Top 5 Air Travel Secrets
Posted on | April 22, 2008 |
After researching a query from a reader, I rediscovered a gem of a website we’ve already linked to in the past: the Department of Transportation’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division’s website.
Focusing on the consumer side of air travel, the Aviation Consumer Protection Division (ACPD) operates a complaint handling system for consumers who experience air travel service problems. They also have a plethora of helpful tips for any traveler whether you’re a frequent flyer or a once-a-year vacationer.
Here are the top five tips from their site I found to be the most helpful:
1. Refunds. Contrary to the belief of some, airlines are not required to compensate passengers for “damages†when flights are delayed or canceled. Compensation is required by law only when you are “bumped†from a flight that is oversold.
2. Delayed passengers - food and amenities. Each airline has its own policies about what it will do for delayed passengers waiting at the airport. There are no federal requirements regarding these amenities or services. If you are delayed, ask the airline staff if they will pay for meals or phone calls. Some do not provide any amenities to stranded passengers.
3. Know where your bags are checked to. They may be checked only to one of your intermediate stops rather than your final destination if:
- you must clear Customs short of your final destination, or
- you are taking a connecting flight involving two airlines which don’t have an interline agreement (e.g., Southwest Airlines does not transfer bags to other carriers).
4. Avoid overnight stays. When selecting a flight, remember that a departure early in the day is less likely to be delayed than a later flight, due to “ripple” effects throughout the day. If you book the last flight of the day, you could get stuck overnight.
5. Consider paying by credit card, which provides certain protections under Federal credit regulations. For example, in all recent airline bankruptcies passengers who had charged their fare and were not provided service were able to have their credit card company credit their account for the amount of the fare.
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