Airline Tickets

Buying airline tickets free on the Web is becoming a thing of the past. Internet travel seller Expedia recently began charging a $5 booking fee for airline tickets. Rival Travelocity plans to match the move next year. The airline-owned Orbitz site first imposed a fee in December 2001. The fee for Expedia, www.expedia.com, is designed to help the site "maintain the high quality of service" despite reductions in airline commissions, a spokeswoman said.

The NCAA restored the eligibility of Cincinnati forward Ruben Patterson, but said he must sit out 14 games for accepting illegal benefits. Athletic Director Bob Goin said he would appeal the suspension. If the suspension is upheld, Patterson, who has missed Cincinnati's first three games, would not be able to play until the Bearcats' Jan. 18 game at Louisville. The university last month forwarded an appeal on behalf of Patterson to the NCAA. Patterson, a senior, averaged 13.7 points and 5.

A G-rated solution to films on planes Regarding Catharine Hamm's On the Spot column ["G for Gee Whiz," April 11]: Delta screwed up by incorrectly categorizing "Weeds"; however, she appears to be overreacting with the suggestion that we should "leave ... serial killers on the ground." Does this include "The Sopranos," "Fargo" or the excellent "In Bruges"? Perhaps airlines could set up the system so that parents could set their kids' viewer to allow only kids' entertainment.

Question: If I'm holding airline tickets for an upcoming Costa trip - the Concordia, which collided with rocks and ran aground on Jan. 13, was scheduled to sail again from Rome (Civitavecchia) on Jan. 20 - will Costa give me back my money? Answer: It should, but whether it will remains unclear. The issue for passengers on upcoming cruises is this: If they bought an air-sea package - that is, their cruise fare and airfare together - from Costa, they might have some recourse.

Massachusetts' 1996 Final Four finish--its best ever--was stripped by the NCAA on Thursday over former star Marcus Camby's acceptance of gifts from a sports agent. The NCAA Executive Committee, meeting in Pebble Beach, also determined that Massachusetts must return $151,000 in tournament money.

I counted the number of Los Angeles-to-London air fares advertised in a recent Times Travel Section, and came up with 27 different offerings. Only a few ads were by airlines. The rest were by a variety of travel companies. Round-trip rates ranged from $399 to $638, one way from $229 to $368. There aren't 27 airlines serving London from Los Angeles, so how can all these fares exist? Welcome to the sometimes complex buy-and-sell world of low-price air tickets.

Virgin Australia , JetStar and Qantas airlines Tuesday canceled hundreds of flights in and out of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra due to the volcanic ash cloud from Chile, which has circled the globe and swirled into airspace in southeastern Australia. Thousands of passengers were stranded. But airlines planned to resume service Wednesday as the plume appears to be heading toward the Tasman Sea and away from Australian air space. Carriers were shooting for 2 p.m. Wednesday for resuming domestic and international flights in and out of Sydney.

"Are these the shadows of the things that will be, or are they shadows of things that may be?" Scrooge asks the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come in "A Christmas Carol. " That's pretty much how I feel about dire predictions for holiday travel that come out around this time each year, and I'm just as confused as Scrooge about whether they are "shadows" of what could be or what will be. Priceline, for example, calculated an average airfare for the holiday season by looking at a months' worth of airline tickets the company booked for travel between Dec. 16 and Jan. 3. The result: $473, a 14% increase from last year.

The price you see is the price you pay. That was the ruling of a U.S. appeals court, which upheld a federal rule that requires airlines to advertise the full price passengers pay for airline tickets. As of January, the federal rule required airlines operating in the U.S. to prominently display the full ticket price, including taxes and fees, such as fuel surcharges. Under the rule, airlines can display a base price, separate from fees and taxes but that fare must be shown less prominently and in smaller print.