Whatever happened to the days when you could check two bags as an airline passenger and pay a fee only if a piece of luggage weighed more than 50 pounds? Fast forward to present day with airlines charging passengers a fee for any checked bag, collecting $962.4 million in baggage fees during the second quarter of 2015.

Nearly $1 billion in one quarter. That alone could cause air sickness.

And if that wasn’t enough, during the same period airlines stuck passengers with $772.8 million in fees for reservation cancellations and flight changes.

We can thank American Airlines for introducing checked-bag fees in 2008 to combat higher fuel costs, prompting other airlines to hop aboard that gravy jet. Fuel costs are lower now, but passengers won’t see fees coming down or going away — ever.

Painting govs, by the numbers

It’s a tradition that goes back 100-plus years, with the 1912 portrait of Sanford B. Dole, Hawaii’s first territorial governor after it was annexed by the U.S.

Now 103 years later, former Gov. Neil Abercrombie will sit for his portrait, which will join those of his predecessors in the governor’s chamber of the state Capitol when completed next year.

His $40,000 price tag got us wondering how it compared with previous portraits. Well, $35,000 was budgeted for Linda Lingle’s — which came in under budget at $16,350, frame included. The budget for Ben Cayetano’s was $30,000. And when John Waihee’s portrait came in $20,000 more than the $25,000 budgeted, he reportedly helped with the extra funds needed.