Flights cancelations everywhere. What are your experiences?

[santacruz skier]

I actually feel pretty safe on airplanes now. They have super upgraded filtration systems and change out the inside air with outside air every couple of minutes.

Yes I've heard that, but I'm still in the covid paranoid camp.....

 

[racetiger]

My flight to Vancouver from MSP last weekend was cancelled the night before take off. I got an email while I was in bed. I woke up to use the bathroom at midnight and checked my phone. I saw this and had to get on the computer and buy a new flight. I learned something. If you buy a ticket for budget airline (sun country in this case) on a 3rd party site (orbitz) they won't rebook you. I bought a new flight with Delta that was leaving at the same time as my original flight.
I get to the airport and parked my car, waiting for the light rail to the terminal I get an notification on my phone from the Delta app saying my flight was cancelled. I let out a big old F***! Too early in the morning for this amount of anxiety. I hadn't slept since midnight and I'm hauling heavy awkward ski baggage. I get to the Delta line and look at my phone again and saw that the flight was rebooked for a new one an hour later. 3rd times the charm.
The rest of my trip went well. The night before my return flight I didn't sleep because I was worried it would get cancelled again. It went fine. The plane was only half full so I had the seats next to me open!.
I never had a flight cancelled before and had been using Orbitz for over a decade. This was the first hassle I've ever had. And I fly at least once a year sometimes twice. Lesson of the week for me is booking directly with the airline. Luckily I bought travel insurance for this trip as my health care doesn't work outside of the country and Now I get to learn how that works for the first time too.
I'm loosely planning another trip out west and this time I'm driving!

 

[marzNC]

I never had a flight cancelled before and had been using Orbitz for over a decade. This was the first hassle I've ever had. And I fly at least once a year sometimes twice. Lesson of the week for me is booking directly with the airline. Luckily I bought travel insurance for this trip as my health care doesn't work outside of the country and Now I get to learn how that works for the first time too.

Thanks for the report!

I've been booking directly with an airline for a few decades. Read/heard enough stories of people who had issues with Expedia that I decided a while back that any potential savings wasn't worth the potential hassle if anything had to change for whatever reason. Plus Southwest doesn't participate in any of the third-party websites such as Travelocity, Expedia, or Orbitz.

 

[marzNC]

I'm loosely planning another trip out west and this time I'm driving!

I'm flying for mid-season ski trips. But after experimenting with driving from NC to CO last Dec for an early season trip, I'll do that again for the trip to Wolf Creek. Not having to deal with picking a return date in advance, and then relatively crowded airports during the week before Christmas made for a much more relaxing trip. Of course, being retired means the extra travel days adds to the adventure as opposed to wasting vacation days.

 

[Pequenita]

Lesson of the week for me is booking directly with the airline.

This is a must. The websites are great as search engines.

 

[racetiger]

I'm flying for mid-season ski trips. But after experimenting with driving from NC to CO last Dec for an early season trip, I'll do that again for the trip to Wolf Creek. Not having to deal with picking a return date in advance, and then relatively crowded airports during the week before Christmas made for a much more relaxing trip. Of course, being retired means the extra travel days adds to the adventure as opposed to wasting vacation days.

Yes I am kinda playing it by ear as my little sister is moving soon so she's going to make a trip home in the next couple weeks and I also want to be home at the same time so we all can see eachother. But after that is when I would like to make this trip to Mt Hood for some summer skiing. I am still unemployed so not having any obligations helps keep a loose flexible plan!

 

[racetiger]

This is a must. The websites are great as search engines.

Thats what Im thinking the next time I need to fly is use those sites to find a flight but then go directly to that airline to book it. Next time I anticipate flying would be around Christmas time to FL to visit my parents at their winter home. Allegiant just started flying out of MSP and goes to the small airport thats 10minutes away!

 

[Amie H]

So...related to this topic, today I saw a segment of this very long ProPublica article about the ongoing battle between FCC and FAA over 5G implementation and fear of interferencewith radio altimeters. Link to entire article below, but this item from the article may explain, in part, more weather/cloud related delays/cancellations lately:

"The FAA is allowing the wireless companies to slowly turn on more 5G towers as planes mostly keep flying. (About a thousand regional jets, mostly used by JetBlue, American, Delta and United, are currently barred from landing in low-visibility conditions at many airports over fears of equipment interference.)"

Inside the Government Fiasco That Nearly Closed the U.S. Air System

The upgrade to 5G was supposed to bring a paradise of speedy wireless. But a chaotic process under the Trump administration, allowed to fester by the Biden administration, turned it into an epic disaster. The problems haven’t been solved.

www.propublica.org

 

[fgor]

There was no one masked on any of the flights I recently took. There more in the airport masked than on the planes.

It must be really dependent on the airlines! I recently had some long-haul flights and masks were mandatory on every leg of the journey. That said, they're relatively relaxed about it, of course you remove your mask to eat and drink (and i noticed a lot of people pull their mask down a little to sleep as well) and the air crew weren't hassling people about masks. But everyone I saw was being pretty good about it.

 

[Jilly]

Masks mandatory on Canadian airlines still. There is still a mess in Toronto at Terminal 1. TG, I'm flying out of Terminal 3 next month.

 

[mustski]

Masks mandatory on Canadian airlines still. There is still a mess in Toronto at Terminal 1. TG, I'm flying out of Terminal 3 next month.

None of the US airlines are requiring it since a federal court ruled that they could not mandate masks on planes and trains. Shortly thereafter TSA stopped requiring it as well.

 

[Jilly]

Travel between provinces is controlled by the federal government agency - Transport Canada. So trains and airplanes fall under their mandate. Masks required still. But unvax'd are now allowed to travel in Canada by those methods.

 

[racetiger]

I had to wear a mask flying to and from Canada last week and all through the Canadian airport. I also saw more general mask wearing there than here in the US

 

[nopoleskier]

I'm flying out a day early this winter- getting up a 1am for a 510am flight then getting cancelled at 3am and scrambling was not fun this past winter. So I'll go a day early, and get all 7days in skiing on my Ikon.

I'm also going to fly from taos (sorry i already booked before diva week dates announced) to Steamboat so that saves me 1 leg of my journey, I like not having to come home and do the 1am departure-

I'll do that a couple times this winter. Flights are also WAY cheaper once out west. My flight from ABQ to steamboat was 130$ From Albany 1 way would be over $300!

As for Covid- I've been flying since oct 2020 with no problem. I have worn masks on planes way before covid and during, I always sanitize everything I "may' touch (pre covid too) I did fly home from Fla. Mask free in May I was in the exit row with no one in middle seat with 2 air thingy's directly on me. only 1 person ahead and behind. I always have a mask w/me so can put one on in a blink if I get creeped out.

 

[skibum4ever]

I'm picking someone up at the airport on July 4. Yikes! She is flying from Texas to Las Vegas and then on to John Wayne Airport in Orange County. Two chances for delays or cancellations! Double yikes!

The only good thing is that I don't have to leave the house until I know that she has already taken off from Vegas. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[Jilly]

The news is saying that Canada's 2 major carriers are just plain cutting flights this summer. 15 to 25% of their flights. It does make sense if they are flying to and from the same place 6 times a day and not full. But I think that they are full most of the time. I'm looking at a conference in late September. There is only 1 direct flight leaving at some ungodly hour of the morning. Rest have a least 1 stop along the way. Thinking carry on for this one. It's only 3 days, should be able to do "RachelV" style!!

 

[Pequenita]

The other day, a friend and her family were on a flight to Rome. The airline was offering up to $6000/seat for people to take another flight because the flight was overbooked. The flight was then delayed 5 hours, took off, flew for an hour, and then turned around due to a leak in the fuel line. Finally, the flight took off the next day, and ultimately landed in Rome. What a doozy.

 

[MissySki]

I saw a news story this week that basically said flying to Europe out of Boston right now is a really hellish time. Not advised and you better have a healthy dose of patience packed with you if you are going to attempt it.

 

[Pequenita]

I saw a news story this week that basically said flying to Europe out of Boston right now is a really hellish time. Not advised and you better have a healthy dose of patience packed with you if you are going to attempt it.

Yep, they were going out of Logan.

 

[Jenny]

They were offering $10k here at our airport the other day, for a flight from GR to Minneapolis! it's gotta be only about an hour air time, tops. Told DH if we were ever on one offering that kind of cash I’d take it so fast his head would spin. Of course, they started at $5k, which I’d have taken, and then been really mad when the later people got $10k.