Q. I need expert advice on purchasing medical evacuation insurance for a trip that includes a cruise through the Baltic this August. I want the best insurance that gives us our choice of hospital, not decided by the insurer, as well as the most reliable planes to return us to our home in California. We are healthy, but feel that it is prudent to have. Any tips?

A. Read on...

Q. We plan on taking a family vacation to Europe next year. Since there will be six of us flying, I plan on using a credit card to rack up extra miles. I currently have Delta and American Airlines card, but even with the added miles from this vacation, I think I have a ways to go before getting enough for a free ticket. Plus some of the better fares I'm seeing these days are on other airlines. Is there a particular credit card you recommend?

A. For a little guidance, check out our previous Q&As on frequent flyer cards here.

Q. When I signed up to receive fare alerts, I thought I'd only be receiving updates about the particular destination I'm interested in. Instead of getting info on flights from Portland to Lihue, I'm getting fares to everywhere else from Portland, and from everywhere else to Lihue. Not useful to me.

Have a somehow subscribed to your service improperly? Please advise.

A. Sounds like you signed up for a Departure CIty alert from Portland, and an Arrival City alert to Lihue, when all you really wanted to sign up for was a City-to-City Alert between Portland and Lihue.

Remember, we have three different types of alerts. The City-to-City is route specific. The Departure City alert, which is a list of all the fares for travel from the chosen city.  The Arrival City alert, which is a list of fares for travel to a chosen city.

You can manage your settings any time on our Update My Account page.  Make sure you hit the "update" button to save any changes.  You can also unsubscribe on that page, should you choose.

Q. I used to get Airfarewatchdog fare alerts  to my email. I think I may have accidently sent it to my junk folder. How can I reverse this and start receiving newsletters from you guys again?

A. In order to maintain our reputation as legitimate email in the eyes of all the Gmails, Yahoos, Hotmails, and AOLs of the world (as opposed to spam), we must adhere to strict policy when sending out all of our mailings, newsletters, and fare alerts here at Airfarewatchdog. If you've ever marked any of these items as spam, not only will you cease receiving our fare alerts, but you'll find it impossible to sign yourself up again using the same email address. Yes, a tad frustrating but them's the rules and we must play by them. So how do you get around this? Aside from signing up again under a different email address, you can contact us directly and let us know you'd like to be re-subscribed with your original email address.

Q. What's the deal with Y-Up and Q-Up fares?

A. These are restricted (as in there is a cancellation/change penalty) economy class fares that are cheaper than full fare economy class, and seated in first or business class.

You can find them on Travelocity or on the airline's web sites directly by choosing business or first class with restrictions when you do your search, or you can call the airlines directly and ask for them.

They are not offered on all routes, and they're not exactly cheap, but hey, they're definitely less than those refundable full fare economy fares, and you get to sit in business/first class.

These fares can be especially handy for business travelers looking to skirt office policy against buying business class fares.

Q: I have 3 children ages 8, 9, and 10 who need to get to Chicago from Las Vegas, traveling alone. They are going to see their grandfather for possibly the last time. I have contacted several agencies and they say they don't handle this type of reservation. I have contacted the airlines directly and found out there is a $99 dollar "escort fee" each way. My problem is that I can't get a decent lower fee on another airline. Can you possibly help me with that?

A: From the looks of things, you contacted United Airlines, which does indeed now charge $99 each way (a few months ago, they were charging $150!; American, Continental, Delta, and US Air charge $100 each way). If you were only sending one child, you’d be much better off sending him or her from Chicago Midway on Southwest, which only charges $25 per child each way. However, United’s $99 fee (each way) covers two or more children traveling on the same flight. You’ll still save money paying $75 ($25 times three) each way on Southwest, but only if Southwest’s fare is lower than United’s. Airfarewatchdog wonders if it really costs United and other airlines with high unaccompanied minor fees $200 round-trip, in actual expenses, to provide this service; or is this just yet another profit center for the airlines?

Q. I want to fly roundtrip Seattle to San Jose, Costa Rica in business/first. I can't get flights that work using my award miles (I have a very tight itinerary), and the business class fares for the full trip are more than I'd like to spend.
 
However, I've discovered that I can use Alaska Airlines miles for roundtrip from Seattle to Dallas in first class, and purchase a roundtrip business class ticket on American Airlines from Dallas to San Jose, Costa Rica, for a reasonable price.
 
Is there any reason not to do this? Will I be able to check my bags through or would I be forced to re-check bags between flights? I have a lot of baggage including a scuba rebreather. American and Alaska are codeshare partners, if that helps.

A. To check and see if your bags can go all the way through, just call the airlines to see if they have inter-lining agreements in both directions.  If you book your flights separately, the disadvantage could be that if the first flight of the day is delayed to the point that you miss the connecting flight, it could be quite a nightmare.  If you do this, make sure that it's possible to have your itinerary booked as one trip (even with different forms of "payment") so that they'll take responsibility for getting you to your final destination should you miss a leg of your journey due to an unforeseen delay.

Q. How can airlines book a flight and then send us an email notifying us that flight times and even number of stops have been changed?

We had booked a non-stop from Minneapolis to Honolulu in September and they notified us the outgoing flight was changing to a 1 stop and it would no longer be the nicer A330 but a 757 instead, and that no upgrades to 1st class were available.  We chose the flight based on the airplane and the flight times.  Doesn't seem quite right.

A. It isn't right. But unfortunately there are no government rules or regulations to prevent this from happening, and it does far too often. You could, of course, ask for a refund, but rebooking another ticket may end up being pretty expensive on such short notice.

As we've said before (and surely you've noticed), passenger rights in the US is in a pretty sorry state. To find out what you can do to help push the Passengers' Bill of Rights, visit Flyersrights.org.

Q. I know many airlines have weekend specials (rarely all that special) to try and fill empty seats. Why don't they offer any TRUE last minute deals? For instance, there is/was an airline in Germany that allowed potential passengers to come to the airport, bags packed, and they'd be booked on any open flights with empty seats, and at deep deep discounts. The hitch was that passengers wouldn't know where they might be going until moments before boarding.

So why don't our airlines reduce fares for last minute travel? Doesn't it make more sense for them to fill a half empty plane and make some money off those seats? Or are they concerned passengers will begin waiting until the last few hours to try and catch a good deal?

A. In the past, a number of years ago, many airlines did allow passengers to wait at the airport for last minute booking of travel at substantial savings. This has been discontinued mainly because they have gotten much more efficient at filling seats and reducing/increasing capacity on routes, mostly due to their ability to track numbers and trends more quickly. Another factor, the price of fuel has reached the point where it's probably cheaper to fly a lighter plane than just fill seats for a small payment.

Q.  Would it be possible to mention/list the actual fees, taxes, etc that will be added on to a so-called low fare? They often amount to many times the stated ticket price, especially for international travel!

A. The fees and taxes for foreign travel can be especially daunting, which is why we almost always include taxes and fees for our international fares. Plus, the information is more readily available to us than for the domestic fares that we find (and of course, we note it right after the price that taxes and fees are included and we note it on the Fare Details page for you too!)  If we don't note that taxes and fees are included, you can safely assume that they are not.

The main reason why it's difficult to include taxes and fees is that they are so variable.  It's much less time consuming to list the base price, which is common practice.  (After all, even when you go to a retail store, a restaurant or shop online, the taxes and delivery fees are added in when you make your purchase.)

Some of the variables include:

 A federal segment fee for each takeoff.  So depending on whether you choose a non-stop or a connecting flight, the fee will change.  The number of connections changes this fee as well.

Facility fees charged by the airports.  These vary depending on the specific airports that are included in your itinerary.  And again, the more connections, the more fees.

The TSA charges a security fee and that varies depending on the airport.

The airline itself can charge fees, including a fuel surcharge.  Theoretically, you're supposed to see this in the base price, but anecdotal evidence suggests that this not always the case.