Winter Air Delays – What To Do
Best ways to deal with winter weather airline delays and cancellatio
Dec 16, 2006
This time of year, it's more than likely that if you travel anywhere in the northern climes, you'll experience air delays due to weather. So what are your options?
- Allow extra time on connections. First thing you’ll want to do when booking is take a look at your layover times, if you’re not flying non-stop. When traveling in colder climates, I often try to make sure my connection times are an hour or more. Sure, it’s no fun sitting in the airport, but it’s even less fun having to sprint for your connecting gate at the other end of the airport because your first flight got in late.
- Set up flight notifications. After booking, see if the airline website has automated flight notifications. Most do nowadays. Set one up for each segment of your air itinerary. Why? This will notify you 2 hours or more in advance if there are delays or other problems with your flights. On a recent American Airlines flight, my notification service alerted me that my flights that day had been canceled due to heavy snows in Chicago, my connecting airport. This meant I didn’t waste an hour driving to the airport only to find this out in person.
- Rebooking policies. When notified in advance of a weather canceled flight, visit the airline’s website to find out what terms they are allowing for the rebooking of your flight. Generally you can rebook with no penalty anytime within a 24-72 hour window, but each airline will have their own policies.
- Program the airline’s 800 reservations number into your cellphone. It only takes a minute but it will save time if the flight is canceled while you’re at the airport. Why? Because while the other passengers are waiting in the ticket line, you can be on the phone rebooking.
- Ask for flight options when rebooking. Generally, the airline will try to get you on the next available flight, but sometimes that won’t work. For instance, a recent reschedule would have put me into my destination at 10pm, but my ride would have been at work, so I would have just been sitting there. I asked for other options within the allowed rebooking timeframe and came up with a better flight that worked with my schedule.
- Rebook at the gate when delayed. If your flight is late due to weather for a connecting flight, find the first staffed gate counter and rebook. You need at least 20 minutes to make a connection in an average sized airport – more if in a large airport like Chicago O’Hare or LAX. Once you get off your late flight check your time. If you don’t think you’ll make the connecting flight, rebook immediately for the next flight to your destination – it will not cost you. If you wait until you reach the gate you should have been at for the connection, your flight will be gone and all the other passengers who missed the flight will be waiting in line ahead of you. Keep in mind that if you do this, your checked bags may still make your original flight, but if they arrive before you, baggage claim for your airline will hold them for your arrival.
- Print out a copy of your itinerary and contact information for each suitcase. When traveling by air, I print out a sheet of paper I have designed in Word that has my contact info, phone number and flight itinerary for the day. That way if something happens to the outside of my suitcase or the luggage tag, the information can be found inside the bag. This is also beneficial in case your luggage arrives before you due to weather delays.
- Pack a spare change of clothing in your carry-on. I always have an extra shirt and underclothing just in case I end up having to stay overnight due to a weather delay. No, it won’t help me get to my destination, but just knowing I don’t have to live in the clothes I’m traveling in if there is a delay is one less thing to weigh on my mind.
- Be calm and courteous. I know delays can be aggravating, but it’s not the fault of the airline ticket agent or phone reservationist. And venting your anger and frustration on these people will only make them less likely to help you.
Do you have any tips or comments? Please share them with us.
The copyright of the article Winter Air Delays – What To Do in Budget Transportation is owned by Michelle Snow. Permission to republish Winter Air Delays – What To Do in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
