February 2008 Archives

One of the best parts of going on vacation is looking at all the pictures you took.

We're building on our new online Travel photo gallery, and we'd love to get a few of your best shots in there. We're especially looking for fun photos with people in them. (Although we like those beautiful sunrise and landscape shots, too.)

If you have any you'd like to share, shoot them to me in an email at lrackl@suntimes.com, along with your name, hometown and a very brief description of what we're looking at.

United Airlines recently announced it will begin charging passengers $25 to check in a second piece of luggage for domestic travel if they aren't part of its most-frequent-flier programs.

News reports said the change takes effect May 5. Travelers would have to log at least 25,000 miles in a year on United to be able to check their second bag for free.

It's the latest move in a string of extra charges being tacked on for everything from assigned seats to snacks.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty sick of being nickeled and dimed to death, especially when flying is as much fun these days as cleaning the bathroom. Make that the airport's bathroom.

What do you think? Is United's extra charge fair or foul?

Having just spent the better part of Tuesday sitting in the Montreal airport because my connecting flight to Chicago was delayed, I for one am happy to hear that United Airlines is starting daily nonstop service from Chicago to Quebec City as of June 5.

The timing is good because this is an excellent year to visit this historic city. That's because it turns 400 this year and a bunch of activities and special events are planned to help in the celebration.

As for details of the flight, the Quebec airport says this: