tonight on "nightline," lost and found. during this busy holiday season, airlines rake in billions in fees. but that's only the beginningses tonight, we tell you the latest way they're cashing in. receiving items from your lost luggage, from rings to watches, even a wedding dress. miracle babies. we travel with two american doctors on a journey where every day heros fight the threat of poverty and disease, with the lives that hang in the balance. and the mormon moment. it's the biggest broadway hit in decades, in a year everyone is talking about mormons. >> i'm a mormon. >> i'm a mormon. >> tonight, the "south park" creators explain their singing, dancing show, "the book of

morm mormon. kwtsz. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," december 27th, 2011. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. and tonight, we begin at the check-in counter and end up at a surprise destination. maybe you're among the billimil of americans flying this holiday season and you encountered the fees airlines now charge at every turn. but you may not know that $30 checked bag fee is just one way airlines can get money out of your luggage. they can also sell it. here's abc's ryan owens. >> reporter: whoever coined the phrase half the fun is getting there clearly hasn't flown in awhile. and certainly not during the holidays. nearly 44 million americans are expected to crisscross the country by air, in the weeks leading up to christmas and new year's. the price tag for that holiday trip home?

an average of more than $400 round trip. industry experts say airlines have increased fares nine times this year alone. and that doesn't include those dreaded fees. last year, americans shelled out an eye-popping $5.7 billion. most to check bags, some to change reservations. in exchange, you'd expect your luggage to be there when you land. 99% of bags do make it. but every year, millions do not. >> excuse me. hi. you lost my bag. am i supposed to spend the entire weekend with just the clothes on my back? >> reporter: it happened to ben stiller in "meet the parents." he was forced to wear his girlfriend's robe. >> my pajamas were in the suitcase with everything else. >> reporter: now imagine how humiliated he'd be while he was stuck in that pink robe, someone else was here, buying his

pajamas, his shoes, even his cologne. welcome to the unclaimed baggage center in tiny scottsboro, alabama. it's some place special, all right. how much stuff is in here? >> well, we think we have a million items. >> reporter: brenda is the store's spokesperson. >> oh, yes, the wedding band i have on. >> reporter: you're a walking sample of the store? >> yes. >> reporter: your wedding band? >> i got it here. >> reporter: it is astounding what you find here. this is a sign of modern travel. >> we have thousands and thousands of neck pillows. >> reporter: this is the only store of its kind in the u.s. its owners have an exclusive contract with the airline. if a bag is unclaimed for 90 days, it is legal to sell whatever's inside. and we do mean whatever. >> cut. >> reporter: really?

clothes are a big seller. and what goes under them sell surprisingly well, too. items here are 20% to 80% suggested retail. >> we have people every year from all 50 states, probably 40 or 50 foreign countries. >> reporter: some people come just to marvel at what other humans pack. men, it turns out, often pack their wedding rings when they go on business trips. that's a whole other story. we're not here to do that one today. their finest jewels. >> 5.8 carat diamond ring. we sold it for $26,000. >> reporter: wow. evidence of our digital addiction is everywhere. that laptop you left in the seat back pocket? it's here. same goes for that camera you got for your birthday. >> when we get the cameras in and the didn'tal cards, we clear all of that. >> reporter: you're not getting a camera with other people's vacation photos on it? >> no, no. sue and bob's wedding is not

going to be on the camera that you get. >> reporter: speaking of weddings, they have that handled, too. >> we don't know if these were lost on the way to the wedding or about. >> reporter: if a bride can outfit her entire party here -- surely this correspondent could find a few things. it's all marked up. people's names on it. i need a tie today. rather buy somebody's tie than their old underwear, i ted you that much. the truth is, the selection here has gotten a shrill slimmer lately, since airlines started charging for checked bags, more people are carrying on and less leggage is being lost. >> i'm not checking my bag, okay? >> reporter: it's what ben stiller did for the trip home. >> the only way i would let go of my bag is if you tried to pry it from my dead, lifeless fingers, okay? >> reporter: but if you do check your beloved bag and never see it again, at least now you know

it wasn't really lost. it just landed in a new home. i'm ryan owens for "nightline" in scottsboro, alabama. >> wedding dresses? thanks to ryan owens for that. just ahead, we turn a corner. miracles come in small packages. and a heroic team of american doctor s is there to help. what's going on? we ordered a gift online and we really need to do something with it... i'm just not sure what... what is it? oh just return it. returning gifts is easier than ever with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus i can pick it up for free. perfect because we have to get that outta this house. c'mon, it's not that... gahh, oh yeah that's gotta go... priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.95. only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship and return.

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. >> giving new life a chance at long life. that's one of the most basic desires of every human community, taking good care of new mothers and their babies. in the united states, the infant mortality rate is about 6, for

every 1,000 newborns. that in other places, the babies face much darker prospects and they need help, which sometimes comes from a world away. here's abc's juju chang. >> reporter: dr. sigrid hahn and her baby girl are about to embark on a mission, thousands of miles away from new york city. thousands of miles away from mt. sinai hospital where she and dr. natasha are both professors. for two years now, this dynamic duo has been traveling back and forth to remote mozambiqumozamb. ♪ because far too many women and children die here needlessly. >> just telling me that the number of woman who give birth alone with absolutely nobody is 6%.

alone, nobody. >> reporter: incredible. so, they're working with local health care workers to train village midwives how to deal with complications in childbirth, which kills 1 in 11 here. his biological mother died giving birth. >> partly out of practical reasons. i'm her primary car giver. having her there gives me something to relate to the women about and they can maybe relate to me. >> the women do so much more than just take care of the kids here. they run the house. they are really the driving force of the village. >> reporter: like this woman, who is close to going into labor, but there is no rest. she looks like she's 13 or 14. we can't be sure because she has no idea. she has no idea how far along she is in her pregnancy and no plans to go to the hospital. >> she had permission from her husband to be able to leave the house and to be able to leave behind her responsibilities. >> reporter: she items us the

hospital is too far away. this woman did try to make the difficult five-hour walk to the hospital for the birth of her youngest but didn't get there in time. she labored on the road by herself? overnight? >> we found that the majority of women give birth at home and 1% give birth on the way to the hospital. >> reporter: even at the hospital, medical care is bare bones. we quickly find 16-year-old fatima laboring alone on the floor. >> and she did not have any idea what to expect. >> reporter: can i hold your hand? >> baby just died in the nursery. >> reporter: oh, god. why? >> it sounds like this morning the baby was having difficulty breathing and passed away. >> reporter: the motherov of th baby who just died wanted to give us a window into the grief that is so common here. i'm so sorry. first baby, or?

was she with the baby when he passed? so, the baby died sitting with you? i'm so sorry. i'm so sorry. there are four women in there, one woman just miscarried at four months, another is seven months pregnant and has malaria. the other woman lost her baby. the last one has a healthy baby. >> it was a unique look into the odds of having a healthy baby and healthy pregnancy. you're in a room out of four women, only one baby had survived. >> reporter: the next morning, back in that same room, we're relieved to find a smiling fatima. the young woman who had been laboring alone on the floor all night. nothing more beautiful than a newborn. in order for more healthy

newborns to survive here, the mid wives will be trained in something you might not ocean%. >> today, they are going to be learning how to sew. they are going to do the skirt wraps and turning them into place mats, like table settings and dolls and bags. >> reporter: the village mid wives don't get paid, so teaching them a craft could help sustain their important work. >> any time they span away from their field and family is economic productivity that's lost. >> reporter: while her mother learns to sew, this little girl shows no sign that she's about to become gravely ill. she was much, much sicker than anyone realized at the time. the 2-year-old goes into respiratory arrest. start to develop a real sense of urgency because she was quickly getting sicker. >> can we get a knife? >> reporter: suddenly, a simple asthma inhaler could mean the difference between life and death. our "nightline" producer behind the camera, roxanna, just

happened to have one. the doctors quickly rig a water bottle to administer the life-saving medication. it takes three doses before she is breathing with ease. >> she can be taken care of. she's stuck way out here in the middle of the night, getting worse. what are we going to do? >> reporter: we go along to the drive or the the hospital. >> if we hadn't had this around, i don't know if the baby would have gotten to the hospital in time. it would have been over. and this mother, if she wasn't at our training, she would have been in our village, not knowing when to bring the child in. that's what our education is about. really, to train the mothers to know that when a baby is breathing fast, it is a danger sign.

we'll be back in a couple of months. >> reporter: when it comes time to say good-bye -- ♪ the women show their thanks in their own way. >> being able to dance together and sing together was really key for me to feel like we're on the same page and we're on the same team and we can celebrate this together. >> it was really nice for the cultural merging. it was abridging of the gap. ♪ >> good luck and god bless them all. thanks to juju chang for that report. next up, "the book of mormon." it's a huge broadway hit. the creators of "south park" join us to talk about it. i take an omega for my heart.

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well, they're best known as the potty mouthed duo behind "south park." at least they used to be. now trey parker and matt stone

have managed to turn a musical about mormonism to be a big hit on broadway. here's abc's jake tapper if our series, "it was a good year for." >> reporter: there they were, the "southpark" guys. at the march premiere of "the book of mormon." >> people, i think get the wrong impression that we do stuff to piss people off. we just want to make people laugh. >> reporter: it's safe to say they succeeded. "the book of mormon" is a hit, with rave reviews, a grammy nomination and a whopping nine tony awards. >> the book of mormon! come >> reporter: the show is signature stone and parker, brilliant and profane, hilarious, making people laugh often while making them extremely uncomfortable at the same time. >> gay people are evil. >> reporter: a trademark of the pair for the past 14 years with

their show about those four profane cartoon kids. your show, "south park," has made fun of every religion. >> you're not going to lay that hanukkah crap on me, are you? >> reporter: why mormonism? >> we use it to just talk about religion in general. i don't think either of us think mormonism is any goofier than christianity. >> reporter: is that almost the point, that it's about religion itself, not necessarily mormonism? >> i grew up loving musicals and of course all issues about religion and what we're trying to say come up. but really, it's, let's put on a good show. >> reporter: music has been a huge part of parker and stone's work. they were even nominated for an academy award for a song from the "south park" movie. who on the oscar that year? >> phil collins for -- ♪ you'll be in my heart >> lose ig to phil collins, sitting in a dress, that's just a big kick in the -- >> reporter: you believe in god?

>> you can you ask -- >> reporter: you have a child now. >> i'm an atheist. but i'm sympathetic when you have a kid and you go, wow, how did -- what -- i mean, it is, you can know all the chemical processes and natural phenomena that are supposed to bring a child. it gives you a sense of awe. >> reporter: an atheist love letter to religion? >> that's a good way to put it. >> i'm not an atheist. oh. you're going to get in trouble again. >> you think we get in trouble with religious people. atheists really got mad at us. >> reporter: when they want to kill you, they don't think you're going to a good place. there's no virgins on the other end of that. >> no, no. >> reporter: just nothing now. >> worm food. >> reporter: pending warm food with a broadway smash on their hands. this is jake tapper for "nightli