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"  1. Increase your chances of actually making it to the holiday dinner by booking the first flight of the day.  The earlier your planned departure, the better your chances of getting on a later flight should the first one be delayed, overbooked, or canceled. Delta, for example, has 10 daily nonstop flights from Atlanta to West Palm Beach. Book the first, at 8:25 A.M., and you have nine more opportunities to reach your destination that day. But if the last departure, at 9:55 P.M., is canceled, you&amp;#039;ll be stuck in Georgia for the night. 2. Take a direct flight, whenever possible.  Nowadays, one in five planes does not arrive on time. While always frustrating, delays become real problems for connecting travelers who depend on a first flight&amp;#039;s prompt arrival in order to make the second leg. Our advice: Fly nonstop to the major airport nearest your destination, then drive the rest of the way. Say you&amp;#039;re traveling from Denver to Ventura, California, via Los Angeles International Airport: Instead of taking a connecting flight from LAX to Oxnard Airport (which services Ventura), you&amp;#039;ll shave at least an hour off your travel time by hitting the highway--even with the 75-minute drive. And if you were going to rent a car anyway, you could save as much as $100. 3. Find the seat with the most legroom. Seatexpert.com offers more than 300 annotated aircraft seating charts, making it a snap for travelers to locate the roomiest bulkhead perch or the spot closest to the loo. If you don&amp;#039;t know the make of the aircraft you&amp;#039;re scheduled to travel aboard, search by flight number. 4. Get as much as 40 percent off--and priority when flying standby.  Join every frequent-flier program--even if you&amp;#039;ve never flown with the airline--to benefit from special discounts, receive e-mail alerts about cheap flights, and, yes, move to the top of the standby list. While you&amp;#039;re at it, sign up for the free loyalty programs of the major car-rental companies, too, as they offer discounts, no-cost upgrades, and faster check-ins. If keeping track of assorted membership numbers and PIN codes seems daunting, consolidate frequent-flier and rental-car loyalty programs online at mileport.com, a free site that monitors all your accounts. 5. Follow these two steps to score the cheapest fare. Step one: Browse a third-party consolidation site, such as bing.com, expedia.com, or travelocity.com, to determine which airline offers the best price for your trip. Step two: Go directly to that airline&amp;#039;s site to purchase the ticket. Carriers now frequently offer better prices online than outside providers do--in fact, if you can find a lower-priced ticket for a Continental, Delta, Northwest, or United flight on a site other than the airline&amp;#039;s own, the airline will give you a $100 voucher, plus the difference in fare. If you need to fly tomorrow, find the best deals at kayak.com and lastminute.com. No matter what, never reserve by phone, because most airlines charge fees as high as $25 for the privilege.  6. Traveling with a dog? Here&amp;#039;s how to save $112 or more.  AirTran offers the cheapest domestic pet fares: $69 each way for a small dog traveling in a carrier that will fit under your seat. Continental and United charge $125 each way for in-cabin pooches, while Delta, JetBlue, Northwest, US Airways, and Virgin all ask a slightly more reasonable $100. Pups flying cargo cost more, with fares running as high as $689 each way, depending on the animal&amp;#039;s size. Pet carry-on weight limits vary and space is limited, so always reserve early. For more info, visit bringfido.com, which lists each airline&amp;#039;s pet policies and prices.  7. Pocket up to $40 in luggage fees. JetBlue and Southwest are the only major domestic airlines that don&amp;#039;t charge travelers $15 to $20 each way for their first checked bag. On other airlines, pay for only one piece of luggage by sharing a bag with your spouse or travel companion. Either way, be sure to keep the bag&amp;#039;s total weight below 50 pounds to avoid overweight luggage charges, which can range from $49 to $175. And, lastly, to save an additional $5, pay baggage fees ahead of time online, when you print out the boarding pass for your flight. 8. Act fast when flight problems occur. Gone are the days of airlines actively assisting waylaid passengers. If your flight ends up canceled or delayed, get in line to speak with an airline representative, but don&amp;#039;t just stand there: Use your cell phone to call the carrier&amp;#039;s toll-free number \u2014 odds are the person on the phone can help you secure another flight quicker than a gate agent who&amp;#039;s being inundated by dozens of cranky passengers. And know your rights:   The airline will rebook you when a flight has been canceled \u2014 it just might not be for the same day.   In the event that the airline sells too many seats and you get bumped, you&amp;#039;re entitled to the cost of your one-way fare, up to $400, according to the Department of Transportation, provided the carrier can&amp;#039;t book you on a flight scheduled to touch down within one hour of your original arrival time.   When you&amp;#039;re delayed due to a snafu caused by the airline, like a mechanical difficulty, check the departures board to see if any other outbound flights will reach your destination faster. While most airlines won&amp;#039;t voluntarily offer assistance, they frequently will try to accommodate passengers on another of their own flights (or, occasionally, on a competitor&amp;#039;s) when asked to do so. If bad weather causes the holdup, chances are it&amp;#039;s affecting every other flight as well \u2014 so you just have to sit tight. And while we&amp;#039;re not against trying to obtain meal and hotel vouchers, alas, they seem to be a thing of the past.   9. Book long-term parking early. Secure a spot in advance at airportparkingreservations.com or airportdiscountparking.com when departing from a major hub, where lots tend to fill to capacity during the holidays. Both companies deliver savings on published airport prices and provide free shuttle service from the car lots to all terminals. 10. Make layovers and delays more bearable with a good meal. Here, six airport restaurants that garner high marks from pilots and flight attendants. BOSTON At Logan Airport, Legal Sea Foods serves up flaky crab cakes, fresh oysters, and strong gimlets; 617-568-2800. CHARLOTTE Try the pulled pork, beef brisket, and hush puppies from Brookwood Farms BBQ at North Carolina&amp;#039;s Douglas International Airport; 704-359-4440. CHICAGO Since 2001, pilots with layovers at Midway Airport have made a beeline for the roast beef-and-provolone subs at Potbelly Sandwich Works; 773-582-1234. MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL French Meadow Bakery at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport makes salad ni\u00E7oise, veggie wraps, even butternut-squash ravioli; 612-355-4695. SAN FRANCISCO One of the Bay Area&amp;#039;s most lauded sushi dens, Ebisu Sushi now offers yellowtail tuna, wild salmon, and udon noodles at San Francisco International Airport; 650-588-2549. WASHINGTON, D.C. At Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Dulles and Ronald Reagan National Airports, the spicy Cajun fries and all-beef patties blanketed in American cheese get raves; 703-661-8787 or 703-417-1990. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.countryliving.com/life/travel/a3050/holiday-travel-survival-guide/>