It’s the bane of every traveler – you arrive at the airport in plenty of time, only to discover that your flight has been cancelled and you’ve been placed on the next available plane – which isn’t departing for another three hours. So much for your tight schedule; you’ll never make it now.

Cancelled flights, delays and gate changes are things over which none of us have any control. Worse, such changes are usually made at the last minute, after you’ve left for the airport and after you’ve made that last-minute call to the airline to make sure everything on schedule.

Unknown to many travelers, the airlines - as well as many online booking sites - now offer special services to alert passengers to such changes. If your flight is cancelled or delayed, or if there’s a gate change you can now have a text message sent to you via email, or to your cell phone or PDA. You can even get a voice message on your cell phone or regular telephone. Some services will even forward these alerts to persons you select – friends,relatives, business associates – so they can get the word on your delayed or cancelled flight.

Most of the major airlines now offer some sort of notification service, but you have to sign up for it. The same goes for the online booking sites like Orbitz or Travelocity. If you’re willing to spend a little time to sign up now you can save yourself a whole lot of frustration later.

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