Questions Answered

The Houston Chronicle offered up a bit of service journalism on Saturday in answering its readers questions about the United-Continental cooperation. As for my quip last week regarding the checked baggage issue, the Chronicle clues us in on how Alaska and American are dealing with it. Essentially, it all comes down to your first flight:

Q: How about the whole checked-bag fee issue?
A: ....United hasn't started charging the fee yet, but American Airlines has, even though one of its domestic partners, Alaska Airlines, has not.Alaska Airlines spokesman Paul McElroy said in cases in which a flight involves both carriers, the fee is charged based on which plane the passengers board first. In other words, flying from Austin to Seattle using both carriers, a passenger would pay the fee on the initial American leg before switching to Alaska in Los Angeles. Coming back, the passenger would not pay the fee boarding Alaska, even though the homebound leg would be on American.