Bill Me Later option for buying airfare

We've been keeping an eye on Kenya ever since the disputed reelection of President Mwai Kibaki on December 27 set off periodic outbreaks of violence. The worst clashes between police officers and supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga have been in the slums of Nairobi, the western cities of Eldoret and Kisumu, and the coastal town of Mombasa. Keep in mind that these locations aren't on typical safari itineraries; safari-goers tend to arrive in Nairobi and quickly set out for the national parks in the south and near the Tanzanian border. While the uneasy situation shifts from day to day, scenes of mobs wielding stones and machetes are rattling Kenya's reputation as one of the safest, most popular destinations in Africa. Hotels near Mombasa, which cater primarily to beachgoing Europeans, are reporting cancellations of about 70 to 90 percent for late January, according to Kenya's Tourism Board. If you have upcoming plans to visit Kenya, we suggest researching the penalties for canceling, postponing, or rerouting your trip. A recent New York Times Practical Traveler column provides a useful overview of questions to ask and a sampling of policies. As for safety concerns, the State Department issued a travel alert on January 11 urging that Americans defer non-essential travel to the provinces of Nyanza, Western, and Rift Valley; Britain has taken a stronger stance, advising against all but essential travel to Kenya. We checked in with tour operator 2Afrika, whose packages we feature regularly in Budget Travel. So far, the company's president Kenneth Hieber says that remarkably few customers have opted to cancel their Kenyan safaris. He returned from Africa on January 14 and has been posting updates on 2Afrika's blog. Hieber stated that "we feel there is no need for anyone to cancel or postpone their safari arrangements." However, if travelers wish to cancel a safari, they will receive a credit for a future 2Afrika safari or be rerouted through other parts of Africa. Kenya's tourism board has been working overtime to monitor the situation and reassure travelers. In a press release, former chairman Jake Grieves-Cook was quoted as saying: "Only a small proportion of our country—which is greater than the size of France—was affected in any way…We had over 40,000 tourists traveling in Kenya at the time this situation unfolded, with not one harmed or even inconvenienced in any way." It's not surprising that the tourism board is alarmed. Tourism surpassed agriculture in 2007 as Kenya's top money-maker and, as the Economist reports, Kenyans are already beginning to feel the pinch as travelers and investors become jittery. RELATED What to do when there’s a travel emergency.

Let's say that your flight is delayed or canceled. And let's say an airline official explains that the delay is due to "bad weather." You're out of luck on two counts. First, your flight won't depart on time—or perhaps at all. But worse, because the airline has invoked weather as the cause of the delay, it doesn't have to offer you vouchers for free or cheap lodging, meals, or transportation. Had the airline instead blamed the problem on something that was within its control, such as a mechanical problem, then it would probably offer vouchers. Now let's say you look out the nearest window, and you see sunny skies. Should you use the Internet—or call a friend who has Internet access—and check up on the claim that there is a weather delay at your destination? Oh, heck. Why not! You check up on the airline's claim by consulting a website that offers images of live National Weather Service Doppler radar, such as http://radar.weather.gov/. For argument's sake, let's say that you find out that the weather at your destination airport is now sunny. Should you go to the airline counter (or wave over a flight attendant) and politely say, "Are you sure there aren't other problems besides weather delays?" Assume that you do ask this question. Here are the two most likely things to happen: The official may explain that the bad weather isn't at the destination airport but is at the place where your plane is arriving from. Delays elsewhere in the country can cause—through a ripple effect—traffic to back up at your airport, other airports, and in the skies. Alternatively, the airline official might—assuming this situation to be the case—admit that there is some other problem besides the weather, such as a mechanical malfunction. "Besides the bad weather," the official might say, "there's also a mechanical problem." If this happens, you could politely say that your airline's contract of carriage pledges that passengers receive a free voucher for a hotel room or a meal for delays caused by problems within its control. That's the main advice of consumer ombudsman Christopher Elliott. Yet what if you speak with the airline official and he or she simply laughs at you? After all, it can sound kind of silly to advise the airline on when its plane should fly simply by looking at a weather map on your own. Professional pilot Patrick Smith strongly discourages passengers from attempting to second guess air traffic controllers in this Salon essay. Fueling this debate—oddly enough—is an Apple iPhone commercial. In this commercial (shown below), an actual pilot for a major airline claims that he once used the Web-browser on his iPhone to look up the weather at his plane's destination. He says he radioed air traffic control with a weather update. And he claims that the controller then cleared his plane for takeoff, cutting short a delay. What do you think? Is it worthwhile to question airline officials about "weather delays"—to hope to receive a voucher for a hotel stay or free meal if your flight is canceled or delayed overnight? Or should you trust that airlines will follow the honor system? After all, you might look ridiculous if you try to second guess the professionals by using a website to check the weather? ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB If you've got money to burn, you can hire a forensic meteorologist to dispute an airline's weather claim in a legal suit, according to The Consumerist.