✓ Use a travel agent. Typically, travel agents don’t receive a commission for booking airfare, so they will only book a ticket if you ask them to, and usually as part of a package. (Some agents charge a service fee for airline tickets.) Some fares, such as complex multistop or multi-airline flights, or an around-the-world ticket, are best left to a professional. Agents also have access to wholesale fares that you might not find online, but be warned that some of these fares come with significant restrictions. For a simple point-to-point itinerary, you may be better off booking yourself.

✓ Book directly. Airlines will happily sell you a ticket through their websites or by phone. If you go that route first, you’ll lose the ability to run a side-by-side price comparison with a competing airline. An airline may also charge a fee to buy a ticket by phone, and it may quote you a higher fare than the one you’d find online. You’ll also receive some benefits, however, such as the ability to customize your fare with optional items like the ability to check a bag, get a confirmed seat reservation, or advance-buy Wi-Fi packages. Airlines sometimes offer direct-booking customers a mileage bonus. You’re also working directly with the airline, so you don’t have a travel agent to call for help if you need to change the ticket, and you’ll be bound by that airline’s policies for changes.

✓ Buy through an online travel agency or aggregator. Online agencies such as Expedia or aggregator sites like Kayak or Hipmunk display most available airfares, allowing you to quickly compare the most convenient routing and find the most affordable ticket price. What’s more, if something goes wrong you can call the online agency for help with everything from rebooking a flight to obtain a refund. Online agencies are excellent research tools, allowing you to search for the lowest available fare, and then book wherever you want. But these sites will not display every airline, every fare combination, or every route. Instead, they might show fares from airlines with which they have preferred relationships — called fare bias. Note: Southwest Airlines, the biggest domestic U.S. carrier, does not make its fares available to Expedia, Orbitz, and other online travel sites. You’ll need to visit Southwest.com to find its fares.

✓ Book opaque. Sites such as Priceline or Hotwire, which allow you to “bid” for a seat and offer discounts of between 20 and 40 percent on some routes. In exchange, you give up certain important benefits, which can include determining the exact departure time, the airline, the precise routing, and the ability to reserve a seat, collect frequent flier miles, or change a ticket. Opaque sites are a great option for leisure travelers who are flexible or who are willing to fly somewhere without being on a specific schedule. Most airlines charge more for fares booked at the last minute, so when you need to fly in the next seven days and are flexible, the opaque option may work best.

Most airline tickets are known as e-tickets, or a travel documents that are stored in a database that can be retrieved when needed. So if you’re not getting a piece of paper, how do you know if the ticket is any good? Right after your travel agent sends you your confirmation, go to the airline’s website and check the status of your e-ticket. A valid e-ticket will show as “issued” and open for use. A good e-ticket will remain open for use until you check in. If it isn’t, call your agent or airline.

✓ If you want to take your time. Road trips are one of the best ways to see a place or what’s between places. You can go anywhere, stop when you want to, eat where you want, and get as close to the scenery as you want. There’s no way to experience a place when you’re zipping over it at 550 mph in a plane.

✓ If you’re traveling a short distance. Commuter flights and puddle-jumpers can sometimes take longer, particularly when you factor in the time to get through security, and they may be less convenient. For example, Amtrak’s Acela service between Washington and New York will often get you to your destination faster if you’re headed into Manhattan. However, a small aircraft from Denver to Helena, Mont., can be half a day faster than the 800-mile drive over mountains.

✓ If you suffer from aerophobia. Fear of flying is probably the best reason to stay grounded. If you can drive or take the train, you should. By the way, you can take classes to overcome this fear if you want to. Some flight training schools also offer “discovery” flights to introduce people to flying, and many people take these classes to help overcome their fears.

✓ If you want to avoid the Transportation Security Administration. If you’re put off by having to either walk through a full-body scanner or get patted down, you may want to stick to driving. You’ll have to deal with the TSA if you go to the airport.

Airlines use sophisticated algorithms to calculate demand for their seats. These so-called yield management systems mean that the price you’re being quoted for a flight may not be the lowest one. It’s based on demand for that flight based on historical averages. What’s more, if you don’t push the “buy” button now, the fare may be gone in a few minutes. Air travelers often find these systems frustrating and unfair, but remember if you buy, U.S. carriers are required to either “hold” your ticket for 24 hours or offer you a full refund, with certain exceptions.

Unfortunately, fixing the system sounds a lot simpler than it is. For example, if you’ve ever tried to buy a ticket and had the site tell you that the fare was “unavailable” (though a more expensive one was), then you’ve probably felt like the victim of a bait-and-switch. Truth is, you were probably a victim of caching — the practice of storing data on a site so that it can be retrieved quickly. The website just failed to refresh the data, so when you tried to buy the ticket, it was shown as already gone. The lowest advertised fare, or a special sale fare, also might not be available on your day of travel, especially if it’s a Friday or the day before a major holiday.

If you only fly occasionally, you might be in for a surprise the next time you board a plane. Here are a few of the recent changes you’ll notice:

✓ Air travel is “commoditized.” There’s virtually no difference between airlines if you’re flying in economy class. This is called commoditization, and it’s perhaps the biggest change since the industry was deregulated in 1978 during the Carter administration. As far as passengers are concerned, a seat is a seat. Unfortunately, this removes some of the motivation to create a better economy class section. In the minds of many air travelers, it’s a race to the bottom, with narrow, uncomfortable seats that have no leg room as the industry standard. Today, while the planes are usually the same, Delta or JetBlue tend to have slightly more space in economy class than budget carriers. Some airlines have begun trying to merchandise on-board features such as more leg room, early boarding, to de-commoditize economy class, and squeeze even more revenue out of passengers, but by and large, seats remain a commodity.

✓ Most tickets come with lots of limitations. Most airline tickets are super restrictive. If you want to make a change, you’ll pay a $100 to $200 fee plus any fare difference. You can’t easily correct the name on a reservation, sometimes even to fix a typographical error. If you miss your flight, the airline will offer to put you on the next flight if you buy a new ticket. These restrictions are bound to get even tighter as airlines come up with new ways to create more revenue. Airlines sell unrestricted tickets, but they are often two to three times more expensive than a restricted ticket. Typically, the only folks who can afford them are business travelers.

✓ There’s a fee for almost everything. Airlines used to earn most of their revenue from the sale of tickets. But today, in part because of competition, higher fuel prices, and changing business models, airlines generate a sizable portion of their profits through fees. You’ll probably pay extra to check your bags, and maybe for an advance seat assignment. Meals are also extra if you’re sitting in economy class on a domestic flight. While some airlines will do their best to disclose all surcharges as early in the booking process as possible, others try to profit through “gotcha” fees added after you’ve made your purchase. You should assume that everything will cost extra.

Generally, no. Most airlines will automatically cancel all flight bookings in your itinerary if you miss one flight segment, even if it was not your fault that you couldn’t catch the flight. If you miss one segment, let the airline know so it can rebook you. If you don’t let it know, you may get stuck on a stopover and have to pay for a new a full-fare ticket to continue your trip and return home.

A contract of carriage, sometimes also referred to as the conditions of carriage, is the legal agreement between you and the airline. It is by far the most important reference when it comes to your rights as an air traveler.

The contract usually comes in at least two flavors: the domestic contract, which regulates U.S. flights, and the international contract. These are legally binding contracts. The U.S. government requires airlines to follow them, although it doesn’t set them. In other words, if an airline says it will offer a hotel room to passengers on a delayed flight, then the carrier must do so, although the government doesn’t say it must put that provision in the contract. Additionally, a ticket tariff — that’s the fine print in the actual ticket — informs you of other restrictions, and federal laws and regulations may also apply. But the contract is key.

Nonrefundable means no refunds — usually. Airlines will always refund a nonrefundable ticket if you die before your flight, sending the money to your next of kin. (Real helpful, I know.) They’ll refund a ticket if your flight’s canceled. Sometimes they’ll refund your ticket or waive their change fee if a close relative dies (as long as you can show a death certificate), or (even more rarely) they’ll offer a refund if you fall ill and can’t make the flight.

There’s a good reason why airline tickets are nonrefundable. Every empty seat is a missed opportunity to make money, and most passengers understand that. An airline doesn’t get paid when a seat flies empty. But at the same time, airlines delay or cancel flights for all kinds of reasons, including the weather, acts of God, crew issues, and mechanical problems — often with few or no penalties. Shouldn’t the airlines show a little flexibility from time to time?

In the years immediately after airline deregulation, many airlines would allow you to talk your way into almost anything — including, sometimes, a full refund for a nonrefundable ticket.

Airlines weren’t just being Mr. Nice Guy; they were being Mr. Pushover, and it was costing them real money. After 9/11, the pendulum swung in the other direction. Perhaps too far in the other direction — resulting in policies despised by both airline employees and passengers, including one called “No Waivers, No Favors” that forced employees to stick to the published rules, no matter how onerous those rules were.

Airlines softened their rules a little after their profits returned, but they’re still likely stick to their post-9/11 playbook today, unless you happen to be one of their favorite elite-level customers.

Here are the topics air travelers complain about the most, according the U.S. Department of Transportation:
1. Flight problems
2. Cancellations
3. Delays
4. Missed connections
5. Baggage
6. Reservations/tickets/boarding
7. Customer service
8. Refunds
9. Disability
10. Fares

Ideally, you won’t experience any trouble with your flight. Roughly 75 percent of all flights are on time. Your plane will probably leave as scheduled, and you’ll almost certainly arrive safely. You can find your flight’s on-time record online, using a search tool like FlightStats. But if you experience a problem, your first step should be to contact the airline right then and there. Don’t wait.

For example, say you have a problem with your in-flight entertainment system; the best time to speak up is now. A flight attendant may be able to reseat you, or offer you a drink voucher to make up for the trouble. That’s far more meaningful than holding in the anger the entire flight and then sending an angry missive to the airline — an email that will likely be replied to with a form response and a meaningless certificate that must be used on a future flight.

Contact the carrier directly as soon as possible if you have a problem. If you don’t receive a satisfactory response, try one of the executive contacts I list on my site.

Many air travelers get in touch with me because they have a problem with an airline rule, specifically one of the rules relating to ticket changes or fares. That’s also a common complaint to the government.

Airlines sometimes waive their rules during special circumstances. For example, if there’s a major winter storm approaching that affects their flight operations, they’ll relax their change fee and allow you to reschedule your flight. But it doesn’t necessarily go both ways. If you can’t make a flight because of a natural disaster in your area that affected a small number of people, an airline probably won’t extend the same courtesy.

The U.S. Department of Transportation oversees domestic airlines. You can send a complaint to the DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division. The best way to get in touch with DOT is in writing, through its website.

The DOT doesn’t mediate disputes, at least not officially, but if you can show that an airline violated its own contract or federal law, then it will contact the carrier on your behalf. Nothing makes an airline move faster than an email ending in dot.gov. Even if it turns out that the airline was following the law, it will get you a fast response.

Yes and no. Because of a federal preemption provision to the Federal Aviation Act, you must sue an airline in federal court in most cases. But for smaller complaints, you can take an airline to small claims court, where you can represent yourself, and where the odds are fairly good that an airline won’t bother to send a representative, allowing you to win by default.

✓ Put your complaint in writing. Even though you can call DOT, you will have more success creating a paper trail, and it will be easier to track.

✓ Keep it brief.

✓ Find the exact rule or regulation that has been violated. If possible, point to a previous DOT decision or advisory that sets a precedent.

✓ Be polite. Like all government agencies, the Aviation Consumer Protection Division is stretched to the limit. It can’t take every case. Your good manners will set you apart from the other, sometimes shrill, complaints received by the agency.