If that’s ever happened to you then you probably already follow Rule No. 1 for hassle-free flying: Never pack in checked bags anything that would make you ill or heartbroken if the bag isn’t returned to you immediately upon landing.

The vast majority of passengers’ bags don’t get lost, and theft from bags in transit is rare. But jewelry, iPods, PDAs, cameras, chargers and other electronics will be the first items to disappear if you’re a victim, and airlines specifically exempt them from reimbursement if they’re lost.

Important papers or electronic storage devices should be in your carry-on bag as well. Airline web sites, including those for Delta and Usairways, have big sections on baggage policies but vary in how far down you must drill to find specific information.

Here are some practices road veterans try to follow when preparing and packing for any trip:

• Plan on using two carry-on bags, one a rolling type that will fit in an overhead bin and the other a briefcase or large purse – with those prescriptions inside – that holds more than just a laptop. I often check the rolling bag but only for a discrete reason: Since I write about this stuff, I want to gauge the quality of different airlines’ service.
• When shopping for luggage, check the weight of the empty bag. If the bag itself is as heavy as the contents, it’s harder to heft into an overhead bin, or could be subject to an overweight fee if it’s checked.
• Another factor to consider when buying a rolling bag: How easily does it roll, pivot and take corners? Pull and push it around the store to see if it could tip over easily when it’s full.
• Buy shampoos, lotion and other liquids in 3-ounce bottles or buy empty 3-ounce bottles and label them (so you don’t do as my wife almost did recently and use hand lotion on her hair). Carry them in a quart-size plastic bag because airport security is picky about it. The Transportation Security Administration’s web site is loaded with detail on the rules.
• If you’re not particular about brands of shampoo or lotion, don’t pack the little bottles at all and use those the hotel provides.
• Wear socks and slip-on shoes for that especially irritating part of security screening.
• I’ve read this tip for years and usually follow it: Take only the apparel you will really wear. Lay out all your clothing and shoes on a bed before packing and be tough on yourself.
• Take clothing that’s in neutral colors and doesn’t wrinkle easily. I’ve ordered several items from travelsmith.com that are specifically designed for life on the road but there are myriad other brands available.
• If you’ll be traveling for more than four or five days, use a hotel with laundry facilities. At Hilton, Marriott or Choice Hotels’ sites, look for guest services or amenities.
• Pack heavy items like shoes on the bottom of the bag – provided you can’t survive with just one pair of shoes.
• Don’t take a travel iron or a hair dryer because most hotels provide them now. After you get to your room, but before the next morning when your hair is wet, turn on the hair dryer to make sure it works.

What tips do you have for packing for a trip?

I have jumped around a lot over the years in the sites I check. But recently, the one I go to first is FareCompare.com. It has many similarities but also some key differences, vs. other multi-airline travel sites whose names are more familiar, including Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity. FareCompare makes forecasts on the direction air fares are headed, so that anyone who can plan weeks or months in advance can have a better idea about the best time to buy tickets. The site also has a greater variety of information and recent news about air travel than others I’ve checked.

Another good site, farecast, also predicts whether fares are likely to rise or fall on multiple U.S. airline routes. In planning a trip to Europe next summer, I am using both farecompare and farecast and am finding prices within a few dollars of each other on the two sites. On both farecompare and farecast and some other similar sites, including Kayak, Sidestep and Vayama, you don’t book travel services directly. To actually buy a ticket, you’re sent to the airlines’ own sites or to ones like Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity that are online travel agencies authorized by airlines to issue their tickets.

FareCompare CEO Rick Seaney says he has developed predictive capabilities, using a massive database of airfares past, present and future, that others haven’t matched yet. For 2009, Seaney’s big-picture forecast: Expect domestic air fares to be higher than they were this year, and international fares to be a bit lower, or at least to not go up as much as domestic prices.

Another reason I tilt toward FareCompare is its direct link to Southwest Airlines’ web site. Southwest is not part of the traditional airline and travel agents’ “global distribution system,” and thus doesn’t have its flights listed in the other big multi-airline sites.

Anyone who has Southwest service available within 100 miles of home should be checking its simple, easy-to-use site along with the multi-airline sites. Southwest flies only domestically and doesn’t cover the whole country, but it serves almost all major metro areas and dozens of mid-sized cities. According to hitwise.com, Southwest.com consistently gets more traffic than any of the multi-airline sites.

How do you plan trips and make reservations on the web?

This the third time in about three years I’ve asked, and the response each time has been rapid and vociferous, generating at least eight to 10 times more responses than I usually get to a column.

And what do the people – or at least my people – say? They are horrified at the very mention of the idea, with some vowing to stop flying or get into physical confrontations at 30,000 feet if they are subjected to the ill-mannered around them chattering away on the phone in a cramped airline cabin. Out of 58 e-mails and phone calls so far, 56 said they’re vigorously opposed.

Here’s a typical response, this one from a business owner in Chester, Pa:

I can think of nothing that would make travel more unbearable than cell phone use on airplanes. People are loud, rude and inconsiderate in the terminal. It would be even worse on a plane.

If you feel the same way, don’t worry. The prohibition about voice calls is not about to change. But the ability to access the Internet for e-mail and texting in flight is changing, and we want to know what web workers who have to fly on business think about all of it.

First, I need to say more about the whole issue of why you can’t make a cell phone call in flight, and my theory of why my other audience – the readers of a weekly newspaper column that appears in both print and online – has such strong negative attitudes about the subject.

Cell calls in flight (other than on those very expensive seatback phones still available on some carriers) are outlawed because of Federal Aviation Administration uncertainty about their effect on aircraft navigation and communication equipment. The Federal Communications Commission has had concerns whether cell phone service at ground level could be disrupted by in-flight service.

But that hasn’t been the deal-killer each time the FAA or FCC has opened the subject to study and comment.

Flight attendants, joined by thousands of people like my newspaper readers, have pleaded for the prohibition to stay in place out of fear that the annoyance factor would lead to greater “air-rage” incidents.

For the first time, that term could be applied to more sober people than drunks.

Congress has even gotten into the act, after the European Union last spring said airlines that want to allow Internet access could also allow voice calls. A bill prohibiting the practice passed the House on a voice vote but hasn’t been taken up the Senate.

The opinions of my newspaper readers on this topic are not a scientific sampling, of course, in the same way that few “surveys” on the web are, since those who answer are self-selected. My readers also are older and almost certainly less tech-savvy than readers of this blog. Some were also probably influenced by my own opposition to any change.

But many of the newspaper readers also are business people, and only one of them told me he doesn’t own a cell phone. So they probably aren’t unlike those who have told regulators they want to keep the in-flight ban.

The good news about this for those who would like to work on the web on an airplane is that access for e-mail, texting and web browsing is coming soon or is already here.

American Airlines installed a system on some of its long-haul domestic jets in August. Alaska, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest and Virgin America are among the U.S. carriers that have said they plan to offer something similar. Expect to pay $10 to $13 per flight for access. And to answer one obvious question, no, your VoIP service won’t work either.

Time now to open the floodgates and ask what web workers think.

The service is launching on nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and LA, and New York and Miami. Like everything else about air travel, it’s not free – but the $12.95 per flight charge should be easier to swallow than $15 to check another bag.

Glance

With recent flight cancellations, airlines in bankruptcy and other issues, Glance is offering a free month’s subscription for those affected.  Simply head over to Glance’s site and tell them your tale of woe to be considered for the offer.

The service is hoping rather than hopping on a plane to visit conduct a meeting, demonstrate a product, or otherwise share desktop information, you’ll instead use Glance to show clients/co-workers your on-screen presentation.