Feds want airlines to pay more to bump passengers

If you've ever been bumped off a flight involuntarily, you know that getting a voucher for a future trip doesn't begin to make up for the inconvenience. Which is why proposed new federal rules have left airline passengers cheering in the narrow aisles. Passengers may soon be able to collect as much as $1,300 for their trouble.

My husband missed my brother's lovely lakeside wedding a few years ago after United Airlines bumped us off a flight that we'd reserved months in advance. I almost didn't make it either, until a man who was in first place on the waiting list gave his family's seats to me and my two-year-old -- the wedding's ring bearer -- after I broke down sobbing in the airport holding my $250 silk shantung bridesmaid dress.