Travel

There's a lot more to picking out luggage than you might think: Buy the wrong bag, even at a great price, and you'll soon find you're paying for it over and over again.

Airlines are offering more deals to passengers who book flights directly on their websites. It's an effort to steer people away from online travel agencies such as Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity, which charge the carriers commissions of roughly $10 to $25 a ticket.

Travel sites like Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity and Priceline say they offer the best deals -- but are we being played? A new lawsuit alleges they not only don't give us the lowest prices, but actually conspire with hotel chains to fix prices and prevent competitors from offering cheaper rooms.

American Airlines and US Airways are one step closer to a potential merger. The companies said Friday they signed legal documents allowing them to confidentially exchange information. But a deal is still far from reality.

As much as customers hate them, baggage fees and other tacked-on charges for travelers have made a huge difference to the bottom lines of airlines.

United Airlines says it has a deal with union negotiators on a new labor contract with its own pilots and those from the former Continental Airlines -- an important step in creating a single workforce at the company, which underwent a merger in 2010.

For years, medical tourists have been going to other countries to get better deals on expensive procedures. But sometimes, cheap medical work can come with a high price -- as the recent case of a Florida woman's dental implants gone wrong illustrates.