The 7 day flight delay

Have you ever been involuntarily bumped when a flight was oversold? Well, it's time to speak up. The Department of Transportation is seeking comments from the public on its airline compensation rules for passengers who are involuntarily bumped. Which of the following policies is best? --Leave the current compensation limits in place. These limits are $200 for a short delay for rebooking (meaning two hours) and $400 for a long delay (meaning more than four hours). For more explanation of the current rules, see below. --Boost the current compensation limits to $290 for short delays in rebooking and $580 for long delays. --Boost the compensation limits to $400 for short delays in rebooking and $800 for long delays. --Boost the limits to $624 for short delays in rebooking and $1,248 for longer delays --End all limits and make compensation for short delays equal to the value of the ticket, or double the value of the ticket for long delays with the payment doubling for longer delays Here is further explanation of the current rules. The Department of Transportation requires compensation for passengers who relinquish seats voluntarily. There's no federal standard for that compensation--you're only guaranteed something, usually a flight voucher. For passengers who are involuntarily bumped on domestic flights, the rules are as follows: If you're on another flight within an hour, you get nothing; within two hours, the airline pays you the equivalent of your one-way fare ($200 max); more than two hours later, you get 200 percent reimbursement ($400 max). Here is the government version of its rules. You must contact the Feds directly if you want to voice your opinion. Comments posted to this blog will not be forwarded to the government. For step-by-step instructions in how to post your comment, read on... Contact the Feds using this two-step process. First, find and download the proposal by clicking here (http://dms.dot.gov/search/document.cfm?documentid=125513&docketid;=9325). Then, to submit a comment visit this webpage: https://dms.dot.gov/submit/ The instructions on this page are somewhat misleading. You do not have to "register" to post a comment. Simply click on the "continue" button. In the field that says, "docket number", copy and paste this docket number: OST-01-9325. You will see other fields with confusing terms. Just ignore them and leave them as they are. Next, you must provide at least one of the following: Your email address, your phone number with area code, or your complete postal address. You do not have to fill out any additional information. You can leave the other fields blank. Next, click "continue." You should see a screen that says, "Comment." Type your comment in this window. Be specific in saying which of the five proposals you think is best by spelling out the proposal. For example, you might say, "I support leaving the current rules in place." or "I support raising the limits to $624 for short delays in rebooking and $1,248 for longer delays." Those are just examples. You can disagree. Feel free to word your own opinion--whatever it is. Earlier: Tell the Feds your views on passport rules. (Hat tip to Volker Poelzl and his new Transitions Abroad blog Wide World Cafe.)

If you haven't used the metasearch site Kayak in a while, you may like some of the new features that the site has added. When you search for a fare now, you have a choice of views. Sure, you can still view the traditional list of fares from lowest to highest. But you can also click on the word "matrix" and see a grid of fares ranked by airline. The matrix makes it easy to discover which airline offers the lowest price for nonstop, one-stop, and two-stop flights. (This type of matrix display was pioneered by Orbitz.) If your dates are flexible, you should click on the word "chart" to see average fares across a period of several days, displayed--surprise!--on a chart. Say you're shopping for a flight from Washington, D.C., to Louisville departing in a few weeks. After you enter the cities and dates at Kayak, a line graph shows the average fares available for that route over about 30 days. This chart hands travelers one more tool to find the best deal online. Related: Why You Should Kayak Before Booking a Cruise. Fun factoid: The founder of Kayak, Paul English, is donating his mathematical expertise to the Harvard Medical School in a project to help improve the efficiency of hospitals in Rwanda. He is applying to the problems of medical data the lessons he has learned while fine-tuning fare searches. [Source: Wired.com's Epicenter blog.]

Virgin's new low-cost U.S. airline will take to the skies next month. Tickets will go on sale shortly. The new airline's hub will be in San Francisco. Expected destinations are New York City, San Diego, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. [This Associated Press story via USAToday.com] JetBlue may allow passengers to send emails and text-messages for free from their own phones while airborne, starting within the next several months, according to this story in the Financial Times. Hotwire is waiving its $6 fee for booking airfares this summer. Cruise news: Carnival has debuted a new website, FunShipIsland.com, which shows videos and illustrations of shipboard activities and on-land excursions. The videos include cute shots of passengers playing with dolphins. Rail travel in Europe is getting easier. Starting this summer, Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland will make it easier to hop from the high-speed rail line of one country to another. For example, from now on, if you miss a connection between the major high-speed trains of any of these two countries, you can hop on the next train, regardless of the type of ticket you have. For info on buying tickets, see RailEurope.com.