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t's Jan. 1, 2000. You're in a hurry to drop off your rental car and catch your flight home from a business trip that ran a few days late. You could have left yesterday, but you decided to celebrate New Year's Eve with old friends who live in that town. You stop at a gas station to fill up and avoid the rental company's expensive refueling surcharge, but you see a sign: "Pumps down due to Y2K."

Having begged your way out of the fuel surcharge, you arrive at the airport to find your flight canceled-the attendant informs you that the plane is coming from a smaller airport that is having "Y2K problems." The security system there won't read anyone's ID cards, so ground and flight crews can't get to the planes and other equipment. Of course, the airport authority there was assured by its consultants that everything would work fine.

In January, planes won't drop out of the sky, but Y2K problems could cause some major inconveniences for travelers. If computer talk makes your eyes glaze over, here is the Y2K problem in a nutshell: Until recently, many computers required that people entering data enter only the last two digits of the year. When the year rolls over to 2000, those computers will read the date as 1900, unless they are reprogrammed. The potential for error is amazing. Fortunately, efforts to remedy the problem are in full swing all over the world.

Airlines, rental car agencies, and hotels have been working for several years to forestall Y2K problems. Most observers expect any travel problems around the new year to fall into the category of inconvenience, rather than danger-at least in the United States. Smart travelers are learning what the travel industry has done to prepare for Y2K so they can head off potential problems before they head out the door.

Airports

The FAA recently celebrated bringing its systems into "full Y2K compliance," meaning that the air traffic control system is ready for the new year. FAA Administrator Jane Garvey has said, "Aviation safety will not be compromised on Jan. 1, 2000, or any other day." She will be flying across the country on Dec. 31 to prove her point. But on Sept. 10, Joel Willemssen, the General Accounting Office's director of Civil Agencies Information Systems, testified to Congress that the FAA should conduct additional tests of some of its mission-critical systems, including several weather and communications systems.

Willemssen said individual airports are at various levels of Y2K preparation and that several of the nation's largest international airports will not be ready until Nov. 30-a deadline that leaves little breathing room. Y2K-related equipment malfunctions could affect runway lighting, security, baggage handling and aircraft refueling. Although airports can turn to manual systems should computer-dependent systems fail, such problems, Willemssen said, could have a "ripple effect, causing delays at other airports and eventually reducing the efficiency of the system nationwide."

Airlines

In July, officials from the airline industry's joint Y2K program, the Aviation Millennium Project, released a report stating that U.S. and Canadian airlines were 95 percent finished with their Y2K preparation efforts. "The airline industry is in great shape, and we will be ready for the new millennium," said Carol Hallett, president and chief executive officer of the Air Transport Association which coordinates the Millenium Project. "Individual carriers have been working for several years to tackle Y2K problems, and the situation is well in hand."

Willemssen's testimony did not paint such a rosy picture, however: Four of the nation's major international airlines will not complete their Y2K preparations until late this year. Willemssen also said that as of the end of June, nearly one-third of 146 international airlines surveyed by the FAA either planned to complete their Y2K repairs after Sept. 30 or "did not provide any date." The FAA, airlines and airports are designing contingency plans in case a problem occurs.

Car rentals

Car rental companies report that they are well prepared for Y2K. Dollar, Hertz and Avis, for example, all have been working on the problem since 1997 or earlier. Rental agencies indicate that any Y2K problems most likely will come from computers unrelated to their operation. For example, computer-operated pumps could fail at gas stations, and flight delays or cancellations could reduce the rental activity at airport franchises. Similarly, canceled or delayed flights could cause a vehicle shortage, because people may keep their cars longer than planned. Like the airlines, the car rental companies are developing contingency plans.

Lodging

Hotels and motels say they have fixed their national reservation systems and other potential Y2K problems in their corporate offices. Hotel chains, however, are generally leaving the job of repairing local systems to their franchise properties. Those systems include everything from in-room movies to key cards, elevators and accounting programs. Local properties are not exactly twisting in the wind, however: Choice Hotels has distributed a management system to its properties, and Marriott is operating a Y2K help line for its franchisees. Bottom line: Preparedness could vary from property to property. It is reasonable to expect that a motel in Dustball, Nev., could have a harder time getting computer consultants than a hotel in San Francisco. Call the hotel a day or two before you travel, just to make sure that all systems are go.

Amtrak

Amtrak began working on the Y2K issue in 1996 and has already replaced its computer hardware and software with Y2K-ready systems. If your travel plans include a trip along the busy Northeast Corridor (the tracks between Boston and Washington), you will be happy to know that

Amtrak has finished testing its signal equipment there, as it has on tracks in Michigan, Chicago and New Orleans. Amtrak uses a computerized system to remotely control signals and switches. If the computers have problems, employees can manually operate that equipment. As a safeguard, the railroad will have additional staff available on Dec. 31 to ensure that equipment is working properly and that any problems are cleared up quickly.

International Travel

In countries that are unprepared for Y2K, some of the problems you could face include not just delayed flights but also inoperable ATM machines and communication breakdowns. Credit cards will become useless pieces of plastic if banks or store clerks can't process them, and you could have a hard time calling home to get money problems straightened out. A lot of modern medical equipment is computer-based, and if hospitals have not brought it into Y2K compliance, access to quality medical treatment could be a major problem.

So if you are going overseas at the start of 2000, plan carefully (see box). Bert Edwards, chief financial officer at the State Department, suggests that travelers buy trip cancellation insurance and make sure they contact the State Department for the latest travel advisories before heading overseas. If you have a severe health problem, you may want to reconsider travel to Third World countries; wherever you go, you should bring extra quantities of any medications you need.

The State Department is incorporating Y2K-related information into its travel advisories for each country. Travelers can find the information on the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs Web site at http://travel.state.gov/y2kca.html. According to Edwards, the State Department's systems are Y2K ready, and the usual consular services will be available for Americans abroad. Contingency plans have been developed in the event that problems in foreign countries make it difficult for embassy personnel to conduct their usual business.

The Transportation Department is evaluating the Y2K readiness of foreign airports and air carriers that fly into and out of the United States. The department has published statements on individual countries' civil aviation systems (and other Y2K transportation issues) at www.dot.gov/technology.htm. According to DOT's David Smallen, "the level of readiness varies greatly from country to country. People should get all the information they can before deciding whether they feel confident flying to an overseas destination." That may mean checking the status of a country's systems, even well into next year, before making travel plans.

Fingerpointing

Every sector of the travel industry is taking steps to ensure that its domain is free from Y2K glitches. No company wants to make headlines because one of its planes crashed, it lost hundreds of reservations, or its elevators got stuck. The Y2K theme is "if there is a problem, it won't be our fault-it will come from someone else." If major Y2K problems do occur, travelers can expect to see the buck passed either up the line, to local authorities, or down the line, to suppliers of various goods and services.

Overseas travel aside, you can feel confident about traveling around the new year. But bring extra reading material and keep your essentials in your carry-on bag. The most likely scenario is one of delays and lost luggage-so what else is new?

Caroline Polk is a freelance writer and editor in Washington.