Q. I recently took a flight on Jet Blue. When I checked in I was told my second bag would cost $40 each way! It used to cost $10 each way. I really believe that fees this high should be included in the cost of the ticket instead of trying to hide them from you when you do comparisons on websites. On the return flight the nice lady at the counter said she would turn the two bags into one. And with that I started thinking. I asked her to weigh both at the same time. They came in at 50 pounds total, so no overweight charge. So why we can’t strap two bags together and call them one? No fees!

A. Sounds like a great idea, as long as you don’t go over size limits, after which extra fees kick in anyway. If your combined bags measure more than 63 linear inches (width plus length plus height), you’ll start racking up enormous fees. On Delta, for example, that fee will be $175 each way. So it’s not just weight that you need to worry about. So as long as your bags are too big and you’re carrying some duct tape, go for it.