Within the past few months airline financial failures have grabbed the headlines. ATA, Frontier, Maxjet, Skybus and Hawai'i's own pioneering Aloha Airlines have either ceased operations or filed for bankruptcy protection. Unhappily for the flying public, a growing list of airlines are sliding into a fiscal morass due to ever-higher fuel prices, union demands, declining consumer market, credit card vendor fees, and other less-voiced concerns. And even more airlines are likely to join the list in the months to come.

Many travelers will be surprised to learn that they have no federally mandated rights when an airline cancels a flight or enters bankruptcy protection. Passengers assume that airlines will honor tickets from a bankrupt airline for a modest service fee or that the failing airline will continue to fly. While this may have been true in years past, it is no longer the case.

A bit of history: Even after deregulation in 1978 when airlines were no longer required by the government to assist passengers with canceled flights, many airlines voluntarily adopted the policy of honoring tickets issued by bankrupt competitors. Then came 9/11. Confronting an industry-wide slowdown, most domestic airlines determined to no longer accept tickets from failed carriers.

To counter these actions, Congress quickly passed a law in November 2001, that required airlines to rebook passengers from bankrupt carriers for a fixed handling fee — originally $25 one-way but raised by the Department of Transportation to $50 in 2005. In addition to requiring carriers to rebook passengers, the law gave ticket holders the right to fly standby for $50 each way for 60 days on their ticket.

Congress spinelessly caved in to unrelenting pressure from industry lobbyists and allowed this law to expire in 2006. The upshot is that there is no longer any law on the books that calls for airlines to honor tickets from bankrupt competitors. During this recent round of airline collapses, many carriers have refused to accept the tickets of the failed airlines, forcing hapless ticket holders to purchase new ones, often at significantly higher fares.

Absent government protections, consumers should be alert when selecting one carrier over another, especially when purchasing tickets months in advance. Here are a few pro-active steps you can take to minimize exposure to a financially shaky U.S. airline.

USE A CREDIT CARD: A credit card — not a debit card — can give you some protection and the possibility of securing a refund if an airline goes bankrupt. The Federal Fair Credit Billing Act states that when consumers purchase a product or service by credit card and then fail to receive it, the consumer can contest the charge in writing with the card issuer within 60 days of the billing date when the charge was posted. If you meet these requirements, you should be able to secure a refund from your credit card company for the full amount you paid for tickets from a bankrupt airline.

If you bought your ticket more than 60 days in advance, and the airline goes out of business more than 60 days after you got the bill for the tickets, it's too late to request a credit. This 60-day limitation in the Fair Credit Billing Act could be changed by Congress, but that august body has entertained no such proposal.

TIME YOUR PURCHASE: If you want to ensure that the price you paid will be refunded by a credit card issuer, purchase your tickets within 60 days of the date of your itinerary's return flight.

OBTAIN TRAVEL INSURANCE: If it is not practical to buy your tickets within the 60-day credit card protection limit, evaluate the merits of purchasing trip cancellation and interruption insurance at the same time the tickets are issued. Many policies extend coverage to "supplier default," i.e. bankruptcy of a travel provider, so check the fine print carefully to determine what's covered and what's not and which airlines, if any, are excluded.

CONVERT FROM ELECTRONIC TO PAPER TICKETS: If you are holding e-tickets on a failed or failing carrier, consider going to the airline's ticket counter at the airport, or one of its city ticket offices, and paying a handling fee to have your tickets converted to paper tickets. Your chances of getting another airline to accept a paper ticket are much higher, especially if your carrier has ceased operations. Whereas paper tickets are verifiable, e-ticket receipts are deemed (by the airline industry) easy to forge and, therefore, don't provide definitive proof of payment.

If this transaction is too costly or unavailable, ask the agent for a printout, without charge, on airline ticket/boarding pass stock of the "passenger receipt" coupon of your e-ticket. This document does not constitute a ticket per se but is much stronger evidence of having paid for a ticket and more likely to be accepted by another airline than is a standard itinerary or electronic confirmation notice.

In conclusion, there is no guarantee that an airline — even a large and venerable one — will not enter bankruptcy proceedings or abruptly cease operations. Forget the government; it will not help you. Review print and Internet resources to appraise the current financial status of a carrier prior to a ticket purchase. With pressing economic conditions affecting all airlines, be extra prudent in your ticket transactions. Obtaining the lowest fare for the most convenient itinerary is no longer, sadly, a traveler's only consideration.

Irene Croft Jr. of Kailua, Kona, is a travel writer and 40-year veteran globetrotter. Her column is published in this section every other week.