Baggage

Sunday at the U.S. Open was a day devoid of drama and dripping with adoration. The prodigy from Northern Ireland, the 22-year-old with the curly hair and the charming manner, had faced down the demons of failures past and conquered the golf tournament most demonizing of all. Rory McIlroy had done it. The $1.44-million first prize was nice. So were records he established by shooting 65-66-68-69 for a 16-under-par 268, the lowest 72-hole total in the history of this event. Or the 17 under par that he twice reached, lower than any other player before him at any point in the previous 110 U.S. Opens, when he made a birdie after narrowly missing a hole in one on the scary 10th hole and another birdie on No. 16. Photos: 2011 U.S. Open What was really nice was that golf had a new, and needed, hero.

"Playgrounds. " It's just one word, but it's Elisabeth Moss' favorite line from her four seasons of pretty great lines on "Mad Men. " Moss delivers that word during the fourth-season episode "The Suitcase," essentially a two-character show featuring Moss' earnest copywriter Peggy Olson and her mercurial boss, Don Draper (Jon Hamm). The story takes the characters through the course of a long evening, ending with Don breaking down after learning that his friend Anna, "the only person who really knew" him, has died.

The nation's largest airlines collected $3.4 billion in fees charged to passengers for checking luggage last year, a 24% increase over 2009, according to new federal data released Monday. The baggage fees are not the only extra revenue collected by airlines. The airlines last year also took in $2.3 billion in fees charged to passengers to change reservations, down about 3% from the previous year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The agency has yet to calculate other miscellaneous airline revenue for 2010, including charges for in-flight food and beverages, and fees to board early, to access in-flight Wi-Fi services and to transport pets, among other charges.

Want a fur pouch messenger bag from Weird Al Yankovich or a briefcase signed by Donald Trump? Celebrity luggage and baggage went on the auction block Tuesday in a special sale aimed at raising money for charity and sponsored by JetBlue Airways . More than 50 celebrities, from actors to athletes and designers, donated items for the airline to sell. Two round-trip tickets on JetBlue come tucked inside the luggage too. Bidding on items in the Celebrity Baggage Auction started Tuesday on Ebay and will continue until Monday.

Question: My husband and I recently traveled on KLM from LAX to Amsterdam. We used Transportation Security Administration-regulated locks on our suitcases, which we've done several times. When we arrived in Amsterdam, the locks were missing, and there was no note that the luggage had been searched. Nothing had been disturbed; it looked as though someone had merely removed the locks and kept them — theft, pure and simple. This is a small thing, but I find it quite upsetting that a TSA employee committed this petty crime.

Get ready to get lost at Orange County's John Wayne Airport (SNA), where gates will be renumbered next week so that new gates coming in the fall won't be out of sequence. Fortunately, extra people will be on hand to direct you. Starting Tuesday, gates and baggage carousels will be numbered sequentially from north to south, the airport said Wednesday in a statement. The new layout will reverse the current order. For example, Gate 14 will become Gate 2. Newly renumbered Gates 1A, 1B and 1C will serve the North Commuter Terminal, and Gates 16A and 16B will serve the South Commuter Terminal.

OK, it's official: Bud Selig has taken over control of the Lakers. Next, the Los Angeles Unified Schools. After that, the lousy little sandwich joint in Glendale that always skimps on the pickles. But it is with these Lakers he can make the most difference. Task No. 1: Get Andrew Bynum to keep his clothes on. Task No. 2: Hire Coach K from Duke, the only hoops coach in America with the chops to follow Phil Jackson, keep Kobe's attention and begin a new era without the usual five-year reconstruction period.

It should have been Myleen and Jan Sjodin's greatest happiness. Their newborn was healthy, they were in exotic India and, following Myleen's uterine cancer, their surrogacy was successful. Instead, the Toronto couple claim, it all turned into a nightmare as the doctor hiked her fees just before the baby was born, hitting them at their psychologically weakest point. She also didn't pay outside hospital bills and tried to use India's infamous bureaucracy to delay their homecoming, the couple say. "We were robbed of our joy as first-time parents," Jan Sjodin said.

Baggage scofflaws and their scoffers Regarding "Bag-Fee Dodger" [On the Spot, March 27] by Catharine Hamm: My wife and I recently returned from a 15-day cruise. We flew to Miami, Miami to Rio de Janeiro, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Dallas, and Dallas to LAX, all on American. The American Airlines representative's quote in the article about gate agents asking passengers to check excess items is nonsense. At no time was the carry-on bag rule enforced. I saw people carrying oversized bags, two or three bags plus a laptop computer and musical instruments and tennis rackets into the cabin as carry-on luggage.

Question : On a recent American Airlines flight, we were appalled that some people tried to board with oversize baggage, which the airline then sent through like the rest of the checked baggage. They paid nothing for this, whereas we paid $50 for two pieces of luggage each way. The airline should make these people step aside while everyone else boards and make them pay accordingly. Do we complain to the Federal Aviation Administration or another government agency to correct this? Sam Davis Woodland Hills Answer: The FAA and the Transportation Security Administration have a common goal, which is to ensure passenger safety.