Missed Flights Wreak Havoc for Travelers

(Dive Travel Business News - July 19, 2010) -- Planes are running so full this summer that U.S. travelers bound for summer vacations may have to wait overnight for the next plane if they miss a flight.

Flight cancellations due to bad weather and equipment problems are compounding the seat shortage issue, creating a domino effect, putting stress on other airlines and routes, and causing missed connections to international destinations. Few options are left for summer dive travelers who've paid for a ticket but can't get to their dive destination on their original itinerary.

For the past two years, US airlines have been cutting back service, using smaller planes or cutting routes altogether in a bid to address the impact of a poor economy, rising fuel prices and fewer passengers. The U.S. airlines' belt-tightening included a 6.7 percent capacity cut in 2008 and a nearly 9 percent cut in 2009 in a scramble to better match the number of seats to a reduced number of passengers flying. As a result, load factors - the measure of how full planes are - are up.

In addition to reducing capacity, airlines have been over-selling seats - a practice that has caused an increase in involuntary bumping that leaves passengers with tickets but no seat to sit in. More than 23,000 instances of involuntary bumping were reported to the Department of Transportation in the 1st quarter of 2010, compared with 17,099 in the first quarter of 2009.

All these factors add up to greater chances that passengers may not be rebooked on a flight later the same day, but quite possibly the next day.

To help their clients, travel professionals can give their clients pointers to avoid, or better yet, a back-up plan to handle a missed flight. Here are some tips:

1. If possible, suggest booking flights earlier in the morning so that if a client is bumped, they have several flight alternatives later in the day. If a client is meeting a live-aboard departure, make sure they are scheduled to fly into the destination a minimum of 2 days before.

2. Advise your clients about check-in times. Airlines have different check-in cut off times - advise your client of the importance of not missing theirs. Encourage your client to check in early to obtain not just a boarding pass but an actual seat assignment on a boarding pass.

3. To mitigate the hassles of a missed flight, offer travel insurance that includes coverage for a "Missed Departure".

4. To address the possibility of a missed flight include possible flight and airline alternatives as part of a client's itinerary package.

To ease the havoc of a missed flight, as part of reviewing the itinerary, go over the steps the client will need to take in the event of a missed flight. Here are the main steps:

Step One: Talk to the airline immediately for directions on alternatives to get to their final destination. Talk to them nicely. Ask for and give the airlines options. Bring attention to a connecting flight to an international destination, since your clients may get priority for the next available flight. Don't mention a re-booking fee, but clients should be prepared to pay one if the missed departure is their fault.  Find out where the luggage is and have it retrieved. Remember: Please and thank you are the magic words.

Step Two: Clients who cannot arrive on the same day will need to call their travel insurer to discuss coverage for a missed flight.

Step Three: Clients will need to contact their destination hotel and rental car company to advise of a later arrival. Call home to advise house sitters, baby sitters if arriving late.

Step Four: Clients may need to make arrangements for a place to stay before their flight departs the following day. Make sure the type of arrangements made are covered under their travel insurance policy.

Step Five: Remain in the airport until alternative arrangements are in order. Clients must make sure they have an itinerary sheet or other proof that clearly shows the flight they have been reassigned to, especially if their new flight is not until the next day.

Finally, Travel Professionals should provide their clients with their office contact number: If the travel office is open, help these clients by organizing alternative travel arrangements and take care of advising the hotel and car rental companies of revised arrival times for the clients.

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