Travelers' Rights

This holiday season is expected to be the busiest travel time since Sept.11.

More people in the air means more potential for flight delays, cancellations and even being bumped from flights.

If this happens to you, you need to know your rights - what the airline should do for you and what compensation you can demand.

Vera Gibbons, a special correspondent for Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine visits The Early Show to offer some insight.

"About 120 million people flew somewhere in the U.S. during November and December 2003," Gibbons says. "That's up from 92 million in 2002. And this year, with a recovering economy and intense fare competition, passenger traffic could be even higher. In fact, many travel experts are saying it could be the busiest holiday travel season since the year 2000."

Unfortunately, heavy volume seems to be the number-one cause of delays. Each airline has its own policies spelled out in a "Contract of Carriage," which can be found online, but there are no federal guidelines requiring airlines to put you on a different flight, offer you compensation, etc. Chances are good that you'll simply have to sit in the waiting room until your flight takes off.

If your flight is cancelled, the airline should immediatly rebook you on its next available flight at no additional charge. While this is the typical response, you can also ask airlines to book you a flight on another carrier.

Most airlines have reciprocal arrangements with other carriers. In other words, if the next flight your airline offers doesn't leave for three more hours, you have the right to ask for a seat on a different airline -- something that's appealing if that company's plane is leaving sooner. Airlines may not offer you this option, so you need to know to ask for it.

Gibbons cautions, however, that there is a gray area here. If your ticket includes the phrase "nonendorsable" or "valid only on ...," you probably have a cheap ticket and cannot be rebooked on another airline's plane.

When you buy an airline ticket, it's basically a contract between you and the airline, stating that the company will get you to your final destination. If it can't, you are entitled to a full refund. However, the chances of this happening are extremely small.

If you are forced to sit in the airport for several hours, waiting for your rescheduled flight you'll probably begin to wonder: Doesn't this airline owe me something? Unfortunately, carriers are not required by law to compensate you (or placate you) when your flight has been cancelled. But, Gibbons says, it is always worth asking for some sort of compensation to balance out the inconvenience. Perhaps a meal voucher or even small flight voucher are in order. Particularly in today's competitive airline business, companies do not want to lose your business and may be more willing to give out freebies.

This is also the time of year when it's not unusual to hear airline employees begging for customers to be bumped from flights. Airlines routinely overbook by as much as 20 percent, because they know that some passengers simply won't show up and they can't afford empty seats.

If you volunteer to be bumped, expect the airline to offer you vouchers for future travel. There is no regulation on how much an airline must offer you in situations like this, ao the name of the game is negotiation.

If you play the game well, you can receive hundereds of dollars worth of vouchers; if not, first-class upgrades, lodging and meals, drink coupons, headsets or even admission to the airline's airport club. Of course, the more desperately the airline is looking for volunteers, the more you can get.

Before accepting a voucher, be sure to ask questions.

• Does it expire?
  
• Are there blackout dates?
  
• Is it good for international travel?
  
• How far in advance can you make a reservation using the voucher?
  
• Can you use the vouchers together? (for instance, you may receive four $50 vouchers good for one flight each - not such a great deal)

If you arrive at your destination one to two hours after your original arrival time, the airline owes you the price of the one-way fare to your destination (up to $200). If you'll be more than two hours late to your destination, compensation doubles to a maximum of $400.

Bumping is most likely to occur on Friday nights, Sunday evenings, and Monday mornings - particularly on heavily traveled routes. Delta has bumped the most passengers so far this year, while the record for bumping the least goes to JetBlue.