Four rules travelers should know for 2009

Christopher Elliott Travel columnist • Profile • E-mail

It's not too soon to start thinking about traveling next year. In 2009, a series of new rules and regulations kick in that could affect your vacation. Ignore them, and you might find yourself delayed or denied access to your destination.

No, really.

Last year, when new travel document requirements went into effect, the government was quickly overwhelmed by passport applications. One of them came from Martin Mitchell, an Air Force Major who sent a passport renewal in April but still hadn't received it by mid-July. With less than two weeks to go before a planned trip, he contacted me.

“I read that you have contacts with the State Department,” he wrote in an e-mail. “I would appreciate if you could act on my behalf to try and shake loose my application.”

Well, I did have a few names, and with their help, Mitchell managed to get his passport renewed in time.

Not everyone was so lucky. Christine Simmons and her husband applied for passports after booking a vacation through Expedia last January.

But by early March, just days before her trip, her husband still didn't have his paperwork — although, for some odd reason, she did.

“Please help!” she wrote in an e-mail. I phoned the State Department, and it was able to find the passport. It arrived a day after they were supposed to leave — “a dollar short and a day late,” she says.

Fortunately, Expedia allowed her to change her dates after paying a rebooking fee, so all wasn't lost.

Don't let that happen to you. Here are four new rules you need to know for 2009:

Passports will be mandatory for all border crossings
On June 1, the U.S. government will implement the full requirements of the land and sea phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). That means U.S. citizens entering the United States at sea or land ports of entry must either have a passport, passport card or WHTI-compliant document. It's a major — and long-anticipated — change from the current rules, under which you can cross the border with either a passport, passport card or a government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's license, along with proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate.

Susan Tanzman, president or Martin Travel & Tours, a Los Angeles travel agency, is advising her clients to get their passports early.

FACT FILE Passport rule changes What travelers need to know about new regulations

“If they have a trip after the beginning of the new year, I tell them they need a passport,” she says. Why the rush? Tanzman, who is also a lawyer, remembers the last passport crisis, and doesn't want her travelers caught in the middle of a possible sequel. That's sound advice. Applications made at the end of the fourth quarter or the start of the first quarter — in other words, in December, January and February — typically get processed within two weeks, she says. After that, who knows?

Airlines must quote a total price for tickets
The European Parliament this year approved a new “transparency” rule mandating that airfares have to include all taxes, fees and charges added to the basic ticket price and known at the time of publication.

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It is expected to take effect either in late 2008 or early 2009, according to the EU. At least theoretically, that should mean no more unpleasant surprises when you buy a ticket for travel within Europe or to Europe. Under the rule, airfare or air rate, taxes, airport charges and other charges, surcharges or fees, such as those related to security or fuel, have to be included in the price of the ticket.

And any optional price supplements must be communicated in “a clear, transparent and unambiguous way at the start of any booking process” and allow passengers to opt-in for them, according to the EU.

Stanley Gyoshev, a co-founder of the online travel site Lessno.com, was one of the key proponents of the change. He says there are two reasons why American air carriers may have no choice but to adopt these transparency rules, too. “For one, the federal government could increase consumer protection by using laws relating to unfair advertising — by insisting that airlines only advertise products and pricing which is readily available to the traveler without undue restrictions and red tape,” he told me. “The second is that since major international airlines are selling tickets in Europe, they will need to comply with the EU regulations. Since they need to make consumer-friendly changes to their European Web sites and advertising, we are hoping there will be some carry-over to the U.S. sites.”

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