Dealing With Airport Delays

Image: Daniel Allan

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As far as I can tell, 1963 was the last time that passengers were treated well at an airport after a flight disruption. It was at London’s Heathrow Airport, and a gaggle of jet-setters had been grounded by fog. They were escorted to a private lounge, fed lavishly, doted on by uniformed attendants, and given overnight rooms at a nearby hotel.

It all happened in a movie, of course, and the kid-gloves treatment of distressed passengers, including Orson Welles, in Terence Rattigan’s The V.I.P.s, was about as realistic as Richard Burton impetuously writing a huge check to bail out a stranger’s business and Elizabeth Taylor fitting her Givenchy-designed costume changes in a carry-on.

In the real world, life at the airport when our flight is delayed or canceled is more like a bad cop movie. We’re treated like perps—given little or no truthful information about our situation; held incommunicado from the outside world; herded in groups; fed institutional slop; and forced to sleep on floors or in hard chairs.

Decades of experience with airlines that screw up and don’t deliver on their schedules has helped me to rewrite the script. I can’t get you V.I.P. treatment, but I can guarantee that you’ll do better than the madding crowd during your next long delay.

Don’t Get Stuck at the Airport
The best airport layover is the one you never have. I don’t leave on a business trip these days without mapping out five or six other flights and routings to my destination. During the chaos of widespread flight delays or cancellations, gate and ticket agents won’t always have access to the latest travel information. If you have all the options at your fingertips, you’ll have the best chance of getting out with minimal hassle. And don’t forget: Airport agents aren’t the only folks who can reroute you. If you’ve booked with a travel agent, call for help. If you’ve booked directly with the airline, dial its reservations number. The phone agents won’t be as busy as the on-the-scene employees and can rework your plans more quickly and efficiently.

Establish a Base of Operations
If you’re going to spend several hours at the airport, you’ll need a comfortable, well-equipped place to regroup. There’s only one spot like that: the airport club. Airlines still operate the kinds of private lounges depicted in The V.I.P.s but only if you’re traveling in a premium class on an international flight. The rest of the time, you’ll need to be a paid member of a club or have a Priority Pass card. If you haven’t listened to my sage earlier advice, fear not: Many clubs will sell you a day membership for about $50. It’s a small price to pay for refuge.

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