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See your bag in this dumpster, located behind a Houston pet store? If so, contact Continental Airlines.

The dumpster was filled with 68 bags, most of which were headed to international destinations. Fantastic.

Interestingly, one woman whose bag was found in the dumpster didn’t even fly to, from, or through Houston. At least she got her stuff back, and didn’t have to buy it again from the Unclaimed Baggage Center…

Related:
- Lost luggage doesn’t disappear, it just goes to Alabama

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Using frequent flyer miles to upgrade on American Airlines? The company is making those miles worth less by increasingly requiring cash co-payments.

For international routes, the co-payment goes up $50, but more importantly, they’re introducing a cash co-payment requirement for upgrades on flights between Hawaii and the mainland. This is something they never did before.

Here’s the official line:

Effective March 1, 2007, a nonrefundable co-payment of $150 will be required to claim Upgrade Awards used with most Discount and Deep Discount Economy fares when traveling between the Continental U.S. / Canada / Mexico / the Caribbean and Hawaii. Additionally, effective March 1, 2007, the co-payment that applies to Upgrade Awards between North America and Europe, India, Japan/Northern China, and Deep South America will be increasing to $300.

Even with a co-pay, Upgrade Awards provide AAdvantage members with exceptional value since they can be used with deeply discounted tickets. With fares so low, the disparity between Discount and Premium Class fares is too great to be offset by miles alone. Rather than limit Upgrade Awards to full-fare tickets only, the addition of a co-pay will allow members to continue to use their miles to upgrade even if they purchase discounted fare tickets.

Gary Leff expressed his disdain for this change, especially regarding the Hawaii fees, and I agree with him. American has been charging money for international flights for some time (boo, hiss) but they’ve been getting away with it, so it’s no big change. Sure, money is money, and $50 each way is not nothing, but the new fees for Hawaii are the bigger issue.

From the airline’s point of view, this is understandable, since there are bound to be plenty of people (say, honeymooners) willing to pay. But why stop there? Sure, demand outstrips supply for upgrades to Hawaii, but the same could be said of flights between L.A. and New York. Why not charge fees for those, too? Heck, charge for every upgrade!… Sadly, it could happen.

Full details of AA’s new upgrade policy are here.

French startup airline L’Avion, formerly known as Elysair, is offering 999 tickets between New York (Newark, actually) and Paris for $999 round trip. The first 999 buyers get the fare, so this is obviously limited.

And remember, this isn’t in coach. This is on board their all-business-class Boeing 757s. Travel much be completed by March 31, 2007, and there are no refunds.

Click here to book.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has ruled that Virgin America, the long-planned low-cost airline that shares the Virgin name with Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic, is ineligible to receive an operating certificate in the United States. The reason: The regulatory body considers the airline to be under foreign control, and American law does not permit more than 25% of the voting stock of any airline to be in the hands of non-U.S. citizens.

This is all just silly, and it strikes me as anti-consumer protectionism, pure and simple. The other airlines don’t want the competition, and the government is letting them get away with it. For example, Continental Airlines argues that the Virgin America CEO is effectively a foreigner, even though he’s American. Why? Because he was the British firm’s choice.

But in an age of global capitalism, aren’t these citizenship tests and percentage calculations increasingly meaningless? And why is 25% some magical threshold? I might even understand the argument that you would want to require a domestic majority for some national interests, but why is a 75% supermajority necessary?

The whole thing smacks of greed, wrapped in the flag. And with airlines trying to merge, with the publicly stated goal of decreasing competition and pushing up airfares, we need all the competition we can get. Regardless of nationality.

Related:
- Will foreign ownership of airlines mean lower prices?
- US-EU open skies treaty dead in the water, so to speak

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Upgrade: Travel Better is officially taking a few days off. May your holidays be good ones, and may you maintain that slim and sexy figure you’ve had for so long, despite the end-of-year gluttony. If you’re stuck at an airport, thanks to Denver’s snow or London’s fog, good luck getting to your destination, and safe travels.

But before returning to the feasting, here are a couple considerations for travel in the new year:

- Traveling to America’s national parks in 2007? Consider the $50 National Park Pass, valid for one year, while you still can. In the new year, the price goes up to $80 and the name changes to the “America the Beautiful Pass.” Same pass, new name, higher price. Buy now to save thirty bucks. (via Tim Leffel)

- Traveling in low season is always a good way to save money. But when IS the low season? CheapTickets has compiled a short list of the lowest of the low seasons, with the average hotel stay discount, measured from the peak. Some aren’t that helpful — Phoenix in June? But others are good to know, such as Hawaii in May.

- Through January 3, Air Canada is selling all-you-can-fly “Welcome Aboard” passes for as little as $229 (Canadian) per month, depending on destination. Flight days are limited (e.g., Tuesdays and Saturdays) and the rate goes up as you include a broader geographic range. And unfortunately, you can’t use the passes to rack up miles — you only receive a fixed number of miles per month. But it may be worth your while if you’re traveling within Canada or to/from the United States. FAQs are here. (Thanks to reader Ian!)

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