Booking vacation reservations anytime soon? If your highly anticipated vacay entails airline reservations, then listen closely to my air-travel etiquette. Believe me, you don't want to end up like "that guy" (usually myself) who's marooned at the airport for days on end. I recently spent a total of 48 hours stuck at Chicago O'Hare because of blizzard conditions. I was scheduled to arrive home on a Thursday and didn't make it until Monday the following week.
Holiday or peak travel seasons are prime times for the average holiday traveler to miss his or her flight. Winter weather conditions, overbooked airline flights, flight cancellations, and mile-long security lines significantly increase the worst-case-scenario odds.
To reduce your chances of missing a flight, call your airline in advance to see how overbooked they are, and as always, show up early (at least two hours). If time's on your side, and you don't have to catch a return flight for any pressing reasons, try volunteering your ticket at the ticket counter. If the airline is desperate, they may hook you up with free lodging and future round-trip ticket(s) anywhere they travel to!
If for any reason you should miss your flight (like I did twice this past holiday season), don't panic. Talk to the ticketing desk and see when the next flight out is. If it's not for a day or two, try haggling with the airline for free hotel compensation (it's better than an airport bench--trust me). If you have to foot the bill for lodging, check out priceline.com. You can sometimes score 3-star hotel rooms for under $60.
So, the next time you fly (whether it's in the event of a crisis or not), remember that delays happen. Knowing your options can greatly minimize the headache.
- Jordon
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