Airports earn a big chunk (and in some cases a majority) of their non-aeronautical income from on-site parking fees, which offer convenience in exchange for rates which are often a few bucks more per day than off-site lots.

In general, there are plenty of parkers to go around. But with folks cutting back on travel – and trying to squeeze more out of their travel budgets – there are more open empty stalls at airport parking lots than ever before.

Maybe that’s why Nashville International Airport (BNA) is offering to accept off-site competitor’s parking coupons until November 15.

According to the airport’s press release:

“Valid coupons from any competing parking service will be honored and applied toward parking fees accrued when customers utilize any of BNA’s parking lots. Off-airport parking companies in the immediate vicinity of BNA are considered competitors…. Competitors’ coupons can be applied toward parking fees accrued in the valet, short-term, long-term and economy parking lots…”

Once the holidays are over, I predict we’ll see more matching offers like this at other airport parking lots. And then, it’s anyone bet when airports will adopt the grocery store idea of offering “double coupons” days. I’m all for it.

Categories: Parking
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Well, this is kind of a sneaky way for airlines to make air travelers check their bags – and a sneaky way for at least one airline to squeeze more bucks out of bag check fees.

Earlier this month Continental Airlines announced that it would not only charge coach travelers $25 to check a second piece of luggage, it would also begin charging $15 for the first checked bag.

Continental isn’t the first airline to do this – American, United, Delta, and Northwest Airlines are among the other airlines that have also cut the size of acceptable carry-ons in the past few months.

A few linear inches may not seem like a big deal when it comes to luggage. But if push comes to shove – and it often does these days with passengers jostling for overhead space on planes – it can make the difference between snagging that bin and getting your bag gate-checked – for a fee.

So get out your tape measure and make sure your carry-on fits the new – smaller – guidelines.

Categories: Baggage, Fees
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(Illustration by MSNBC.com’s Duane Hoffman)

Earlier this month, TSA officers scanning luggage at the Tucson International Airport (TUS) discovered a human skull inside a passenger’s suitcase. When pulled off the plane and questioned, the woman told police that the skull wasn’t technically hers (it belonged to her boyfriend), that it had been sitting in her garden for years and that it was scheduled to be a Halloween prop.

According to news reports, police searched the woman’s home, a medical examiner confirmed that the skull was “not fresh” (my words, not his) and the woman was allowed to, ahem, head on north to Philadelphia and complete her trip.

The skull stayed behind.

This is just one of the recent scary travel stories, “ripped from the headlines,” included in my Well-Mannered Traveler column on MSNBC.com this week. With Halloween still a week away, I’m asking MSNBC readers – and you – to send in more spooky travel adventure tales.

The best stories will mysteriously show up in next week’s column. I even have a guest curator lined up.

Categories: Weird, Well-Mannered Traveler
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I’m a big fan of the Vancouver International Airport.

It has lots of great art, a couple of spas, play areas for kids, and a nice selection of restaurant and shops, including (already!) boutiques where you can stock up on official souvenirs, clothing, mascots and collectibles for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

The airport also has a hotel – the Fairmont Vancouver Airport – which showed up as the #4 hotel in Canada on the most recent Conde Nast Readers’ Choice Awards.

What got this airport hotel on the list? I’m not sure, but maybe it’s the 575 cubic-foot, fish freezer for travelers heading home from fishing trips. Or maybe it’s the short-stay “Quiet Zone” floor where everyone tiptoes around from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m and no one is allowed to knock on your door.

Categories: Souvenirs, Sports
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Last summer, these two dinosaurs from the Royal Ontario Museum took up residence in the Terminal 1 International Arrivals area of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.

The display features an “action” scene of a large Allosaurus bearing down on an Othnielia that has tripped to the ground. But it doesn’t include the ‘given names’ of these two creatures.

So the airport has been running a ‘Name the Dinosaurs’ contest.

I’ve suggested Bert & Ernie or Thelma and Louise.

Think you can come up with better names? Hurry and send them in. The contest deadline is October 31.

You can get more details and enter the contest here.

And don’t forget: there are also dinosaurs on display in at least two other airports in North America:

A giant replica of a Brachiosaurus skeleton towers over the Field Museum store in Terminal One at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and, at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, there’s a replica of a 33-foot-long dinosaur in the airport atrium. The Yangchuanosaurus skeleton is on loan from Atlanta’s Fernbank Museum of Natural History.

Categories: Exhibits, Museums
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