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United Airlines has a new policy that would make large people buy two seats, if a flight attendant can't find two open seats together. The carrier is the latest of several airlines to adopt this policy. The carrier, whose parent company is Chicago-based UAL Corp., said it decided to adopt the tougher policy after receiving more than 700 complaints last year from passengers "who did not have a comfortable flight because the person next to them infringed on their seat," spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said. 2 As the nation copes with increasingly obese Americans, United Airlines has joined the list of air carriers making overweight passengers pay more to fly. How to accommodate severely overweight passengers is an issue that has long rankled air travelers. Issues of weight and seat proximity have become more sensitive in recent years as airlines narrow seat widths and flights have become fuller. But as airlines adopt or toughen policies for obese passengers, some question how th

If my flight is cancelled or I'm bumped, what is airline's obligation? If the flight that you want to be re-booked on is full and you have to wait until the next day, sometimes the airline will put you up in a hotel. But if they don't and you need to pay for it yourself, try asking the hotel (nearby an airport) for the distressed passenger discount. Then you can maybe get a better deal on the overnight stay. If you're bumped and the airline is going to offer you some compensation, try and get a cheque rather than a flight voucher. Cash in hand is always better than a flight voucher because the vouchers could have blackout dates, restricting you from travelling anytime you want. Whereas, with the cash, you can use it for whatever you want, or you can re-book a brand new ticket. What are "blackout" dates? Blackout dates are restricted days of travel. So, if you are on a discounted flight, then the blackout dates are dates you cannot travel on, such as holidays o

What does "overbooking" mean? Overbooking has been in the news a lot lately. All it means is that they've sold more tickets than there are seats for that flight, which is a scandal. Airlines often overbook because they like to fly full flights, so they will sell more tickets than there are seats because a few people just might not show up. This is overbooking. If your flight is overbooked, they might ask you to give up your seat, and if they don't ask you to give up your seat, they might do it for you. The incentive is they might offer you travel credit, a meal voucher or a free ticket in exchange for taking a different flight and relieving the overbooking. What is "standby"? Standby is when you have a ticket for one flight, but you want to go on an earlier flight and get to your destination a little sooner. You check in, see if there are any other seats available on an earlier flight and wait for it. If the seats are empty, you can go standby. One tip for f

What other types of check-in are available at the airport? Curbside check-in is that little desk right on the sidewalk where the skycap is there ready to check you in, take your baggage, and give you your boarding pass. Sometimes, the line is a little shorter than inside at the baggage check-in desk, but it comes with a price. You're required to at least tip the skycap or sometimes there's a mandatory fee of two dollars per bag right there on a sign as you check in at the line. A self-service check-in is a know it all computer that knows who you are as soon as you put in your ID or your credit card. What you do is you verify who you are, and that you're on the next flight and what seat you want, and then it prints out your boarding pass for you, right then and there; nobody needs to help you. What happens if the airline loses my luggage? If you can't find your bag once you get off the plane, know that you are not alone. This happens to a lot of passengers. What you do i

We traditionally ask passengers if they are going to be flying domestically to get to the airports two hours before their flight. If they are flying internationally, get to the airport three hours before your flight. You have to manipulate the parking, you have to check in and get your ticket, you have to get your bags screened, you have to get through security, you have to find your gate. We think that two hours is a good amount of time for domestic flights, but it's always a good idea to check with the airline. If you have some flexibility in scheduling your flight, you can schedule it during non-peak hours when you know there's not going to be a lot of people at the airport.