I was reading this article over at MSNBC http://www.msnbc.com/news/443507.asp...menu.asp&cp1=1 and a few things were news to me. Wanted to get others opinions about them.
Such as:

4. Remember rule 240. Remember that paper ticket
advice? Couple it with rule 240 and you have a halfway
decent chance of getting out of town in the event of a delay.
Rule 240 (many airlines may know it now as Rule 120.20)
had its beginnings under the old pre-deregulation Civil
Aeronautics Board, but thankfully survived the
post-deregulation transition to the U.S. Department of
Transportation. What is rule 240, you may ask? In the event
of any flight irregularity of any kind (with the exception of
weather), invoking rule 240 means the original (and
delayed) airline takes your paper ticket, endorses it over to
the next available flight, not their next available flight, and
off you go.

5. It�s not the flight number, but the aircraft
number that makes the real informational difference.
If your flight is showing up as on time, or even if it is
showing up as delayed, you need accurate information. So,
call the airline and ask them the aircraft number assigned to
your flight. Then ask them the actual status of that aircraft
number. For example, let�s say you�re flying from Seattle to
Chicago on the 2 p.m. flight and it�s now noon. You ask
and are told the plane is on time. But then you ask for the
aircraft number, and discover it is aircraft number 423. You
then ask the status of number 423 and learn that this aircraft
is currently in Topeka. Guess what? You�re not leaving at 2
p.m. The same applies for flights already listed as delayed.
If the plane is not at the gate, do the same routine to
determine how long the delay will really be. And, as a
general rule of thumb, add 20, 30, 40 or 60 minutes to the
actual arrival time of that flight to determine the earliest
departure time of that flight, depending on aircraft type
(737, 727, 757 or 747).

There seems to be some back and forth about Rule 240 and I did not know about the other at all. How about you veterans?

[This message has been edited by keithnj973 (edited 08-13-2000).]

Keith,

Many airlines now use the number 120 instead of 240, but the meaning is the same. And they generally won't reroute you on another airline unless you ask/insist.

At my airline only the exp desk has access to the aircraft number and we generally don't give it out because it can change midstream and then we have an irate passenger that tells us where the plane is supposed to be coming form. Ex. plane number 311 coming dfw/ord at arrival 830a due to go ord/lga at 915a..plane delayed..in dfw. we also have plane number 422 coming Bos/Ord due 930a due to depart to dfw at 1130a under a different flight number...the decision is made to use plane number 422 to go Ord/Lga to try to keep somewhere close to teh ontime and then when plane number 311 arrives we'll use it as a turnaround on the Ord/Dfw route. So using plane numbers is only going to muddy the waters even more, make us once again into liars and create more irate passengers. The business is a minute to minute decision in a lot of instances and that kind of information that is definitely subject to change is only going to make our FF's (you guys) even madder. The rule 240 has another thread going right now and AA still calls it 240 not 120.01 or whatever.

I have to admit I got a bit of a laugh at the advice to call and ask for the A/C number. Res agents all over the country must have collectively groaned out loud when that was published. I wonder how many requests they got for that info in the next couple of days?

Seems to me that some of these folks who write "travel" columns ought to spend a little time actually traveling.

The few times (knock on wood ) I have had to be rule 120:ed, I have had no problems getting my e-ticket transferred to a paper ticket. Is it just me, Delta, or me being a PM on Delta that make this so easy, or is this whole problems-with-e-ticket deal just overblown?

/Pete

I got 120ed over Christmas last year. No problems with NWA even though we were e-ticketed. It might have helped that we were flying out of an airport which is has no dominant carrier, and fairly competitive between carriers with fares, so there's a bit more incentive for employees to provide good service. (If you don't keep customers happy, you end up with fewer flights, and fewer flights need fewer employees)

If you have an e-ticket (mine is NWA) and want to have them give you a paper one at the airport counter are they going to charge you a fee?