Recently, I saw a newspaper advertisement for an airline. It promised an amazing thing — a guaranteed seat if you paid a full-fare coach price. I read and re-read the ad a few times before I understood it. What the ad didn't say, but meant, was, “All you cheapskates flying on cheap tickets, prepare to get bumped.”

        For those of us who run our own businesses — and watch every travel penny — flying can be a nightmare. The airlines have figured out the “worth” of every passenger — in terms of miles flown and dollars spent each year — and treat each person accordingly.

        Look at who's sitting where in an airplane, and you can see who matters to the airlines: up front are salesmen from big companies, shelling out nearly $2,000 for cross-country trips and flying 100,000 miles in a year.

        Where are those of us who own our own businesses? All the way in the far back, squeezed between a Samoan tourist and a student tapping his fingers in time to the music coming over the headphones he's wearing.

        While sitting in the back of the plane may be uncomfortable, it's not nearly the real business challenge of delayed or canceled flights, bumping, and not being able to get on a standby flight when problems occur. If you're in a small business, you're going to suffer a disproportionate amount of these problems.

        Why? We don't rank in the airlines' computer systems. We pay less for our tickets: staying over Saturday nights and buying three weeks in advance. We don't earn top-level frequent-flier status because our travel patterns change as our clients and customers change. As a result, we're going to be among those bumped, and when our flights are canceled, we're going to be among the last rebooked.

        Now, I understand that entrepreneurs are not the big airlines' best customers — at least not individually — and airlines are entitled to pay more attention to those bringing them the most dollars and most profit. But collectively, there are a whole lot of small businesspeople flying in the back of those planes. They'd be wise to recognize our economic impact.

        Until they do, you can take a few steps to fly defensively:

        • Forget frequent flier programs: Unless you make it to the 100,000-mile levels demanding the attention of the airlines, you're better off choosing your flights based on time and money. Continue to collect frequent flier miles on your credit card or other purchases instead.

        • Use frequent flier miles for expensive trips: You're inevitably going to have some last-minute business travel that's very expensive. That's when it's best to use up those miles, instead of saving them for the family vacation to Hawaii.

        • Fly the first flight of the day: The first flight usually means the plane is there, so you're going to have fewer delays. If it's canceled, there will be others.

        • Fly a day early: For very important meetings, fly in a day early. An extra night's hotel room is cheaper than losing a big customer.

        One day, perhaps every airline will recognize that your business trip is as important as the guy working for a Fortune 1000 company. Until they do, it sure would be nice if, once in a while, they gave us one of those warm chocolate chip cookies they're serving in first class.

        Rhonda Abrams is the author of The Successful Business Plan:Secrets and Strategies.

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