A federal rule scheduled to take effect on October 1 will require airlines flying in or out of the U.S. to ask American passengers who they should notify if the plane crashes. Aside from injecting a grim note into air travel, airline executives say it will increase their administrative costs. The Air Transport Association puts the requirement on its list of the 10 least-liked regulatory proposals.

• In the 1990 Aviation Security Improvement Act, Congress instructed the Transportation Department to write a rule that would force airlines to provide the State Department -- which is responsible for notifying families of victims in overseas crashes -- with prompt, accurate information about victims' next of kin.

• The Transportation Department apparently didn't like the rule because at one time it considered asking Congress to repeal that portion of the law.

• Americans flying into or out of the U.S. will be asked to fill out a form providing contact information -- but they will have the right to decline if they wish.

• Although the form is not required on domestic flights, the Department of Transportation may expand the rule to cover domestic travel, depending on how well it works on international flights.

The government regulation doesn't tell airlines exactly how to go about collecting the information, so airline executives have been mulling how to go about the grim task without scaring fliers to death. Airlines hope that they can eventually pass along responsibility for collecting next-of-kin data to travel agents. But the agents aren't happy over that prospect either.