MESSAGE CENTER

MESSAGE CENTER

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Airline Seating

ALL SEAT selections are not created equal.

I travel a lot, booking online with airline sites and through my company's online travel booking method -- both very reliable. On a recent trip I needed to make special arrangements and traveled via Frontier Airlines from Washington to Denver. I bought tickets and reserved seats for myself and my son directly with the airline via its 800 number well in advance of the travel date. Upon check-in, about two hours before the flight, the agent said our seats had been reassigned and were not together.

I have run into this with Third World airlines, but never with a U.S.-based carrier that makes seat assignments.

Steve Votaw

Arlington

Returning Vets

THANK YOU so much for Cindy Loose's great story on returning veterans ["Many Happy Returns," Dec. 24]. Your story on Delacey and Taylor Riley was cathartic for me, as a recent returning Marine veteran.

Todd Garrett

Charleston, S.C.

Panoramic Turkey

I SAW SOME really cool panorama photos of Turkey on The Post Web site by Ben de la Cruz. Could he tell me what camera he used to make those?

Theodore Miller

Detroit

Video journalist Ben de la Cruz responds:

Thanks for the kind words about our panoramic photography project on Turkey. All of the photos were taken with a Nikon D70 with a 12mm-28mm lens. But the unique part of the setup is really the Kaidan tripod head, which allows me to rotate the camera 360 degrees and take 12 photos one after the other. I then stitch together the 12 photos with a software program called Panorama Maker and, of course, tone the complete 360-degree composite with Photoshop.

Tunisia Fans

THANK YOU for your item about Tunisia [Trav Mags, Jan. 14]. We second Susan Hack's enthusiastic comments about Tunisia as a tourist destination. It's a beautiful country and completely fascinating, culturally, historically and archaeologically.

Most of all, women travelers are well-treated there. As two women traveling together, we were courteously treated wherever we went: in villages as well as Tunis, in outdoor eateries, in the markets, on the streets. This was in stark contrast to our unpleasant experience in Morocco a year before, where we felt uncomfortable at outdoor cafes and men in the streets made snake noises at us.

Result? We are eager to go back to Tunisia and wholeheartedly recommend it to others, while we would never set foot in Morocco again and warn others away.

Jane Blackburn

and Lyn McCoy

Arlington

Rental Cars, Cont'd

I SHARE Gary Goldberg's concern [Message Center, Dec. 31] about never having a manual available in rental cars. Recently, I could not figure out how to change the radio from FM to AM, nor how to reset the clock, and there was no manual to consult. I have long since learned that there are a number of basic things one must do before driving off the lot with a rental car:

· Check for damage to the body, so I won't be accused of having created dings that were already there.

· Be sure that none of the tires look like they need air, and that the gas gauge shows full.

· See that the windows and lights are clean.

· Check to see how the lights and wipers work.

· Figure out how the radio works.

· Be sure there is a spare tire, jack and lug wrench.

· Know how to open the windows, hood, trunk and gas tank cover.

All this will keep a renter from having to fiddle with unfamiliar stuff while driving, or creating a dangerous situation by having to pull over on a high-speed road or in a dangerous neighborhood.

Donald Hirschfeld

Temple Hills

Write us: Washington Post Travel section, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. E-mail: travel@washpost.com. Provide your full name and town. Letters are subject to editing for length and clarity.