety of family activities, and quality of pool and beach areas. In order of their rankings, here's the list:
1. Sheraton Grand Bahama Island Our Lucaya (Bahamas)
2. Club Med Punta Cana (Dominican Republic)
3. South Seas Island Resort (Captiva Island, Fla.)
4. Atlantis, Paradise Island (Bahamas)
5. Disney’s Vero Beach Resort (Florida)
6. Beaches Negril Resort and Spa (Jamaica)
7. Hilton Hawaiian Village (Honolulu)
8. Ocean Edge Resort & Spa (Brewster)
9.Loew’s Coronado Bay Beach Resort & Spa (San Diego)
10. Rio Mar Beach Golf Resort Casino & Spa (Puerto Rico)

A friend recently sent an email asking for travel tips. She was about to leave for Geneva and hadn’t been abroad for a very long time. Here was my response. (Blog readers: Feel free to comment with your own ways to make air travel easier!)

*The best way to get through a long flight is to upgrade to business class. (This is a joke, of course, but also serious! It's sooooo much better. I save my frequent flier miles for this.)

*Bring earplugs and eye mask as you never know when a screaming child will be in the next row. Also, the eye mask helps shut everything out when you want to snooze. If you sleep, make sure the flight attendant can see your seat belt is buckled--especially over a blanket--because if the captain turns on the "buckle seat belt" sign while you are sleeping...and you aren't buckled...the attendants will wake you up. What a pain!

*Speaking of blankets, I was told by an attendant that these and pillows are the worst source of germs on the plane. I bring a light shawl and use that instead. Also--I always wear socks & shoes because my feet get cold.

It's starting to look like the MD-80 Inspection Fiasco of '08 is winding down.
American says that it is only expecting 595 MD-80 cancellations today, including 10 at Logan which will affect about 1,000. This brings the running total to nearly 3,100 scrapped flights since this whole thing kicked off Tuesday, a disruption that affected hundreds of thousands of travelers.
This means that the carrier has restored about half of its schedule for the planes, and it is still hoping to have all the planes up by Saturday afternoon. But don't assume all will be back to normal. If you are flying out Saturday -- particularly on a longer haul flight with a stop in, say, Chicago or Dallas-Fort Worth -- you'll still need to check.
I wrote yesterday about the compensation American is offering by way of an apology to customers. In fairness to them, it's probably worthwhile to note that Uncle Samuel does not require airlines to offer passengers any compensation in these circumstances. But neither does it preclude them from doing the right thing.
Do you think AA handled this pretty well? Give it some thought because this won't be the last of mass cancellations as the chastened FAA turns the safety inspection lights on high after years of being slack. The regulators are making another round of checks that will run through June 30, and everybody's best guess is that the carriers that will be most affected are those with older planes, the AP reported. About a third of the US fleet is more than 25 years old, according to the International Air Transport Association.

OK, so you've been delayed. What now. Well, you can perhaps get some compensation from American, but it depends on how much you've been put out. And you'll need to tell them about it.
If your cancellation forced you to stay overnight somewhere, you can send a message to American's customer relations department and apply for compensation. There is a hot link on the website that gives you access to a form along with instructions. You will be eligible for refunds, hotel and meal vouchers, and a $500 voucher for future travel as an apology, said Tim Wagner, an airline spokesman.
American also will award vouchers of varying amounts to other passengers who message them from the site or write to them via snail mail (American Airlines Customer Relations/P.O. Box 619612 MD 2400/DFW Airport, TX 75261-9612) and detail how they were inconvenienced.
If you are scheduled on a flight that gets scrapped you can get a refund or apply the value of your ticket to future travel (Say Wa-Hoo, somebody). Travelers flying on any MD-80 flight from April 8 – 11, even if their flight has not been canceled, can rebook without fees. Travel must begin by April 17.

So, you think you're having a bad week?
American says it'll ditch another 933 flights today, including 16 at Logan which will affect about 1,600 passengers. You may add this to the approximately 1,550 total flights already grounded this week in the MD-80 Inspection Fiasco of '08, moves that have left 171,000 across the nation stranded.

American said this afternoon that they don't expect to have the situation completely resolved until Saturday night. So be forewarned.
For those you who hadn't heard, the thing that's triggered all this chaos is the tighter scrutiny on safety checks being brought by FAA, which has tightened inspections after catching major (well-deserved) flak from Congress and others for letting Southwest fly planes that had missed safety check-ups.
In the case of the MD-80s, it involves spot checks by regulators that found the carrier hadn't secured some wiring in accordance with an agency directive.
American has said that the problem posed no safety risk.
Also today, regional carrier Midwest Airlines said that it would ground 13 MD-80s for the same reason.
Get the feeling that this is just the start? With the FAA facing heat and the spotlight of public scrutiny turned up way high, it's a pretty safe bet we're going to see more groundings in the not-too-distant future.

If you're planning to fly with American Wednesday it might be worth making a call before you head to the airport.
American said it was canceling as many as 500 flights to check the bundling of wires in some planes, the same issue that caused it to ground more than 400 last month.
At Logan, the airline said there were as many as five canceled flights. Representatives for American, which operates about 2,300 daily flights, said they expected there would be more throughout the system Wednesday.
The airline said the Federal Aviation Administration raised concerns about recent inspections of the wiring in its approximately 300 MD-80 aircraft. Company representatives said that the problems did not pose safety threats.
The FAA has tightened inspections since coming under fire for letting Southwest fly planes that had missed safety inspections. American and Delta both canceled hundreds of flights late last month to do wiring-related inspections and repairs.
The hits just keep on coming.

After splurging last summer on a family trip to San Diego, I thought we’d be staying closer to
home this year. Or will we? TripAdvisor conducted a family travel survey of more than 2,400 respondents and came up with its top 10 family-friendly bargain hotels. Here’s the list — heavily geared toward California and Florida — with each hotel’s average nightly rate.

1. Dunes Village Resort, Myrtle Beach, S.C. ($139)
2. Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Orlando, Fla. ($104)
3. Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel, Anaheim, Calif. ($105)
4. Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club, Orlando, Fla. ($151)
5. Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort, Orlando, Fla. ($103)
6. Marriott’s Grande Vista, Orlando, Fla. ($156)
7. Homewood Suites Anaheim-Main Gate Area, Anaheim, Calif. ($121)
8. Staybridge Suites Lake Buena Vista, Orlando, Fla. ($155)
9. Comfort Suites Maingate East, Kissimmee, Fla. ($98)
10. Disney’s All-Star Music Resort, Orlando, Fla. ($102)

Amid the recent airline gloom, a ray of sunshine -- actually, more like a pretty good deal from JetBlue.
The discounter is offering $25 off and 50 TrueBlue points for tickets purchased on the site with an American Express Card by May 13 for travel between May 1 and June 18. Since 100 points gets you a free ticket, you can score either by flying twice or you can think of this as a kind of “fly two, fly free” offer. You must, however, be a TrueBlue member, but that's no problem because it's free. Details are here.

Thanks to View from the Wing for the tip.

And then there were four. Continental says that it will start charging most customers who buy the cheapest tickets $25 to check in a second bag. The new baggage policy applies to passengers traveling within the United States, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Canada on or after May 5 if they hold economy-class tickets, unless they are premium members such as Elite OnePass members in the airline's frequent flier program or holders of the airline's Presidential Plus credit card. The service charge, which will help defray rising fuel costs, was also adopted by United, US Airways, and Delta in the past two months.
Posted by Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff

The bottom line: Yes, you should be worried but probably not for the reasons you think.
Over the past couple weeks, everybody's been reading about hundreds of flights being grounded because of maintenance problems. It started a couple of weeks ago when Southwest got hit with a record $10.2 million fine after admitting it missed required structural inspections on about 50 planes. And some days later the airline grounded dozens more because it wasn't sure that other necessary check-ups had been properly done.
In the past couple days, American and Delta have canceled hundreds of flights as they grounded scores of planes to inspect wiring. At Logan, this has ended up affecting more than a dozen flights.
No one wants to end up like Southwest.
But right now, with all these planes getting grounded for safety checks, you're getting kind of skittish about flying, yes. The airline wise guys say you're missing the point. In a story in the L.A. Times, they lay it out thusly: Yes, there is a safety issue, but it's not huge. Planes will not be raining down. What you are seeing is the result of an aging US fleet needing more maintenance at a time when carriers have less money to replace them and are trimming schedules to cut costs. As more planes need more work and with fewer options to reschedule we are going to start seeing more of these kinds of disruptions.
So air travel isn't necessarily less safe, but it could become a little less predictable.

Dude, what next? Discounter JetBlue, which currently offers free in-flight television, will charge $10 to $20 more for some seats with more legroom.
Six rows on some of their planes will offer four more inches than usual -- 38 total -- and the fees will run from $10-$20, depending on the length of the flight.
Now JetBlue isn't the first to do this. Northwest already charges $15 more for some seats -- say, in the exit row -- with more space. But air travel wise wise guys say they now expect other carriers to play copycat.
Why? The airlines are getting squeezed big time by higher fuel and other costs. So they're looking for other ways to raise scratch and cut costs. American and Northwest JUST raised international fuel surcharges by $20 for a roundtrip, and Delta jacked up its domestic fares by $10. Last week most of the Sky Kings kicked up domestic fuel charges by as much as $50. United and US Airways recently started charging some passengers for checking a second bag. And most of the carriers are looking for places to trim schedules and ground planes.
And there will be more of all of this.
The next logical optional charge would be air. No, I'm not suggesting that they would withhold it completely. Just the stuff that's, well, most breathable. And smells best.
Or perhaps they can go the bake sale route.

If the Wicked Witch of the West was actually a spa therapist at the Montage Resort and Spa, then Dorothy might have reconsidered her decision about rushing back to Kansas. The hotel spa offers a treatment called “Surrender,” and after a five-hour flight to L.A. and an hour in the car to Laguna Beach, surrender was what I intended to do.

Each “Surrender” treatment is geared to the specific guest. (Before arriving, I had filed out a four-page questionnaire about my diet, family medical history, and exercise habits.) My therapist, Diane, explained her plan and I nodded in agreement. The treatment started with hydrotherapy (in an algae, salt, and bergamot-scented tub) and continued with a post-travel compress (my abdomen rubbed with cool mud and wrapped in a warm blanket) and proceeded to a deep-tissue massage followed by a hot-stone treatment. Stress? What stress?

There are plenty of things you can do to make traveling with very young children easier. Some of those things work — in theory. In practice, though? Well…
In theory: Taking an 8:10 p.m. flight — right at bedtime — would mean that my adorable 3-year-old and my angelic 16-month old would sleep on board, and we'd tuck their sweetly slumbering selves into their beds at my in-law’s home in Florida.
In practice: Not so much.
O. — he’s the baby — soaked through his diaper, his onesie, his cute little shirt, and his overalls before we had even cleared security. Of course, I had a gorgeous, brand-new, color-coordinated designer outfit for him in the diaper bag, which I whipped out in the beautifully appointed and clean changing area at the airport. Wait, what? Hahahahah… no. I whipped out a pair of pajamas that may have fit him 6 months ago and certainly did not fit him now, squeezed him into it while trying not to let him touch any visible surface in the ladies bathroom, and prayed that he wouldn’t have a blow-out on the plane.
L.–- she’s 3 — watched all sorts of wildly inappropriate cartoons and other televised programming in-flight and finally fell asleep 10 minutes before we landed in Fort Lauderdale. At 11:45 p.m. I’m opposed to the whole give-them-Benedryl-and-they-will-sleep school of traveling with small children, but there was a point there when I would have gladly given it a try. Except that I already know my kids are in that slim minority of people who get hyper, rather than sleepy, after taking antihistamines (unlike me, who conks out when a pink-and-white capsule is waved in my general direction).
In theory: There are things you can bring and things you can do to make traveling with small children easier.
Posted By Lylah M. Alphonse, Globe Staff

Magellan Press is out with a guide for hungry travelers: ''Where the Locals Eat: The 100 Best Restaurants in the Top 50 Cities.'' That's US cities, and Boston is included.

Entries include a range of food and prices. Boston restaurants include Brown Sugar Cafe for the best Thai and the Cask 'n Flagon for the best sports bar.

If you think the $11.95 price is too steep, particularly for a guide that includes only one New England city, check their website for more foodie news and blogs.

And if you have your own local winner, share your tip with us.

Dude, it'll never work in Boston.
The TSA (it's like Pavlov: I feel like I should shed my shoes and empty my pockets) is testing a system in Denver and Salt Lake City in an effort to speed security lines at airports: color-coded lanes.
How does it work? Think skiing. Green circle for beginners (families or those needing special assistance), blue squares for intermediates (a casual traveler, perhaps, but one who's been around the block a couple of times -- although never without multiple carry-ons), and black diamonds for experts (Special Forces in Gray Flannel camo with limited carry-ons and the rules of engagement with liquids, gels, laptops. and footwear tattooed on the insides of eyelids).
Basically, you decide which lane is for you, and in theory it makes the process more efficient and less stressful.
Earl Morris of TSA says that the tests are working well and that they will be completed in about a week in Denver, but that Salt Lake City will continue for the foreseeable future. He says the agency will look at possibly expanding it.
But let me be on the record first: It will never work here. Know why? Because here everyone would queue up as black diamond until it filled up and then the wise guys would start trying to speed the green one like a breakdown lane on the Expressway at rush hour. While yammering on the Bluetooth. And cursing. Never mind the new hand gestures the kids would learn.

It's peer group pressure, people. US Airways says that it will charge some passengers (i.e. those not in its frequent-flier program) $25 for a second checked bag, starting May 26. Sound familiar? It was just earlier this month, that United said it would was planning the same thing.
Hear that? It's the footsteps of all the other major carriers getting ready to queue up.

Travel with teens at your own peril: if your teenager isn’t happy on vacation, chances are no one’s happy. Some good news: Loews Hotels' ‘‘Edu-cations’’ are year-round packages that include a one- or two-night hotel stay and activities that will appeal to hard-to-please teens. Some examples: at Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego the teen package includes private surfing lessons on surfboards custom-designed to take home. At the Loews Vanderbilt in Nashville, a music package includes a song-writing session with songwriter Thom Shepherd, a Gibson acoustic guitar, and a one-hour guitar lesson. And on it goes: golf lessons for aspiring PGA pros at Loews Lake Las Vegas, a culinary arts package for would-be cooks at Loews Miami Beach Hotel, and even a behind-the-scenes look at the financial markets for executive wanna-bes at the Loews Regency Hotel in New York. These packages don’t come cheap: they cost between $600-$2,000. But for these one-of-a-kind experiences, your teen will owe you big time.

DAY SEVENTEEN

Last day in La-La Land. A full-circle day. For gifts and souvenirs, I buy bottles of my friends Litty and Melkon’s infused vodka, which is still not available in Mass; until then I’ll smuggle it like a bootlegger). I snag some merchandise -- CDs, shot glasses -- from my friend Sage’s band The Lucky Stars.

I run into Michelle, the friend I’ve been staying with, at Chango, the cafe that’s been my workspace. She’s finally beating her cough, but her boyfriend Sage is getting sick. Their son Weston sings silly songs and still tries to sneak up on me in the kitchen while I’m making dinner. I’ve enjoyed being part of this little family this past week.

I walk with Sage to the local school, his voting place, on Super Tuesday. After casting your vote in California, you get a voter-verifiable paper receipt. I like this. Proof you were there, part of democracy for a day. I lunch with another friend whose couch was my crash pad for two nights. If I total up my meals out over the past 16 days, I’ll be depressed. I don’t, and brace myself for the credit card bill.

Yo, Travel Dude, your life, well, it bites more and more. First off, you've got the dollar, which is tumbling like a drunken snake snowplowing down Tuckerman Ravine. And now there is further ugliness with frequent-flier miles.
US Airways says it will no longer give a minimum of 500 miles for a flight, instead giving credit only for actual miles. This puts a crack in what had been pretty much a longstanding policy throughout the industry that allowed many in the Gray Flannel Brigade and others to really rack up miles.
And you know that once one of them does it.... (Mrs. Maggi in 2nd grade warned you about the dangers of Peer Group Pressure)
It's not like a big surprise, though. The counters of airline beans have been shrinking that fine print for a while now, adding fees, cutting the value of miles, and making them expire so fast that, well, you've had bread around longer (and, bear in mind, you're the kind of person who thinks of the expiration date as merely a suggestion).
Death by a thousand paper cuts. Does this tick you off, or what?

DAY FIFTEEN AND SIXTEEN

The rains create green. I‘m told this phenomenon is unusual in LA at this time of year. In the backyard of the Echo Park address that’s been my home this past week, grass has shot up six or more inches in the bare patches. My wanderings up and down the hills reveal garden after garden, endless variation on the theme of survival. I even saw an espaliered magnolia -- in full
bloom. I don’t know how the plant life can hold out through the dry periods. Or manage the severe grades (the reputed steepest street in California, Fargo Street, is but a couple blocks away. Yes, even steeper than in San Fran).
But of course plant life doesn’t care about grades.

You don't need GPS in Boston when you rent through Avis. You can book a chauffeur instead.

Avis began testing its Chauffeur Drive service six months ago and it's caught on with business and leisure travelers. What began in 10 cities in June is now offered in more than 350 cities in Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

Avis's partner WeDriveU provides the drivers for $34.50 per hour (plus a 15% service charge), and there is a three-hour minimum per ride. See the Avis website for other details. The drivers can pick up the car and customer and later return the car to Avis. Or you can keep the car and drop the chauffeur off. Just don't do it in the middle of nowhere.

DAY FOURTEEN

The Echo Park Film Center, a non-profit,
community-based film and media center. The funky storefront has a small space for screenings and meetings, and best of all rents out old-school equipment like Super 8 alongside video and digital. The night I visited, the center hosted a DVD release party for a remarkable film, “This is the LA River,” a collaborative, lyrical, 16mm film made by 21 young people ages 14 and 19 about that neglected river that runs through Los Angeles’ heart --- and should be its soul.
Tinseltown ain’t known for its German expat community. So think of the Red Lion Tavern on Glendale in Echo Park as a biergarten theme park --- greenery-draped back patio, white beer steins lining the walls, plates of knackwurst, bratwurst and bockwurst, and a dozen beers on tap like Bitburger and the dark Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel, brews normally absent at most American bars. And yes, waitresses in lederhosen.
Posted by Ethan Gilsdorf, Globe Correspondent

Long Beach is nice. The Queen Mary summers there -- and springs, falls, and winters, too. But face it: It ain't LA. JetBlue knows this. So on May 21 the discounter, which already flies to Long Beach, will start daily nonstops between Logan and LAX (no, Whitney, we don't mean lacrosse). The carrier is also offering the obligatory introductory fare: $159 each way when booked online by Feb. 22 for travel by June 14.
Yet another event in an already big month. The carrier was already throwing itself an 8th anniversary party with round-trip flights in the treat bags. You hadn't heard? Check it out: 100 TrueBlue flight club members will be picked in the sweepstakes to win a round trip, and each winner gets to give away seven other flights to friends or family -- or whatever (yes, I know you have very complex relationships).
The fine print: Enter from now through Feb. 29; you must be a TrueBlue member (but you can sign up for free); and cough up the names and e-mails of seven other people (JetBlue promises they will only use this info for good -- i.e., to let them know they won -- and not for evil -- i.e., sell them out to Spam Meisters or other satanic cults).
Truly there is magic in the air.

So, communing with nature sounds great to you -- in theory at least. But the allure of the great outdoors pales a bit when you find the accompanying living conditions a bit too ... outdoorsy, shall we say. Perhaps the latest iteration will make you a more enthusiastic outdoors enthusiast. It’s called “glamping,” or glamour camping, and it combines the best of both worlds for those so inclined: a wilderness camp setting with deluxe comforts, such as hot showers, daily maid service, plush-top king beds, triple-sheeted linens, and gourmet cuisine. These amenities are available in what is billed as California’s newest backcountry “tent hotel,” the Sequoia High Sierra Camp. The camp is perched at 8,200 feet in Giant Sequoia National Monument in Central California, about three hours north of Los Angeles. Guests can drive their own vehicle to a trailhead, then hike an easy, well-marked 1-mile trail to the camp, or hike a moderately strenuous 12-mile route which takes an average of 8 hours, starting at neighboring Sequoia National Park. Recreation options include scenic day hikes and abundant fly fishing, with a picnic lunch. Three California-style gourmet meals prepared by an on-site chef are included in the daily rates, which are $250 per person. Operating dates for the 2008 season are June 13-Oct. 5, weather permitting. Hey, even glamour campers must occasionally bow to the elements. For more information, go here or call 866-654-2877.

DAY THIRTEEN

“I wouldn’t be talking to myself if someone would just talk to me,” grumbles a disturbed young woman in a flowery dress at Chango, the cafe that’s become my de facto workplace. “And the coffee here [expletive],” she adds, storming out with this further insult: tossing a cup of some liquid at the front window.

She could have been an actress. This could have been performance art. But I doubt it. It’s just an unhappy LA day for her.
The morning seems grimmer than others this week, overcast, over-bleached. Or just over-exposed. A woman next to me is

also from out of town, visiting friends, haunting cafes. She can’t get the wireless signal to work, either. Nothing’s going right. And I’m anxious
about being on vacation for so long. Do I deserve this break? Love my neuroses.

I’m still wandering Echo Park. Struck by the composition of a mural of palm trees in a school
playground and actual palm tress in the distance. I snap a picture. The school recess monitor
yells at me, “Hey! You can’t take photos here!” I apologize. She radios the front office anyway. I
leave. (Oddly, I run into her a few hours later on Sunset Blvd and explain again: No, ma’am, I am not a terrorist or a child molester. Honest.)

On the walk home, I see a house and garage set into the hill, completely wrapped in a orange- and green-striped tarpaulin. Like a wedding tent, or an inflatable Moonwalk for a birthday party. Or a Christo-wrapped art project.

But no. The home’s been sealed off for some anti-termite fumigation. Do not enter, kids. This
anti-art project/Bounce House can kill.