There are some very comprehensive rules protecting European citizens when they travel around Europe. If the airlines fail to comply with these rules, they will be prosecuted and heavy fines are payable. So it’s in your interests to know your rights. Let’s start with the not uncommon situation of overbooked flights. You have paid for your ticket, you told the airline you were coming, and you present yourself at the airport on time only to find there are too many bodies waiting to get on the same flight. If this happens to you, the airline must first call for volunteers to give up their seats in return for agreed compensation. But suppose no one volunteers. Well, the choice falls to you.

If you decide not to travel, you are entitled to a full refund and compensation of up to 600 Euro. The actual amount varies depending on how long the intended flight and how many miles. But if it will still be worth traveling onward, you are entitled to be booked on to the first available flight to your destination. If you are offered a seat upgrade, the airline cannot ask you for the difference in price. If you must now break your journey and catch a connecting flight, all expenses must be met. Food and accommodation may also be necessary. Should the only available seats be in a lower class, you are entitled to a refund of the difference in ticket price.

Cheap flights are covered by the same regulations as full-price flights. As to cheap flights, particularly those booked as a package through a travel professional, you will be in line for significant compensation if you lose the benefit of car rental or hotel accommodation. If you did buy through a travel agent, the airline is obliged to compensate the travel agent and, in turn, the agent is obliged to pass on the compensation to you. If you have any complaint about the airline and the treatment you received when you were refused boarding, make a complaint to the National Enforcement Body in your home state. Officers are supposed to help you recover the full amount of compensation available under EU law.

Like any business, cheap air tickets depend on supply and demand. There are certain times of year that are slower than travel than others, and this is where you can get major savings on flights.

Slow seasons are deemed as such because travel trends have shown that not very many people enjoy traveling during these time periods. A couple of examples of slow times include the first two weeks of December, which is between the two big holiday travel rushes, most of the month of January after New Year’s, and spring and fall outside of spring break. Other slow season times depend on your destination – for example, nobody wants to visit a tropical island in its winter or rainy season, and travel time is more popular for a destination if there is a festival of some sort going on.

Here’s an example of the savings you can get by traveling during the slow season: searching for a trip from San Francisco to New York during the third week of January cost $249 round-trip. That same trip during the Christmas holiday? $440 dollars or more. That’s almost a 50% savings, just by postponing your trip a few weeks!

There are many other benefits to traveling during off-peak times. Typically, hotels and activities will offer similar discounts. You can get an ocean view resort room or city tour for half the price during the off-season. Also, you do not have to deal with as many people. If you are visiting the Great Wall of China during the Chinese New Year, you will be bombarded with people. It could be a very unpleasant experience. However, if you go the week or two before Chinese New Year, you could be one of the only people on the wall! This applies to most of the popular tourist destinations. Less people means less stress, and more time to relax!

Some people do not have a choice in when they travel. They are bound by business or school vacation days, or have other obligations to attend too. However, if your schedule is flexible – even just within a couple of weeks – it is worth checking into whether or not you can fly during a slow travel period. You can enjoy cheap air tickets, hotel rooms, and activities, all while dealing with less people. This means more time and money for you to enjoy your vacation!

When you’re young, it’s very difficult to stay calm when you prove one of the unlucky teens to lose their hair without an acceptable explanation. Somehow, society forgives the young who lose their hair because of chemotherapy for cancer or as a result of some other natural accident. But any other hair loss marks you out as uncool. The really unlucky catch one of the fungal infections like ringworm which leaves swatches of hair on the ground as people walk around. This is deeply humiliating. Then you have the style conscious who put their hair under pressure by pulling it into position. After a while, pulling at the hair makes it fall out. But then come those who can be accused of having weak genes. Medical research confirms that male pattern baldness can affect teens as young as 14.

The decision to limit the prescription licence to those aged 18 or above was made by the FDA even though it was aware that male pattern baldness was possible among younger teens following its reviews of the evidence from the medical trials. The decision by the FDA is always a balancing of benefits against risk. Young bodies are still going through the maturing process and the levels of different hormones can be changing quite quickly. To intervene in the balance of hormones in the young is dangerous. The FDA therefore erred on the side of caution. In part, this reflects the nature of the drug. It’s not a cure for the genetic problem. It simply controls the process that would otherwise lead to hair loss. Perhaps if it was a specific cure, the FDA might have reached a different conclusion but, for now, doctors are not supposed to prescribe Propecia to those under 18.

So if this affects you, the choice is either to wait until you reach the magic age and put up with the inevitable problems of bullying, or to beat the prescription program by buying online. Since there can be longer term sexual problems, you have to want to stop the hair loss more than allow your sexual equipment to develop naturally. Given the risk of impotence this should be a very difficult decision to take.