Coping with a summer of air travel discontent All Edition

• Published in: Daily herald (Arlington Heights, Ill. : Arlington Heights ed.)
• Main Author: George Hobica and Kim Liang Tan Daily Herald Correspondents
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Arlington Heights, Ill Daily Herald 22.07.2007

3. Shun chronically late flights. Every domestic U.S. flight is assigned a number from one to 10, with one meaning that the flight is historically on time between 0 percent and 10 percent of the time, and 10 meaning it is on time between 90 percent and 100 percent of the time. You can get this data on some airline sites, or call the airline to find it. Some flights are indeed late 100 percent of the time. Try to book only nine's and 10's. 4. Call your airline to reconfirm that your flight is operating on time (or operating at all). Do this several weeks, several days and several hours before your flight. I've heard so many stories from readers lately about airlines scrapping flights from their schedules entirely (not just canceling one flight, but the entire route or the entire flight schedule) and not notifying passengers until they got to the airport. 6. Know beforehand what your alternatives are on other airlines if you miss your connection or your initial outbound flight is canceled or delayed. Some airlines will put you on a competitor's next flight out if the "flight irregularity" (as they're called in airline-speak) was within their control (a mechanical problem, for instance). Other airlines won't. If you fly frequently, you might want to carry a printed or PDA copy of the Official Airline Guide (www.oag.com) so you can propose alternate flights on the spot.