As Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, airline passengers need to know how to deal with a system that squeezes every nickel, dime, and dollar from them. Dealing effectively with airlines that view their customers as “the meat in the seat,” as a British Airways flight steward once indelicately put it to me, can make the difference between losing money on a ruined trip or getting a satisfactory credit/refund.

I’m an experienced traveler, but I still learned some new tricks recently. I had to reschedule a flight to attend a shooting competition in Switzerland . Something went wrong with the online rebooking. Instead of the $5,459.21 refund I expected, I received $72.91. Customer service reassured me I’d have a full refund in 7 to 10 calendar days. On the 11th day, they said the waitin

See Full Page