How supply chain execs can deal with canceled flights
What should you do if your flight gets canceled?
By Susan Avery -- Purchasing, 4/11/2008 1:54:00 PM
Cancellations of hundreds of flights for safety inspection audits by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this week is not only frustrating, but is also costing companies in lost productivity and business. With that in mind, Purchasing.com has compiled a list of tips for the business traveler navigating the nation's airports and airlines.
For business travelers, Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Minneapolis offers these common sense tips:
• Before you arrive at the airport, check the status of your flight.
• If you are at the airport and your flight is cancelled: Contact your travel management company (or the airline directly if that was how you booked your ticket) for assistance with rebooking. Or, speak to the airline gate agent.
• Know about Rule 240, and understand what this may entitle you to as a traveler. While Rule 240 is not a federal requirement, it does guarantee certain rights to passengers when a flight is delayed or canceled due to the actions of the airline.
Mitch Cwanger, air practice leader and advisory services at American Express Business Travel in New York, has come up with a list of general tips for business travelers who may experience airline delays or cancellations.
First and foremost, he suggests: patience. “Most road warriors have grown accustomed to delays across the entire air traffic control system,” he says. “It’s a fact of life these days. You almost expect when you book a flight that you are not going to get to your destination on time. Having a blackberry helps. I don’t know where we would have been10 years ago if the air traffic control system then was as it is today. Bringing your work with you on the road is always very beneficial.” Meanwhile, business travelers can follow this suggestions:
• Book the first flight of the day because it’s more likely to depart on time. This is especially true during the summer travel season when there are thunder storms that delay afternoon flights. The earlier in the day you can book your flight the better.
• Take a non stop flight over one with connections where possible and economically feasible. The fewer number of times your plane takes off and lands the more likely you will get to your destination in a timely manner. Taking non stops instead of connections will get you there quick.
• If you book a connection, schedule a connecting flight that gives you enough time to get to your second flight from your first flight because the gates are not always going to be close to one another within the airport terminal. If you don’t, and your arriving flight is late, you take a chance that you are going to miss your connection.
• You don’t want to, if you can avoid it, take the last connecting flight of the day. You take a chance if your first flight is late and you miss your connection of having to stay in your connecting city overnight.
Here are a few more pointers:
• Sign up for your airline’s trip alert system so you can be notified before you leave for the airport if there’s going to be a delay or cancellation. Notification will be by text, call or email to cell phone. This typically requires a frequent flyer number.
• Book travel through the approved travel management company so that you will be re-accommodated in case of a cancellation or delay. Most companies have a mandated policy that states travelers have to use the approved TMC. But there are going to be instances where the company doesn’t have a mandate or there are maverick travelers doing their own thing. Doing your own thing puts you at risk of getting stuck and not being re-accommodated. If you are working with an approved TMC, it can produce a list of travelers on flights it knows are going to be delayed or canceled, and it can immediately re-accommodate them before they even know that their flights are canceled.
• Use publicly available information. The department of transportation is a resource that provides statistics on delays and cancellations percentages for certain city pairs and flight numbers. If you know a specific flight on an airline is delayed 80% of the time you may want to avoid that flight if you can. It is a great resource for those who really want to do their homework before they book their flight.
The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) is calling for the FAA and the airlines to renew their commitment to a system of maintenance and inspections that maintains a high standard of safety, while also ensuring that airplanes are available for scheduled flights.
A spokesperson for the NBTA in Alexandria, Va., says the public deserves to understand why the breakdown occurred and what will be done to prevent similar mass cancellations in the future. To that end, NBTA requests the Department of Transportation Inspector General quickly complete a thorough investigation into the cause of the recent breakdowns in the inspection audit process that led to the cancellations of so many flights.
In addition, NBTA encourages Congress to continue its oversight role.
Kerin McKinnon, executive vice president of new business development for Atlas Travel in Milford, Mass., says it is complicated when there is such a vast amount of flights canceled. “The airline will definitely contact frequent, top travelers directly, but it’s impossible for it to contract them all. Travelers should be calling the airline, checking its website, and, or, contacting their travel agency.”
For its travelers, Atlas has a service called FlightStats that tracks 89% of all scheduled flights worldwide. The tool monitors delays, cancellations and gate changes as well as security gate wait times and baggage claim information. The traveler can opt for email and/or text alerts and the service is PDA friendly. Atlas Travel is the exclusive Northeast Regional affiliate of Atlanta-based BCD Travel Americas.
Orbitz for Business provides flight status monitoring and communication to all air travelers called Care Alerts, which provide flight status, communicates potential delays, cancellations and en-route rebooking if a traveler will miss a connecting flight, explains Art Ginolfi, regional sales director at Orbitz for Business in Chicago.
The tool provides information to Orbitz for business travelers, and up to six additional people, to allow them to effectively manage the inevitable flight delays and cancellations that happen at a more frequent rate and minimize the business impact.
View a video at www.orbitzforbusiness.com on how former air traffic controllers now working at Orbitz for Business are monitoring the weather, air traffic and other possible reasons why flights may be delayed.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Supply chain professionals spend a lot of time on planes these days. Have you been impacted directly by the rash of cancellations or delays in the airline industry? If so, let us know! Post a comment on this story or contact senior editor Susan Avery at savery@reedbusiness.com
Business travel costs set to rise in 2010
10/07/2009Airfare, hotel room rates fall-again
08/31/2009
Now Playing: 