by Wendy Perrin

So I was supposed to fly to Atlanta with my family this morning. Had to cancel at the last minute (you don't want to know) and was faced with a whopping $600 in ticket-change fees ($150 x 4 people). Rather than apply the value of our tickets toward a future flight -- which would have meant shelling out $600 plus the fare difference between the amount I paid and the price of the new tickets -- it was far cheaper for me just to forfeit the cost of the tickets altogether and start from scratch.

We all have a sob story about airline fees we've been socked with lately. The other day, when I pointed out two handy-dandy charts I've been relying on to keep all the surcharges straight -- one from Kayak that lists baggage, meal, and seat-assignment fees for both domestic and international carriers; and one from FareCompare that lists a more comprehensive array of fees, although only on domestic carriers -- a reader named Bruce Hopman kindly emailed me in reply, sending a link to a funny musical parody he's created about the avalanche of airline fees. "It's a different kind of in-flight entertainment that confirms what you already know -- flying really IS for the birds!," says Hopman. " Forget about first class, business class or economy class. This video has NO class." True.  But I thought I'd share it anyway.

And if anyone knows of some magical way to retrieve the cost of my four unused non-refundable tickets to Atlanta, hey, I'd love to hear it.