Baggage

Major airlines flew more on-time flights, lost less baggage and received fewer complaints in April, according to the Transportation Department's monthly consumer report released Tuesday. The department said airlines in April reported the highest on-time rate in six months--83.4%, an 11% improvement over the previous month. Delays due to mechanical problems are not counted. Passengers filed reports of lost baggage in April at the rate of 6.15 for every 1,000 passengers, compared to 7.53 in March.

ThANKS to Jane Engle for alerting us to another airline problem ["With New Rules, It Pays to Travel Light," Travel Insider, April 17]. The new luggage fees are a poorly disguised increase in airline ticket fees. It is insulting to airline passengers to cite injuries to baggage handlers and flight attendants as a reason for the new weight limits. It's clear that the airlines are desperate to generate new revenue sources. The big question: What will they go for next? Fees for using the lavatories?

Ever since Amtrak banned passengers from bringing firearms onto its trains, a step it took shortly after 9/11, the gun lobby has been working hard to get weapons back on board. While this campaign would hardly seem appropriate for a country with terrorism concerns, such has been the case. Part of the eight-year delay has been due to the difficulty of resolving security issues. One problem, for instance, is that many Amtrak stations across the country are little more than a platform and two tracks, and they don't have the personnel to inspect or check luggage, let alone monitor whether weapons are properly stored and secured.

An Australian court sentenced a former Qantas Airways baggage handler wanted on terrorism-related charges in Lebanon to 12 years in prison for publishing a do-it-yourself jihad book on the Internet. A New South Wales state Supreme Court jury found Belal Khazaal, 39, guilty of making a document that could assist terrorism. The book is not linked with a known attack. The Lebanese-born resident of Sydney denied the charge and said the book was not intended to incite terrorist acts.

Regarding "New Polish on a Treasured Mission Jewel" [Weekend Escape, Sept. 12]: In July I boarded Amtrak with my two granddaughters at the Solano Beach station. After spending five minutes in seats, we and everyone else in the car were told to move. We could find no seats, so we stood for 1 1/2 hours. The stairs were full -- kids were sitting in baggage racks. In San Juan Capistrano, a conductor told us there was an empty car, four cars back. That is where we had been seated at the start of our trip.

Wright has certified that his total net worth barely exceeds his annual government salary of $97,900 (Part I, June 11). If true, it's shocking that a man who is so absurdly inept in managing his own finances could hold such an important position in Congress! Tragically, the sleaze problem is both bipartisan and growing. But we get what we pay for. It's disgraceful that San Francisco street sweepers and airline baggage handlers earn almost as much as we pay our national leaders.

A 54-year-old man died Monday after being pulled from a machine in a facility leased by Qantas at Los Angeles International Airport, city fire officials said. Paramedics tried to revive the man, whose name was not released, after finding him upside down at the bottom of a large conveyance machine used to store and move baggage trailers. He was not breathing, his chin pressed to his chest. It was unclear how he had been injured.

Re "Tighter Purse for Air Safety," editorial, April 21: Air safety has become a major issue after Sept. 11. Its importance is so huge that Congress has given the Transportation Security Administration more than $6 billion to spend on upgrading safety in airports. High-tech equipment is one of the resolutions that the TSA is considering, and why shouldn't it; after all, it does have $6 billion in spending cash. Yet there is some practical reasoning that can be used for tighter air security.

In the last 30 days I have been doing a fair share of flying, taking 15 flights throughout the United States and Canada. I flew Eastern on the shuttle from Boston to New York; Delta from Jackson Hole, Wyo., to Salt Lake City; United from Los Angeles to Chicago; PSA from San Francisco to Burbank; America West from Baltimore to Phoenix; Cathay Pacific from San Francisco to Vancouver, and Continental from Chicago to Denver. The score card is not a pretty one.

Spend time at any airline terminal, train or bus station and it becomes obvious: The world is divided into light packers and take-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink packers. How can it be that some of us manage a 21-day tour of Europe with a carry-on bag while others need suitcase upon suitcase for a weekend up the coast? But those packing habits, say mental health experts, may actually be a reflection of our personal characteristics and anxieties.