ANYONE TRYING to keep up with air travel these days needs a spreadsheet. A conflux of new airline regulations taking effect, others being delayed, still others being proposed - and 4,000 Federal Aviation Administration workers on furlough because of Congress' paralysis - leaves us all a bit muddy on what to expect when we fly.

For starters, air traffic controllers are still at work, but construction on runways and towers has halted until Congress reauthorizes the FAA's operating budget. Taxes on domestic fares are going uncollected, but rather than allow travelers to keep the money, most airlines increased fares by that amount - one more example of why we can't trust airlines to regulate themselves or look out for their customers' best interests.

New regulations, effective Aug. 23, require airlines to disclose on their websites all fees for services - including for premium seating assignments and pillows and blankets. The rules will also ban international flights from remaining on the tarmac for more than four hours without allowing passengers to deplane. A similar rule with a three-hour limit for domestic flights went into effect last year.

But the U.S. Department of Transportation has delayed until Jan. 24 requirements that airlines notify travelers of optional fees and increases in baggage fees; provide timely notices of flight delays or cancellations; advertise the full cost of airfare, including taxes and fees; and charge baggage fees consistently across passengers' entire itinerary, regardless of the number of airlines involved.

Airlines, which have known for months that these regulations were coming, protested that they needed more time to comply and to train employees.

Just before announcing the delays in implementing these rules, federal transportation officials proposed additional regulations. They suggested requiring airlines to report in more detail the amount of money they receive from seating assignments, sales of food and drink and other items. They also recommended requiring airlines to report the number of mishandled bags compared with the number of bags checked. Currently, mishandled-baggage ratios are calculated using the number of passengers, not checked bags.

Such proposals were recommended by the Future of Aviation Advisory Committee "to bring greater transparency to airline pricing, including ancillary fees," the department wrote last month.

The Department of Transportation deserves praise for pushing for rules that ultimately will protect travelers and provide a better understanding of their costs. But it cannot continue delaying common-sense regulations.

It shouldn't require a calculator to determine the cost of flying. It shouldn't take years to figure out that notifying passengers when their flight is canceled is common courtesy. And the federal government shouldn't have to step in to require accurate measures for mishandled baggage.

Budgets and jobs and interest rates are all up in the air these days. But the rules of airline travel should be better grounded.