Mastering the Fine Art of Complaining and How to Get the Best Results : Rights: There are more and more watchdog groups to help consumers with travel problems. The trick is adequate documentation and talking to the right person.

The airline has lost your bags. That special “ocean view” hotel room you’ve reserved actually faces a dark courtyard. The tour brochure promises you’ll see the Louvre, but you only pass by it while sitting in a bus.

When something goes wrong on a business or vacation trip, how do you complain and, more important, how do you make your complaint work? Specifically, how do you make sure that if you’re a victim of a broken travel promise, you’re fairly compensated?

Welcome to the brave new world of travelers’ rights.

In the past, travelers were left with little recourse except to complain to the Better Business Bureau, their travel agent or directly to the company that had failed to provide the service.

Now there are a number of consumer advocacy organizations, public interest groups and government agencies that may be able to help you get satisfaction.

In the airline business, public advocacy actually began in 1973 with Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen, a Washington-based lobbying group. Then, with the advent of deregulation in 1978, the Consumer Affairs Office at the U.S. Department of Transportation replaced the Civil Aeronautics Board in performing consumer-assistance functions.

Among other national organizations that can provide help to consumers: the American Society of Travel Agents, U.S. Tour Operators Assn., Aviation Consumer Action Project, and the National Assn. of Railroad Passengers, which monitors complaints on Amtrak.

In most cases, these groups and others like them sprang up as consumers--spurred by people such as Nader--gradually became more insistent about their rights. Not surprisingly, once consumers found out that they had another avenue for their complaints, other than just the offending company, the number of complaints naturally rose.

The old adage about the squeaky wheel getting the oil is, generally speaking, still a truism with travel-related complaints--and the proliferation of watchdog agencies and government oversight bureaus gives the complainer more places to seek redress and send copies of letters. But first, a few cautions on the fine art of complaining: It’s not enough to be right. You need to know the right person to target your complaint to, and how to make it.

More often than not, complaints are first heard by clerks or receptionists. How you treat them may well determine if your complaint gets a proper hearing at a higher level, or whether it gets heard at all.

But keep in mind that most airlines, cruise lines, rental car companies and other travel businesses give their employees limited levels of responsibility in handling consumer complaints.

Embrace the supervisor philosophy. It’s almost a given that you’ll need to speak to one to get a proper hearing for your complaint.

Consider your clout. If you’re a frequent flier, hotel guest or car renter (and carry the appropriate membership cards) you have standing. After all, these programs were designed to reward loyalty. By complaining, you’re intimating that you might take your loyalty--and your business--elsewhere.

Document your complaint. Take names, numbers, keep detailed information. A valid complaint can be perceived as weak and valueless if you can’t provide adequate details and dates, places and names.

It’s perfectly appropriate to complain first--and directly--to the offending company. But don’t stop there. Send copies of your complaint letter to appropriate state and federal agencies or watchdog groups that act as advocates for travelers’ rights in the area of your complaint.

And don’t always expect to be reimbursed with cash if you succeed. It’s almost standard practice for hotels, rental car companies and airlines to offer discounted or free flights, automobiles or accommodations as a way to satisfy complaints.

For example, one frequent flier recently was seated eight rows away from her husband on a Continental flight to Hawaii, after she had been promised seats together. It was their honeymoon flight. When she complained prior to boarding to the airline gate agent, she received no satisfaction. Once on the plane, she complained to the flight attendant, and again, nothing was done.

Upon her return from Honolulu, she followed up with a letter to Continental’s consumer affairs department, and sent copies of the letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation, her state’s attorney general and this columnist.

She later revealed that Continental responded by sending her vouchers for a free future flight. She complained again--since both she and her husband were inconvenienced--and the airline upped the ante to two vouchers.

Some complaints can be downright ludicrous, but these days even those complaints get heard. Airlines have become much more responsive to consumers, what with increased competition for passengers and incentives such as frequent flier programs.

Still, not every complaint, no matter how correct, gets the desired result. When that happens, and you still feel you’ve been denied a promised service or a contract has been breached, you can always dispute the charge on your credit card bill (assuming that you paid that way).

Even then, you could be stuck with the charge. In April, 1990, I visited the Penta Golf Hotel near Portimao, Portugal. I needed to send a four-page fax. When I got the bill on my credit card, the hotel had charged me a whopping $151--for the fax only!

I complained at the time, but was only told the charge was “routine hotel policy.”

I disputed the charge with MasterCard. In March, 1991, nearly a year later, I received a computer-generated letter from MasterCard informing me that the hotel would not adjust their bill to a more reasonable figure.

So, I was stuck with the $151 charge. And my complaint didn’t work. So what recourse do I have?

Word of mouth. Like most travelers, no amount of advertising, promotion or even discounts can make up for a bad vacation experience. In a case like this, my last resort for future travel to Portugal is simply to make the Penta Golf Hotel my . . . last resort.

You should send copies of your complaint letter to the consumer affairs division of your state attorney general’s office. In California, contact the California State Attorney General’s Consumer Affairs Public Inquiry Unit at (916) 445-9555.

At the national level, valuable contacts are:

--Consumer Affairs Office, U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 7th St. S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590, (202) 366-2220.

--American Society of Travel Agents, Consumer Affairs, Box 23992, Washington, D.C. 20026, (703) 739-2783.

--U.S. Tour Operators Assn., 211 East 51st St., Suite 12-B, New York 10022, (212) 944-5727.

--Aviation Consumer Action Project, Box 19029, Washington, D.C. 20036, (202) 833-3000.

--National Assn. of Railroad Passengers, 900 2nd St. N.E., Suite 308, Washington, D.C. 20002-3557, (202) 408-8362.