• First mistake: telling the airline you'll never travel with them again. This takes away all incentive to try to make up. Keep threats out of it.
• Second mistake: yelling and screaming no matter how angry you are. Take it from one who has lost their cool too many times in the past. Take a moment - collect your thoughts then be firm but pleasant. Today, displays of anger can get you booted off the plane or even arrested!
• Always tell the airline what you want in compensation. If you're delayed an hour, well, you probably won't get anything. But if you have to spend a night in some lousy airport motel and you miss your meeting, you might see something meaningful in return, say a free ticket. But you must ask. Be realistic - match the request to the wrong.
• Be sure to note in the complaint if you are a frequent flyer in their system or other such distinctions relative to their company. High volume users are very important to airlines and they will likely be more generous.
• State your complaint succinctly - day, time, flight number, reservation and frequent flyer numbers, event.
• If you used a travel agent to make arrangements - be sure to employ their assistance, they are most likely to resolve the problem for you.
• Be patient but persistent. Most airlines claim that all complaints are answered but sometimes this takes a little while.
• If you don't seem to be getting any results from the person handling your complaint, try asking to speak to a supervisor - be sure to keep good records of everyone you speak with as well as dates and times. Still no results, try calling back another day.
• If still no response, you can go to small claims court since the ticket is a contract (see "Contract for Carriage" which is usually found on the airline's web site) and presumably the airline breeched the contract. However you must be able to demonstrate a monetary or property loss, not just that the flight attendant was snotty to you.

A good travel strategy is to minimize the occasions for problems: take carry on instead of checking luggage whenever possible, avoid closely timed connections, don't book the last flight before the meeting or conference - leave a little slack, fly at off-peak times, check complaints and flight reliability of the airline. No one can do anything regarding bad weather (the most common cause for airline delays and cancellations) check with your carrier for their policy on how they deal with weather related incidences. Also inquired about policies related to overbooking - if you are bumped from a full flight what can you reasonably expect in compensation - not all "free" tickets are the same. Information reduces risk.

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