If you traveled within the last year chances are good that you experienced a flight delay, cancellation or airport delay of some sort. A recent article in the Washington Post reveals that due to a wide variety of factors, most of them unrelated, there is a high probability that your airline travel will continue to be affected by delays. While delays might be inevitable, travelers want to know what steps they can take to avoid the stress of being stranded in the airport, losing part of their vacation time to flight delays. DestinationVillas.com addresses the growing problem and provides tips for keeping your vacation plans stress free.
In the not so distant past, travelers could arrive at the airport with under an hour to spare to catch a flight, be relatively sure that they would make their connections. In the last six years however air travel has seen a dramatic increase in airport delays, flight cancellations, lost luggage and overbooked flights. DestinationVillas.com editor Tori Milan takes a look at why there has been such a dramatic decrease in reliable service and why the problem seems to be getting worse.
Why the increase in delays?
Prior to September 11th, airlines could make a healthy profit margin with the aircraft at 60% occupancy because business travelers were willing to pay higher prices for an airline ticket. Planes flew half empty. Then the Tech bubble burst dramatically decreasing business class travelers. September 11th was the next big blow, hurting both business and leisure travel well into 2002. Airlines were forced to cut corners in order to survive. The emphasis was on getting Americas trust back in the airline industry. Airlines cut ticket prices to encourage citizens to fly, meanwhile low-cost carriers like Southwest Air and AirTran Airways came along and squeezed profits even further. Add to the equation soaring fuel costs and websites able to broadcast the lowest fares and you can begin to see why the airlines are trying to fill every seat.
DestinationVillas.com offers travelers some tips to increase the odds of avoiding airport delays.
1. Take direct flights when possible, especially if flying through zones know to experience heavy snow or rain. For example, if flying to Colorado ski resorts via Denver, it is wise to pay a few extra dollars for the direct flight to avoid snow related delays. December 21, 2006 Denver airport got hit with a blizzard shutting it down for two days. If Denver was your layover city, you might have missed half your vacation.
2. Don’t opt for only a 30-minute or 40-minute connection. Cutting it too close may mean you miss your connecting flight and can get another one for hours. Destination Villas editor, Tori Milan, recommends a two-hour layover in the connecting city.
3. Print your boarding pass out the night before and arrive a full two-hours prior to your flight time. At the very least you will start the trip on schedule.
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