Fuel efficient airplane becomes Iceland’s new flying ambassador. Direct flights from London Gatwick, Manchester and Bristol.
16.12.2023 - 15:39 / cntraveler.com / Gary Leff
There's no place like home for the holidays—but for many of us, getting there unfortunately requires a trip to the airport, and this year promises to be one of the busiest holiday travel seasons yet.
Over Thanksgiving weekend, a record-breaking number of passengers boarded planes on Sunday, November 26, with nearly 3 million people passing through security checkpoints—the highest one-day total in the TSA's history. There were hardly any flight cancellations, though, which bodes well for the December holidays.
But things are only predicted to get busier over Christmas and New Year's, with the American Automobile Association (AAA) predicting a record-breaking 7.5 million air travelers. Plus, there's a higher chance that snow and ice could bungle flight operations. Add it all together, and, well flyers should hope for the best but prepare for the worst, as they say.
Fortunately, there are a few easy strategies to prevent your well-earned break from turning into a travel nightmare. We asked air travel experts for their best tips on how to navigate flight chaos, from lost luggage to canceled flights.
To be prepared for even the most dramatic cancellations and delays, you’ll want to have a backup plan before flight disruptions begin. If you still haven't bought your flights, “the ultimate hack is booking more than one trip,” says Gary Leff, an airline expert who covers the industry on his blog “View from the Wing.” Most major airlines no longer charge change fees—as long as you don’t book in basic economy. “Book the ticket you plan to fly, and then a second one on another airline for a few hours later. Assuming your first one goes off without a hitch, cancel the second ticket and use the credit for travel later,” Leff says. Be sure to note any expiration date on the voucher: some airlines’ credits but some do, according to Leff.
If you have abundant loyalty points, you could put them to use on this strategy, too. “An even better way to play this is to buy a ticket on one airline, and redeem miles for travel on another,” Leff says. “With most airlines there’s no longer even a fee to cancel and redeposit miles as long as you do it prior to [the] scheduled departure of your trip. So miles are a great way to have a backup flight already booked. And if you don’t need it, there’s frequently no cost to cancel.”
A less-excessive hack to decrease the odds of your flight being delayed is to book the earliest flight available. “Travel early in the day rather than later in the day,” Leff says. “Delays stack up; the later in the day you fly, the greater chance your flight will be delayed. Traveling earlier also increases the likelihood of same-day options to get where you’re going if your flight cancels or you
Fuel efficient airplane becomes Iceland’s new flying ambassador. Direct flights from London Gatwick, Manchester and Bristol.
Jet2.com and Jet2holidays announced they would launch their award-winning flights and holidays from Liverpool John Lennon Airport back in May this year, marking the latest stage in their continued growth and success story.
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Well, we got close, folks. However, it looks like a trouble-free year with only minor cancellations and delays for Christmas travel in Europe won't be happening after all.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) anticipates that airport security checkpoints will be busier this winter holiday travel period compared to last year.Fortunately, the agency says it's prepared to meet the surging travel demand.The official end-of-the-year holiday travel period runs from Thursday, December 21 through Tuesday, January 2. TSA is projecting that the busiest days will be Thursday, December 21; Friday, December 29, and Monday, January 1.TSA said it expects to screen more than 2.5 million passengers each of those days, signaling a 6 percent increase from 2022. The busiest day last year was December 29, when officers screened nearly 2.4 million passengers nationwide.The projections come after the TSA screened nearly 30 million passengers during November's 12-day Thanksgiving holiday period. The agency broke the record for most passengers in a single day on Sunday, November 26, screening more than 2.9 million passengers at security checkpoints across the country."We are prepared to handle the busy passenger volumes this winter holiday season," TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a statement."TSA’s continued success during this record year for travel is a direct result of teamwork, planning and professional execution across the agency, from our frontline employees to those behind the scenes; partnerships with airports and air carriers; and innovative checkpoint technologies that improve security effectiveness, efficiency and the passenger experience," he concluded.Industry trade group Airlines for America (A4A) projects that 39 million people will board flights in the U.S. between Wednesday, December 20 and Tuesday, January 2, for an average of 2.8 million passengers per day.
For many travel companies, this is truly the season of giving—giving back. This year, several hotels and companies are stepping up their charitable efforts, offering unique initiatives that not only enhance the guest experience but also contribute positively to the lives of those in need.
Southwest Airlines canceled 16,900 flights and stranded more than 2 million fliers between December 2022 and early January 2023, as operations took a nosedive amid severe winter storms that disrupted holiday air travel across much of the United States last year. But while other major U.S. carriers recovered from the weather-fueled delays and cancellations, Southwest struggled to normalize operations and continued to cancel flights in the days following Christmas 2022. Now, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is making it very clear that that level of failed service comes with serious consequences.
With holiday travel coming up, travelers may be thinking back to last year, when a spate of severe winter storms grounded flights across the country just around Christmas, and an operational meltdown at Southwest Airlines dragged on for nearly a week after.