It’s no secret that the summer of 2022 is a terrible time for air travel. Flight cancellations during the first six months of this year have already surpassed the total for the whole of 2021, making this year the second worst year for flight cancellations ever, surpassed only before 2020, when the onset of the pandemic almost brought air travel. -halt.
The flight cancellation statistic can only feel like abstract numbers, though, until it happens to you. I know because it happened to me. As a speaker at the Collision Conference, I flew from Seattle to Toronto over the weekend of June 18-19. Overflowing travel demand, nationwide storms and a lack of staff all combined to make it the worst weekend for air travel on record, though that record may have been broken later. I learned a lot from that experience, and from research I’ve done since then. Here’s my best advice for experiencing air travel this summer.
1. Technology can actually help you …
1. Technology actually can help you…
Less than 24 hours before my scheduled flight to Toronto, my smartphone rang with an auto-call from the airline alerting me that there had been a “change” to my flight and apologizing for any inconvenience. The computer voice offered no further information, so I opened the airline’s website to see what was going on. It turned out that the word “change” extended the truth a little. I was originally scheduled to fly Seattle-Toronto with a short stop in Calgary. They have now re-booked that second Calgary-Toronto flight as a flight to Winnipeg with a 27-hour stay, followed by a flight to Toronto that will take me there a whole day later than planned. There was no offer to accommodate me for my night in Winnipeg.
At first, in addition to being angry about the canceled flight, I was also annoyed that I didn’t get a call from a man to tell me about it. But when I thought about it, I realized what’s brilliant about that system: It alerted me to the problem much faster than people could have, especially considering how many people were likely to be affected by this and other flight cancellations that weekend. Read also : Delta gives customers the opportunity to change flights before the trip on July 4th. It immediately got the information I needed, and time is of the essence when it comes to canceled flights.
2. … but you also need human help.
2. …but you need human assistance as well.
Recently, flight attendant Kristie Koerbe shared some tips for experiencing the horrors of air travel this summer. Among her suggestions: Book your trip directly with the airline. To see also : Why this woman recreates the journeys of history’s greatest explorers. The idea is that you will have a better negotiation as well if your flight is canceled or greatly delayed.
Koerbe is a flight attendant and she certainly knows the system better than I do, but I respectfully disagree with this advice. Or at least, I disagree if your highest priority is to get where you are going as close as possible to the originally planned time. If your highest priority is to minimize extra costs than her access might be better, I’m not sure.
What I do know is that it was not possible to reach anyone at the airline even though I tried my best. It is a problem that at least one besieged chief executive of an airline has publicly acknowledged. Luckily for me, I didn’t book my flight directly through the airline – I used an online travel website where I could quite reliably get agents by chat or by phone over the years. So I did that now, and was able to reach someone again with relative ease. The agent I received while chatting arranged a refund for my “changed” flight, and I used the travel agency to book a replacement trip in a combination of two airlines. Admittedly, that led to a considerably higher fare, but on the other hand it saved me from having to jump for a hotel room in Winnipeg. And it led me where I went when I had to be there.
It is understandable that a travel company dealing with several airlines, as well as hotels, car rentals and many other forms of travel, will not be so overwhelmed by an increase in customer service demand that an airline will do during a high cancellation. time. At least that’s how it worked for me.
3. Build in a 24-hour buffer if you can.
3. Build in a 24-hour buffer if you can.
In this case, I had planned to arrive in Toronto the day before I had to partly because I didn’t want to start a day when I would be on stage several times with a bad case of jetlag. Read also : How to Survive the Travel Armageddon of Summer 2022 – Black Girl Geeks. But in general, if I have to be somewhere on a specific day, I build in another night because flights and delays happen.
This is also Koerbe’s advice. She remembers a family of eight who missed a cruise departure due to a flight cancellation they were not allowed in their programming. Think about it. If a business event is important enough for you to get on a plane to be there instead of talking on the phone or video chat, it will probably be important enough to make sure you get there. And if you’re going out on a long-awaited vacation, you’ll have a better, more relaxed time if you start your day trip early.
4. Beware of short layovers.
Koerbe says one hour’s stay isn’t enough right now, and I agree, especially if you use multiple airlines. Just because an airline or travel agency wants to sell you a trip with a short stay doesn’t mean you have to buy it. (And do you really want to be that person furiously walking through the airport dragging or dragging your carry-on luggage that you probably won’t be able to put in the top head because the whole room is already taken?) Most trips today can. be managed with one or two flights – multiple stops can save money, but they also multiply the risks of a delayed or canceled flight making your trip worse. So fly non-stop or straight, or with just one stage if you can.
5. Rethink your checked package.
5. Rethink your checked baggage.
If you are an experienced traveler, you may have developed a somewhat chivalrous attitude towards checking luggage. At least, I know I have. On countless flights, I only twice failed to find my luggage at the carousel when I got off the plane, and in both cases the airline brought my bag to me a day later.
But times are changing. We don’t often think of ground crew as part of the large shortage of employees, and yet airlines lack gate personnel, mechanics and baggage handlers, just as they lack pilots and flight attendants. The result, experts say, is that we should all expect our luggage to be lost much more often than has happened in the past.
With that in mind, think carefully about what you put in your luggage, and what you carry on board. Consider putting a Tile or Apple AirTag device in your suitcase to make it easier to track if it disappears. And of course your best bet is not to check packages at all. Traveling with just a load of luggage can simplify your life so that washing your socks in a hotel sink is well worth the trouble, especially if a flight is canceled or greatly delayed while you are in the middle of a trip. Many airlines have made this easier by increasing the size of their upper compartments. Take advantage of that extra space and save yourself the headache of checking a suitcase.
They remind me that it’s a big world out there, and seeing it through air travel is a privilege. Unfortunately, the trip itself is often a miserable experience. Following these precautions can make it a little easier.
