Holiday Travel Survival Guide: Dealing with Delays and Flight Cancellations

Any flight delay is a huge annoyance for anyone, but stack on top of that the stress of traveling with kids and fully booked holiday flights and you have a personal disaster on your hands.  I experienced this first hand this week while traveling to the UK during one of the coldest snowiest weekends UK has experienced in a 100 years.  The airports were ill equipped to handle the snow and the large volume of cancelled flights resulting.  What should have been a 15 hour travel day became a 60 hour travel day involving multiple rebooked flights and train rides.  Whatever the cause and the severity of the delays, one thing is for sure, families are always the worst affected.  Parents who are already weary from preparing for travel now have to rebook, not just one seat on already full flights, but usually more than 3 seats which limit rebooking options immensely.  On top of that, you have to feed, entertain, and care for the needs of your children when you are exhausted and stressed beyond belief.  So, it pays to know what you should do when the situation arises.

During the holidays, it is not uncommon to reach the airport only to be shocked and unprepared for short and long delays or worse canceled flights.  Here are tips for avoiding, preparing, and dealing with flight delays when traveling with kids.

How to Avoid Being Stuck With Flight Delays and Cancelled flights

• When booking flights, minimize stopovers - the more times you need to take off and land the greater your chances are of running into issues. Non-stop flights are worthwhile every penny.
  
  
• Avoid airports with the worst delays. Check for airports with worst delays
  
  
• Check the weather forecast for all airports you're flying into.  Starting from a few days before you leave, look to see if the airports you’re flying into (including stopovers) might have bad weather.  Call the airline or travel agent to reroute you even if will cost you money.  Think about all the money you'll be spending on hotels if you get stranded for days.
  
  
• Keep tabs on whether your airline is having issues with strikes

Preparing for Delays or Flight Cancellations

Depending on how long your flight is delayed or if it's cancelled altogether, you could be waiting for an hour or two or for days.  Being prepared with the right items in your hand carry bag will give you the ability to cope and resolve the situation quicker.

• Pack overnight essentials in your hand carry bag.  Especially for winter time and holiday travel when delays are particularly frequent, the extra weight is worth it.  A change of clothes, toothbrushes and toothpaste, ample cash (at least $100), a thin blanket to lay on for each child.
  
  
• Carry a laptop or other web-enabled device to aid in rebooking on the spot.  Don’t forget your power charger.  Having access to information and ability to book online gives you much more control over your situation and opens up more options.  Most airports have free or paid WIFI service.
  
  
• Research what hotels are close to airports you’re transiting through - find out which ones have airport shuttles even if they aren’t connected directly to a terminal.  Have their numbers handy.
  
  
• Purchase travel insurance for your family – it will give you more flexibility to rebook yourself onto a flight even if it’s with a different airline and will pay for hotel expenses and meals due to delays or cancellations.  You’re not dependent on the airline alone to absorb the cost the delays and rebooking.

Sorting Things Out When You're Stuck With a Major Flight Delay or Cancellation and have Kids In Tow

• Divide and conquer – if you’re not flying solo with your kids, have one adult care for the needs of the kids, while another focuses on rebooking flights and hotels
  
  
• Rebook your flights as soon as possible -3 options for rebooking:
  
  1) Stand in line at the ticketing desk – often a live agent at the airport can accommodate your unique situation and you can ask for special concessions from a supervisor, but you might expect to be standing in very long line and expect service to vary considerably between airlines.
  
  2) Rebook online – this is the quickest way to secure a seat if you can get online. You can also see what options are available on other airlines.
  
  3) Call the reservations line – if there are across the board delays and cancellations, the reservations line is often tied up, but keep trying if you have no other options.  Always, have this number handy when you fly.
  

• Consider alternative routes – it may seem like a drag to fly out of a different airport or fly into one further from your destination, but smaller airports tend to have emptier flights and are able to recover quicker after a major service interruption.  Again, having access to the Internet allows you to adapt your plans quickly.
  
  
• Request a complimentary hotel stay – if you are rebooked for a flight the next day, you can request a complimentary hotel stay from the airline.  Ask for food vouchers too.  Some airlines won’t take care of you as well as others, but make a stink about it and don’t ever say, you missed your flight because of weather issues.  Focus on what the airline did wrong.
  
  
• If you expect your wait to be long, get a room at an airport hotel – if your hotel is just 10 minutes away, you could send one adult to sort out all your tickets while the other waits with the kids at the hotel until it’s time to check in.  No sense in everyone suffering.

Coping with A Long Wait at the Airport with Kids

• Find a kid-friendly place to camp out for the long wait at the terminal – if you’ve got to wait hours at the airport, find a comfortable place to campout.  Try walking to the ends of a terminal or look for seats along corridors.  Some have benches to rest at and your kids can stretch out.
  
  
• Book yourself into a lounge – not all airports have lounges you can pay to use, but if they do, your wait will be a lot more comfortable and peaceful.  Most will have a dress code.
  
  
• Eat well while you wait– make the best of your time at the airport and treat yourself to a nice meal to lift your spirits.
  
  
• Entertain the kids with a movie – if you have a laptop, purchase a Netflix account and get unlimited instant play movies.
  
  
• Travel with a small bottle of bubbles – they cheer up kids of any age and can be a great way to get out some pent up energy
  
  
• Find a bookstore – most airport bookstores have a great kid’s section filled with travel friendly books and activity kits.  Use the time to browse travel books or Trekaroo (Check out new Trekaroo’s Mobile Site on your smart phone) with your kids to figure out what fun things you’re going to do at your destination.

Related:

• Top Travel Games and Activities for Kids
• Holiday Travel Survival Guide: Airports and Flying
• Holiday Travel Survival Guide: Booking and Luggage
• Holiday Travel Survivial Guide: Long Road Trip
• Holiday Travel Survivial Guide: Staying Healthy

Other Resources:

• Baby Travel: Intro to Flying
• Pack for Baby
• Overcoming Jetlag in Young Children
  

LiLing Pang (TravelPangs) is co-founder and contributing author on Trekaroo - - a reviews website dedicated to exploring and traveling with kids.

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