The expected rebound in air travel this summer has jumped from forecast to fact, combining with schedule-disrupting warm-weather storms to make even routine trips a potential challenge.
Executive Travel SkyGuide, which publishes flight information, earlier had forecast that demand would boost by 3.8 percent the number of weekly domestic U.S. flights in June, July and August, compared with the same period last year.
Confirmation comes from a measurement taken by OAG, also a flight schedule publisher, covering the last week of May and reflecting a trend that has continued. It found a notable increase in passenger volume, with some airports handling a much bigger jump than others.
There was a 6 percent plus increase at Atlanta's Hartsfield and a 9 percent jump in passenger traffic at Chicago's O'Hare International—the two busiest U.S. airports—during that week. Dallas/Fort Worth also had a 9 percent rise. Los Angeles International saw nearly a 6 percent increase, but there was a better than 15 percent jump at both Denver and New York's JFK, while Philadelphia International saw nearly 12 percent more passengers than the year before.
Scott Ackerman, director of customer care for Orbitz, says his on-line agency has seen a “significant increase” in air traffic this summer that matches earlier projections. There are more delays, he said, but they tend to be shorter than in the past because of better traffic management on the part of the Federal Aviation Administration.
"Most major airports are up to pre-9-11 levels," he said.
One often-repeated tip to business travelers for avoiding busy airports and potentially long security clearance wait times is to book flights through secondary airports. That might require a longer connection involving a bus or other form of public transit, but the inconvenience might save time in the end.
Another source of help comes from guidance offered by travel agencies and the carriers themselves. The three major on-line booking companies—Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia—all have programs designed to warn travelers of problems or offer them solutions, and carriers often can provide automatic notification of problems that can be sent to mobile phones or other hand-held devices.
Some travelers may decide to surrender to the inevitable and buy membership in an airline lounge, trying to find a more agreeable space to wait out delays.
An interesting discussion of lounges can be found in "Guerrilla Travel Tactics," (AMACOM, $15 paperback) where authors Jay Levinson and Theo Brandt-Sarif conclude lounges may be over-rated and note that certain high-end credit cards already allow users access to some clubs.
Unusually bad storm season
The weather problem is a difficult one. One crew member for a major U.S. airline says Atlanta, Chicago's O'Hare, New York's LaGuardia and Dallas/Fort Worth are generally regarded as the trouble spots for both traffic and weather.
“They all do a great job with traffic management, however, Dallas/Fort Worth has been experiencing a lot of delays and angry passengers with all of the storms we've been having,"”he said. “Passengers have to understand that the weather is beyond our control and all airlines are affected at whatever airport is experiencing the weather.”
This summer “has been the worst I've seen in years” for storms, agrees Ackerman at Orbitz, who says his company will issue about 10 million individual alerts to customers this summer to warn them of delays.
Rally Caparas, who handles delay information for Travelocity Business, says one way to skirt weather problems is to play the clock: Schedule arrivals to or departures from U.S. eastern and Gulf Coast points no later than 1 p.m. local time to avoid building afternoon storms, and try for landing and departing from West Coast points after 1 p.m. Pacific time, after the morning fog has lifted.
One other point to keep in mind is that major storm-related delays can also ease up policies governing flight changes, under which the passenger may not be charged the usual fee to change a restricted ticket.
In all of this there is a bright spot for the traveler (though not for the carriers): Airfare prices in general are down for most routes on which there is competition. “They're (the customers) getting more for their money now,” says Mitch Robinson, marketing manager for Expedia Corporate Travel.
