With instantaneous access to airline seat and hotel room information from virtually any computer in the world, and nonrefundable fares, there is no longer any reason for airlines to overbook flights and leave customers stranded at the airport or for hotels to overbook rooms. Yet it still happens. It makes fliers unhappy, and causes untold problems for families and businesses.

The problem is exacerbated by the way airlines and hotels selectively use technology to dissuade customers from using discount travel brokers. My recent trip to Florida demonstrates how the practice undermines confidence in the travel industry, even when the process works out in the end.

My goal was to fly to Tampa, Fla., and have my son meet me there; then fly back home together -- the type of itinerary I used to book through travel agencies in the stone ages. This type of itinerary is more difficult in the Internet age because Web-based travel systems available to the public don't handle two tickets unless the itineraries are identical. I didn't know it would lead me to discover archaic policies at airline and hotel chains.

In this case I found suitable flights using Kayak.com, which led me to CheapTickets.com to complete the purchase. CheapTickets couldn't do both tickets on the same reservation; but neither could the carrier, US Airways. So I reserved them on separate purchases, hoping that we would still be able to get seats together. CheapTickets.com let me reserve seats, and I closed my browser a happy man -- until I later went to get my boarding pass. That's when I found out US Airways didn't reserve my seats -- and that the airline wouldn't give me boarding passes.

So I called the airline by phone, at which time, the agent, Tiffany, told me the company doesn't reserve seats from CheapTickets.com, Priceline, HotWire, Expedia or other discount online ticket brokers. According to Tiffany, the airline doesn't consider those organizations to be travel agents or paying customers -- so anytime they tell you they have reserved a seat, they really haven't; they have just requested the seat. She told me those companies don't have access to the seat database -- because of airline policy.

Furthermore, the airline reserves 20 percent of the seats for airport check-in. In this case, I had a seat on my first leg from Pittsburgh to Charlotte, N.C., but could be stuck in Charlotte waiting for an empty seat because they wouldn't reserve one for me in advance. I had to take my chances. Tiffany suggested checking in for Charlotte at the Pittsburgh airport instead of using the usual route by going to the gate with my boarding pass for the first leg.

My tale ended up happy as I got all the way to Tampa on a full flight and flew home next to my son. But it might not have been that way because the policies that slowed my travel progress are based on old economics and customer-unfriendly tactics.

First, the airline is unfairly penalizing people who buy from what the customers believe to be reputable vendors. Because they only request seats instead of reserving them, the people who book through these services are more likely to get bumped by overbooking.

Second, if a customer buys a nonrefundable fare, the airline should be required to carry that customer as originally agreed. Overbooking is bait and switch -- especially after the cash has been exchanged.

Third, if a customer with a nonrefundable ticket doesn't show up, that's his trouble. The airline should be able to keep the fare and ride with a lighter load. The other paying customers should not have to pay again by worrying about being bumped.