Avoiding Airline Nightmares
Airline trip hassles are common. Delayed or canceled flights, missed connections, lost luggage and getting bumped are problems travelers experience too often.
Good news: You can avoid or minimize many of these problems.
Call Ahead
Many travelers call the airline before they leave for the airport and ask if their flight is on time—but they usually get misleading information. The airline agents often tell you whether the flight is “scheduled” to leave on time. This is useless.
Instead, when calling the airline, ask for the “ship” number (tail number) of the aircraft assigned to your flight. If the reservations agent doesn’t know, ask him/her to call the operations office to get the number. Then ask for the status of the ship number. If the plane is running late, you can hang out at home a while longer or try to rebook your flight.
Try Alternate Airports
Big city airports often are near smaller airports. Those airports offer fewer flights, but that means less congestion and fewer delays. Try…
- Oakland, instead of San Francisco.
- Providence, instead of Boston.
- Burbank, instead of Los Angeles.
- Milwaukee, instead of Chicago.
- Islip or White Plains, instead of New York City.
- Fort Lauderdale, instead of Miami.
Invoke Rule 240
Rule 240 states that if your domestic flight is delayed for any reason other than weather or factors outside an airline’s control, such as a riot or work stoppage, the airline must transfer you to another carrier if the second airline has available seats and can get you to your destination more quickly. If your flight is canceled or delayed, say to the ticket agent, “I’d like to invoke rule 240.”
This rule doesn’t apply to airlines that don’t have existing interline agreements with other carriers (such as Southwest and JetBlue), but it does apply to most US airlines, including American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United and USAir.
Get a Seat Assignment
Last year, nearly 56,000 people who had tickets for a flight on a US airline didn’t get on because of overbooking. Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) bumped the most people, followed by Delta. JetBlue bumped the fewest.
The key to avoiding getting bumped is to have an assigned seat and a boarding pass. Whenever possible, get a seat assignment when you make your reservation. Many airlines let you use the Internet to check in for a flight within 24 hours of flight time. Smart travelers log in from home, work or a hotel to print out their own boarding passes in advance.
Barring that, always try to book the first flight of the day. If you get bumped, you stand a better chance of getting out on the next flight.
Send Luggage Ahead
If you want to avoid losing your luggage, don’t check bags, especially on flights that connect through hubs with tight connection times. You can avoid checking bags by taking only one carry-on bag (see “Pack for a 10-Day Trip in One Carry-On Bag” in Bottom Line/Personal, June 1, 2007).
Or ship your bags ahead of you. Fed-Ex, UPS, DHL and other companies offer baggage service, where bags are picked up at your home and delivered to your hotel. A suitcase weighing between 40 and 50 pounds costs between $100 and $200 for overnight delivery. Discounts are offered for sending your bags a day or two ahead. By shipping your bags, you’ll save an average of two hours every time you fly—you won’t be standing in lines to check luggage and won’t be waiting around baggage carousels after you land.
Also, by not having checked bags, you will have no problems switching flights if yours is delayed.
Identify Your Bags
If you have to check bags…
- Make your bag stand out. Tie a bright ribbon around the handle, or attach a sticker or decal.
- Put your name and cell-phone number on a luggage tag on the outside of your bag. Don’t put your address on the outside—it’s an advertisement to burglars that you’re not home.
- Put contact information, including your address, home and cell-phone numbers and E-mail address, inside each bag so it’s visible as soon as the bag is opened. Conveyor belts may destroy outside tags. If your bag is lost with no ID inside, it could be lost forever.
- Take a photo of your bag, and carry it with you when you travel. This way, if your bag is lost, you can give the photo to the baggage claims representative.
- When getting your checked bag at your destination, don’t just grab it and leave the terminal. Open it and inspect the contents before you leave the carousel area. It’s always better to report the crime at the scene. If your bag does go missing, keep in mind that the airline liability limit for domestic flights is $3,000 per incident, not per bag, and is based on the actual value of your belongings, not the replacement value. For international flights, the limit is $9.07 per pound for checked baggage.
Peter Greenberg, known as the “Travel Detective,” is travel editor for NBC’s Today show and editor of the travel Web site www.petergreenberg.com. His latest book, The Complete Travel Detective Bible, will be published by Rodale in the fall.
(Article originally published June 15, 2007)
Reprinted with the permission of:
Boardroom Inc. and Bottom Line Publications, Inc.
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