While We Are on the Subject!

I know, I know, more info on airline travel. But wait! You are going to want to keep these Travel Tips titled, "7 Secret Passenger Rights" that many of us do not know about. One day they may come in handy! If you don't fly then pass them on to a friend...

TRAVEL TIPS

7 Secret Passenger Rights

We already feel like airlines are screwing us enough. Add long delays, overbooked flights, lost bags, and it turns into hell on runway. But there's a silver lining, if you know what to ask for. Here are seven ways to get even.
By Chelsea Bengier

Get refunded for bumping
It’s hard not to freak out when you’re bumped off an oversold flight. But remember this: you can get paid back. According to the Department of Transportation, if you get to your destination between one and two hours of your original arrival time on a domestic flight, or between one and four hours on an international trip, the airline owes you 200 percent of the one-way fare (up to $675). If you arrive more than four hours later than planned, you'll pocket 400 percent of the ticket (up to $1,350). Still can't believe it? An AirHelp study found that the average payout is $643.

Get cash not flight vouchers
Don't let an airline ever give you a voucher for a bumped flight, or any other inconvenience. Vouchers are like Monopoly money. They look good on paper, but they're not as useful in reality. Your best bet? Ask for cash or a check because credits almost always come with strings attached (i.e. blackout dates). So before you pass go, collect your $200 — in cash.

Opt out of a tarmac delay
So you're stuck on the runway, forced to watch Taken for the fifth time as the hours tick by. (No offense, Liam.) Lucky for you, you can't be held on a delayed plane for more than three hours on domestic flights or four hours on international routes (if you don't want to be at least). Airlines are also obligated to update passengers every 30 minutes, and serve food and water after a two-hour wait. Pass the pretzels.

RELATED: How to Travel Smart on Budget Airlines

Cancel tickets for free
Got a bad case of buyer's remorse? Don't worry, most airlines allow you to cancel or change your ticket within 24 hours for a full refund. In fact, on some carriers (like Southwest) you can even change plans until right before takeoff at no charge. But there are some exceptions. Take American Airlines: You can hold a ticket up to 24 hours, but once you book, you're locked in. Also, keep in mind that third-party sites like Kayak and Expedia have their own set of rules, too.

Pay back for itinerary changes
When flights are delayed, rescheduled or canceled (ahem, winter storm Jonas), many passengers are forced to rearrange transportation. In situations like these, the airline must either cover all the expenses and fees to reroute you or give you a full refund — even if you bought a non-refundable ticket or were rebooked on a different carrier. So, if the only seat left on the next flight out is first-class, it's yours without costing a cent. More champagne, please.

RELATED: 7 Ways to Avoid Bogus Travel Deals

Snag a hotel voucher
This will be the last time you'll ever have to sleep at the gate, or worse, on the terminal floor. Airlines are required to offer free accommodations if you're stuck overnight involuntarily. Just don't expect the Ritz. These hotel vouchers can be claimed at any time, meaning if you decide to stay with friends instead of a Holiday Inn, you are still entitled to the coupon. It's also worth asking if they'll cover meals as well.

Cash in for lost luggage
If your checked bag is lost, delayed or damaged, don't settle for the small $50 sum you're usually offered. Depending on how much your items were worth and how long your bags are MIA, you could be repaid up to $3,500 per passenger in liability for a domestic U.S. trip, and up to $1,675 on international flights. Hello, shopping spree.

Update on my Airline Travel Blog Post

Here is news worth sharing related to my Airline Travel post on March 11. Oh, the joys of airline travel! An old friend flew in from San Diego to the East Coast yesterday and on one leg of the trip another passenger was having emergency heart problems. Thankfully, there was a Doctor on board and reportedly stabilized the patient with the emergency equipment on board, but not without even more drama as the pilots warned all passengers that the flight was going to have to make an emergency landing.

Then on the second leg of this same trip, a passenger seated next to my friend was vomiting in her airsick bag nearly the whole flight! All the stewards did was to give her more airsick bags and club soda. Though, I sympathize with this ill person, it seems to me that the best course of action would have been to move them to one of the restrooms instead of leaving them to continuously wretch in front of and next to close quarter seatmates. Or, even temporarily place the ill person in the stewards flight seat outside the restroom.

How can you leave a passenger wretching like that in such cramped areas, particularly with the risk of other passengers getting sick due to the repulsive smell and sounds? Can you imagine? You are seated in a 17-inch wide airline seat and the person next to you is vomiting nearly the whole trip! I know I would not be able to stand it. Unbelievable, go ahead airlines -- make the seats even smaller.

Dog Show Judges & Airline Travel

Truthfully, I am relieved that I have not had to withstand airline travel, as of late, to reach dog show judging assignments as I watch the news reporting on in-flight brawls while other passengers record the events like they are watching wrestling matches. I am so glad that I am not up there. Just this morning, CBS This Morning show played a video capturing a brawl involving what appeared to be several women on a Spirits Airline flight. The altercation began, reportedly, over loud music. Certainly these are not everyday occurrences, but neither are they isolated as well. Nevertheless, these events unquestionably add to the torture of airline travel today.

Though, what is even more tortuous, besides being crammed in a plane with one or more strangers who might have a hair trigger temperament, is seat size and the lack of personal space. Personal space that has been shrinking and shrinking.

Nowadays, airline passengers are recommended to research first, before booking a reservation, to discover the dimensions of seat pitch and seat width on the flight they are interested in or a very unpleasant surprise could be forthcoming. Check out SeatGuru.com. If you do not think this is necessary, you are wrong as not all airline seats are alike. But, wait -- before looking at seat width, you need to check the model type of the aircraft for the flight you are interested in and then cross-reference it to Seat Guru's airline chart to assess seat pitch.

Seat pitch is important because it is the distance between the rows of seats at any given time. The more distance or higher the number, the better. CNN recently reported that seat pitch has been reduced over the years from 35 inches in the 1970s to ONLY 31 inches today. As a comparison, standard door openings are 32 inches wide. If you have not flown much, try an experiment by placing a chair in an interior door opening such as the bedroom. Turn the chair so that you are seated facing the doorjamb. Now imagine that the doorjamb is the back of another seat in front of you, and now you get the picture. That is how little room there is for your knees, but also, fellow passengers to climb over you to go to the bathroom!

Even more disturbing, USA Today published that discount flyers such as Spirit and Frontier are flying with seat pitches as small as 28 inches! That is only 28 inches of space between the rows of seats, which more importantly, may be unsafe. Apparently, the FAA has not tested any seats less than 29 inches of pitch in emergency evacuation procedures. If you cannot get out in time -- such as in a fire, your dead.

As for seat comfort, most airline seats measured widths are 17 to 18.5 inches wide. Even just one or two inches can make a HUGE difference. Unfortunately, just a small handful of mostly foreign airliners offer seats that are 19 or 20 inches wide. These widths are the same between short-haul -- less than six hours -- and long-haul economy class flights.

Just the thought of having to perform research on seat comfort and amenities -- if any -- on different airline carriers is enough to make your head hurt. Not to mention allotting the time out of your busy schedule to perform such mind-numbing research. Sure, you can pay extra to have the same economy seat but in a fire exit, an aisle seat or up near the bulkhead. It all comes down to the airlines intent to squeeze blood out of a stone. USA Today reports:

A business model that depends on making customers miserable, then giving them ways to pay their way out of pain, is a greater threat to fiscal health than limits on how much smaller seats can get.

Here is another reality check! A 17-inch wide airline seat is ONLY 1.5 inches wider than my MacBook laptop. The tape measure is set at 17 inches -- can you imagine planting your derriere on that for six hours?

Macbook laptop width of 15.5 inches compared to an airline seat width of 17 inches