STRIKE BACK ON FLIGHT DELAYS

(Smart Money, May 2001) With labor disputes heating up at Delta, Northwest, United and American, summer travel will be worse than ever. President Bush has indicated he’ll work to prevent strikes, but experts say slowdowns are inevitable. Terry Trippler, airline analyst for OneTravel.com, warns travelers to be prepared for cancellations and 24-hour delays.” We found three ways to help you ride out the bumps. IF YOU HAVE E-TICKETS, exchange them for paper ones. With a paper ticket, you can just call your airline or stop at the ticket counter to get booked on a flight with another carrier. E-ticket holders have to stop at their airline’s eustotner-servtce counter to get paper tickets first—wasting precious time— before they can proceed to the ticket counter to hook a new flight. (Northwest and Continental are exceptions—you can book seats between the two using e-tickets.) REMEMBER THAT WHEN A flight cancellation occurs for labor reasons, your airline is required to refund your ticket—even if you purchased a nonrefundable one—if it can’t provide other flight arrangements. It’s up to the ticket agent what other arrangements can he made for you. So if you have a preference and the agent won’t let you choose, Trippler says, you should get on the phone with the airline and keep calling back until you find an agent who’ll help you. IF YOU ABSOLUTELY CAN’T miss your flight (say, your best friend’s wedding is that day), Steve Danishek, president of Seattle travel agency TMA, suggests you reserve a refundable  ticket (typically from $800 to $2,000 for coach) on another carrier as a backup. Or, as Trippler recommends, you can purchase an extra ticket with a low-fare carrier I such as jetBlue or Ark If you don’t use it, you can change the travel dates by paying about $100. Sarah Brecknridge .