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The TSA continually updates its official list of items that you can (and cannot) take with you on flights originating within the United States, whether in checked luggage or in carry-on bags. (For the most current list, visit www.tsa.gov.) If you are taking a flight originating outside the United States, check with your travel agent or the airline for the applicable rules. If TSA screeners discover a prohibited item in your bags, they will ask you to get rid of the item immediately by placing it in checked baggage, leaving the security checkpoint with the item, taking the item to your car, or throwing the item away (without any hope of recovering it). In severe cases, such as firearms and explosives, you may actually be detained or arrested, even if you brought the item with you accidentally. Before you pack, be sure to check the list on the following pages. It can be used as a guideline for your travel preparation.

Federal regulations impose strict guidelines on airlines that carry pets. Generally, you may carry a smaller animal in an approved pet carrier aboard the plane as carry-on luggage. However, many airlines do not allow more than one carried-on pet for each flight, so you must tell the travel agent or airline agent about your pet when you reserve your flight. Pets traveling as checked baggage (on the same flights as their owners) or as cargo (without their owners) fall under the Animal Welfare Act. The pet must be at least eight weeks old, fully weaned, and kept in an approved carrier or kennel that meets size, sanitation, ventilation, and capacity standards. The airline must provide water at least once every twelve hours and food every twenty-four hours. You must provide the airline with written instructions on feeding, watering, and a medications (along with written assurance that you fed and give water to you pet during the flight). Many airlines have their own pet policies beyond the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act. For example, you may be asked to provide an updated certificate of health for your pet. Also, airlines are not required to guarantee that your pet will travel on the same flights that you do, as some smaller airplanes have limited pressurized cargo space and cannot accommodate animals. If you are traveling with a pet, TSA screeners will conduct a visual inspection of the pet in its carrier. They may ask you to walk through the metal detector with your pet while its carrier is sent through the x-ray machine. Your pet should never be sent through the x-ray machine.
In 2003, the major airlines continued wrangling with the federal government, fighting proposed changes in the rules governing pets on airplanes. Check with your travel agent or the airline for the latest regulations.

Though state and local regulations may permit you to carry a firearm, many airlines have strict rules about carrying a gun in your checked bags (and some airlines do not permit at all). Therefore, you should always check with your navel agent or the airline for its rules. Firearms carried in checked bags must be unloaded, packed in a locked, hard-sided gun case and declared to the airline which you check in. You may also pack small-arm ammunition in the same gun case (as long as it is not loaded in the gun) or in a fiber wood, or metal box designed to carry bullets. Guns and ammunition are not permitted in your carry-on bags.

If you are packing sharp items in your checked bags, such as hunting knives or arrows, they must be properly wrapped and sheathed no avoid injuring TSA screeners inspecting your luggage. Federal rules also prohibit many hazardous items such as explosives, fireworks, guns, fuel, and dangerous chemicals in your checked luggage. Though it surprises many average travelers, it is not uncommon for off-duty police officers and private detectives who carry handguns each workday to forget that they have left a spare sidearm gun in their briefcase or suitcase. Also, some heavy smokers who use old-fashioned Zippo-style lighters may have a spare can of lighter fluid in their shaving kit. Families with children traveling over holiday periods may have packed bottle rockets purchased at home in order to save money when they arrive at their destination.

Before the security upgrades resulting from the September 11 attacks, airport guards would typically confiscate the hazardous item or allow the traveler to take it back to his or her car for storage. These days, however, the discovery of guns, fuel, and other hazards in luggage at an airport checkpoint will almost surely result in major delays, an extremely thorough personal search of the traveler involved, and even arrest and the filing of criminal charges. Federal security agents at airports have no lee-my to overlook the traveler’s honest mistake or allow the per-son to take the contraband back to his or her car.

If you deal with hazardous items around your home or at your workplace, it will pay to do a quick double-check inspection of your lug-gage, purse, briefcase, coat or clothing pockets, and any other places in which these items might be mistakenly stored. On both domestic and flights, your carry-on bags are also protected under the liability if they are damaged, lost, or stolen ($2,5 per passenger on domestic trips, $9.07 per pound for international flights). For example, if you discover upon landing that someone has stolen your cell phone or laptop computer from your bag in the overhead bin, you can submit your claim at the airport to recover your loss. Be prepared to submit receipts or other forms of proof documenting the value of these items.

Despite the “war stories” told by many road warriors about problems with airline baggage handling, the truth is that the vast majority of checked bags do arrive on time and in good condition. However, when your luggage has been lost, delayed, damaged, or stolen, you may face serious inconvenience or worse.
New federal regulations have doubled the airline’s obligation to pay you (from $1,250 to $2,500 per passenger) if your checked bags on domestic flights do not arrive. However, never pack any item in your checked luggage that you cannot afford to lose. Even though the airline must technically reimburse you for the monetary value of your loss, you may not be able to replace some belongings, such as heirloom jewelry or personal items such as prescription drugs that you must have on your trip.
If your luggage is delayed, the airlines are generally responsible for paying your reasonable expenses that result, such as personal toiletry items. (Many carriers now give overnight kits with basic items such as deodorant and shampoo to passengers waiting for delayed luggage.) If you must buy other items, such as a tie for a business meeting that is scheduled before your luggage arrives, keep your receipts and submit a bill to the airline’s baggage services agent at the airport for repayment. (On international flights, the Warsaw Convention caps the value of lost or dam-aged luggage at $9.07 per pound.)
If your bags do not arrive at your destination airport, you should file an immediate claim with the airline’s baggage services agent (usually located near the baggage claim area). The agent will enter your claim into the airline’s computerized tracking system and issue you a receipt with a toll-free number that you can call once you leave the airport to check on your bags. On the claim form, you should list your belongings as specifically as possible. One excellent strategy to insure that you recover the maximum value of your belongings is to make a packing list before you leave on your trip (or take a quick snapshot of your belongings spread out around your suit-cases before you pack them), so that you can later prove that you are telling the truth about your losses.

You may carry with you on the airplane two small pieces of luggage carry-on bag as well as one personal item such as a purse, briefcase, laptop computer case, or camera case. In addition, you can check a specific number of suitcases with the air-line.
Because federal screeners now screen all checked bags and even open some of them for additional inspections, you should avoid overstuffing your suitcases so that they can easily repack any bag and close it after it has been opened. Put your footwear (shoes, boots, sneakers, etc.) on top of the other contents, and spread out any books and files you are carrying in the suitcase. Never put film in a checked bag, as the latest scanning machines will damage it; instead, put it in your carry-on bag. Place personal items, such as cosmetics or shaving kit contents, in plastic freezer bags so that screeners can view them without losing any-thing. Write your name, address, and phone number on index cards and place one in each checked bag, along with bag tags on the outside.
Finally, do not lock your suitcases when you check them at the airport, as federal screeners may literally break the locks in order to examine the contents. If they damage your luggage in any way as a result of opening your bags for screening or security reasons such as breaking a padlock or tearing zippers in the process the TSA is not responsible under current federal regulations for repairing or replacing your suitcases. However, in September 2004, the Transportation Security Administration began settling claims filed by passengers who claimed that their belongings were stolen, lost, or damaged when their checked suitcases were screened at the airport for potential bombs or weapons (the average award: $110).
If TSA screeners do open your bag for inspection, they will place a note inside it telling you that the bag was opened and then reseal it with a tamper evident tag. TSA also recommends that you use cable ties purchased at a hardware store in lieu of locks. In the future, TSA will provide special seals that you can attach yourself at the airport.
If you arrive at your destination to find that items are missing from your checked bags after they were inspected by TSA screeners, notify your airline and TSA officials immediately.

In January 2003, the new U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began screening all checked baggage at every commercial airport (429 of them) in the United States. Also, the war with Iraq led to heightened security checks that may remain in place for some time. In 2005, a growing number of local U.S. airports will resume control of the baggage screening process, substituting privately employed security screeners for the federal TSA screeners. Based on these confusing layers of security procedures, you can avoid trouble before your trip begins if you think carefully about how you pack your bags-and if you know your legal rights in the event that you are questioned or your bags are searched. (Many of the following tips also apply if you are checking in at a cruise port or rail terminal as well as airports.)

Federal law permits overbooking in the airline in more reservations from travelers than the carrier has available seats. Each year, more than 500,000 passengers lose their seats, voluntarily or involuntarily, as a result of overbooking practices, especially during peak travel times and holiday periods. If a flight is overbooked the airline is required by federal regulations to ask for volunteers-passengers who will surrender their seats for awaiting passenger in return for an incentives which as free or discounted airline tickets, frequent flier bonus miles, or even cash. Nine out of U.S. passengers who are bumped from their seats voluntarily give up those seats in this manner. If not enough passengers volunteer their seats, then the air-line will begin involuntarily bumping passengers (usually, travelers who checked in last or who bought their tickets at the latest dares).
To be eligible for denied boarding compensation, you must have a confirmed reservation and your aircraft must have at least sixty seats. (Therefore, many commuter flights do not qualify.)
On flights within or leaving the U.S.A., the compensation levels vary greatly. If your replacement flight arrives at your destination within one hour after the original flight is scheduled to land, you will likely receive no compensation. If your replacement flight arrives between one and two hours after the original flight (domestic) or one and four hours (international), you will receive the value of that ticket segment, upped at $200.
If your replacement flight arrives more than two hours after the original flight (domestic) or after four hours (international), you will receive twice the value of the ticket segment, capped at $400.
If your original flight included a scheduled stopover of at least four hours, then the airline will owe you additional damages if it cannot get you to either the stopover city or your final destination within the time
What if you believe you have suffered damages beyond these amounts (for example, you missed a paid speaking engagement due to being involuntarily bumped, or the bride and groom did not board their honeymoon use several hours after the ship sailed)? Unfortunately, most airlines protect themselves against such illegal claims by individual claimers within their contracts of carriages specifically waiving any liability for additional damages. By purchasing the airline ticket, you agree in effect to this waiver, and therefore the chances are slim to none that you could recover your losses through the courts. Your best bet will be appealing to the airline employees at the air-port when the incident happens for overnight accommodations, a free ticket ,or other benefits in the name of positive customer service.

After September 11, it became almost unpatriotic to complain about flight delays, diversions, and cancellations. However the truth is that long delays and flight changes can cause you significant hardship, especially if you find yourself stuck in an airline lounge(or on the airport floor) for the night. The DOT reports that, in some particularly tough months (with labor strikes or bad weather patterns) as many as one flight in forty has been cancelled , and one in four flights will not arrive on time. On domestic flights, most airlines include language in their contracts of carriage that spell out the company’ responsibilities if a flight is delayed, diverted, or canceled for various reasons. Many of these clauses describe specifically the reimburse-merits for your meal and hotel expenses, and some contracts actually list these obligations depending upon your departure airport and your destination airport. They may also offer different benefits based on the cause of the delay or cancellation (for example, more generous terms for mechanical delays than for bad weather). These contract terms are your best bet for recovering your damages and expenses associated with these types of flight problems. Therefore, you should consider printing out this section of the contract of carriage from your airline’s website before you leave home.
On international flights, the airline will offer the compensation promised in its contract of carriage, but you will find it difficult to press for additional damages. The Warsaw Convention allows airlines to escape responsibility for damages caused by flight delays if they can show that they took all necessary measures no avoid the damage (or that it was impossible to take any measures at all). The airlines have generally won in court with this defense.

Each airline enforces different policies when passengers lose their paper tickets. Generally, you must fill out a lost ticket application with the airline may issue a replacement ticket, but you must sign an agreement that you will pay for the cost of your replacement ticket if someone uses the ticket you have misplaced, also, you will likely required to pay penalty or service fee for the replacement, The airline may opt instead to require you to purchase a new ticket at the currently available fare, despite the advance purchase discounts or other savings you may have found when you bought the first ticket. Then, after an extensive waiting period (as long as twelve months), the airline will issue you a behind for the original ticket, if it was not used during that time. Sometimes, you may lose part of your paper ticket because the airline’s gate agent took the wrong coupon when you checked in for one of the flight segments. For example, if you are flying from Miami to Seattle via Atlanta, and the airline agent in Miami takes your Atlanta-Seattle coupon by mistake instead of the Miami-Seattle coupon, you may have trouble checking in for the secondsegmer1tofyourtrip,Always check your remaining ticket coupons when you sit down on the airplane, before the flight takes off, to ensure that you have the proper coupons, As many major airlines continue moving towards the use of e-tickets for most flights, lost paper tickets will become a much less common problem. With electronic tickets, you cannot really lore the ticket; if you misplace your printed itinerary or receipt for an electronically ticketed flight, your travel agent or the airline simply print a new copy for you. However; a growing number of e-tickets go unused every year bemuse travelers for-get about the flight or they change their travel plans without reusing the e-ticket in some way. Always keep your e-ticket confirmations and receipts in a single tile folder or drawer to keep track of them.

The airlines use complex management software to calculate and post millions of different prices for their flights. These airfares can change literally from one minute to the next. They have adopted this practice in an effort to maximize revenues by offering discounts to spur sales on flights with empty seats and, conversely, raising fares to charge the highest prices possible on popular flights.

In the end, the passengers on any given flight may have paid wildly different prices for their seats aboard the same airplane’s perfectly legal practice for the airlines, but a constant source of frustration for consumers. For the most part, the airlines are not required to re-ticket you at the lower price if the remaining seats on your flight go on sale after you have already purchased your ticket (and, if they do, you will probably pay a $75—$100 re-ticketing fee in the process). If you have purchased a full-fare ticket that is, an airline ticket bought at the full retail price, with no discounts at all-then you will face few restrictions on its use. You can return it for a cash refund, trade it for another ticket, or even use it in many cases to switch to a different airline (at its face value). Most full-fare tickets are sold to business travelers and last-minute leisure travelers who are booking trips a few hours or days before departure, after all of the typical advance-purchase discount periods (such as seven-day, fourteen-day, and twenty-one-day advance-purchase fares) have expired.

Tickets purchased at a discount usually carry significant restrictions. They may be non-refundable (you cannot get your money back if you change your mind about the flight), non-transferable (you cannot give the ticket with your name on it to another person so that they can take your place), or both. As a very general rule of thumb, the earlier you purchase your ticket, the more likely it is to carry restrictions, whereas many last-minute tickets require you to pay the full fare with no ticketing restrictions.

If you are absolutely sure that your travel dates or plans will not change, then buying a discounted ticket that carries restrictions makes good sense. Further, in many cases, you may be able to take a credit for your restricted ticket if you change your travel plans by paying the airline a change fee of $25 to $100.

If you must purchase a last-minute airline ticket because of the illness or death of a friend or family member, many airlines offer restricted tickets with bereavement fares that can help you avoid paying the full fare. Bereavement policies vary widely among the airlines, so you should check with your travel agent or the airline for complete details. However, be prepared to prove with a letter from the funeral home, a funeral announcement, or (unfortunately) a copy of the death cer1ificate—that you are flying because a loved one has died.