State of Travel-8/2/2021

I want to give a quick update on what all is going on in the travel world today. We have continued to do some traveling so I’ll go over some of what we have experienced and some of the different things I have heard from others while traveling.

The crowds are back

Since the Spring break time flights have been pretty much completely booked. Its even more so now during the summer as there have been few flights we have been on that has any empty seats. With that the airports have become crowded as they had before the pandemic. With all the crowds I heavily recommend giving yourself plenty of time to go through security. At some airports there are staffing issues with TSA so the lines can be really long. We get to the airports with plenty of time to spare so we have not had any issues but we heard someone telling a story they missed their flight due to a very long TSA line. The airline was calling them in the last call but they just could not get through the line to make it.

With all the crowds if you are looking to grab a bite to eat inside the airport or during a layover it could be difficult. We have seen at many of the airport very long lines for restaurants. Not all restaurants are open at some airports and some have gone completely out of business. The extra crowds and some staffing shortages are causing some issues at the airport in this area. The same can be said sometimes for check in lines if you are checking bags. We have been in some very long lines at airports like Las Vegas.

Airline Operations and the Weather

Airline operations are still very stressed so be prepared for frequent delays and possible cancelations. There are many sources for these delays such as crew switches (a crew coming in on another flight that is delayed) or crews working to the max hours they are allowed so they cannot continue on a flight. There is the occasional mechanical issue as well. These kinds of delays happened before the pandemic but right now with airlines having a leaner workforce they have fewer backup options to recover. Dallas Love Field as I have mentioned is down to one runway so there can be Air Traffic Control delays due to too many planes. As of late nearly all of our flights have had at least a few minutes delay and on some trips its made or connections very tight (we have ran across the airport to get to our gate).

There is always a chance of some weather related issues when traveling but this year has been the worst I have ever seen. The number of thunderstorms out there around the country is just intense. Many of our flights have been delayed or canceled due to thunderstorms either at the airport I am at or because the plane I am getting on went through an airport that had thunderstorms causing delays. Yesterday there were major thunderstorms in Dallas that caused a meltdown with American Airlines and effected a lot of Southwest flights. Our flight from Omaha to Atlanta got delayed due to the plane having to fly out of the way of thunderstorms in the flight path. Since airlines have fewer flights and flights are so full a cancelation can be a big issue trying to get back home.

There have even recently been software issues that have hit airlines like Southwest that has caused major cancelations and delays. At the time of this writing airline Spirit is having mass cancelations and American ran into that yesterday.

How to cope with the Airline Operation Issues

While its difficult for anyone to deal with issues while traveling there are a few things you can do that might help you at least be somewhat prepared for what might come. I use a couple of apps on my cell phone that track flights including to see where they are coming from. I can see a little ahead if there looks like there could be problems with the flight. If there are I can call the airline to see if they will switch me to a flight that has a better chance of making it in (sometimes they will do this for free). The apps I use are FlightAware and FlightRadar24. I also heavily recommend making sure when booking your connection if you have one gives you plenty of time. I know connections can be a hassle but now is not the time to book tight connections. At a bare minimum I would book one hour connection times for airports you are familiar with. Anything less than that has a very good chance of leaving you stranded. Even an hour layover can be eaten up quickly with the frequent delays. I heavily recommend looking into some travel insurance for your trip that covers hotels and things like that in case of an issue. I usually don’t buy this for domestic trips but I have been lately. It can be around $20 a person depending on the level you buy and it will help you if you run into trouble. We use AIG Travel Guard and they have been helpful in the past. Try to get to the airport to talk to someone and if that line is long also try to call your airline. Being aware of what is going on with your flight and being prepared as you can for issues is key if you are going to travel this year.

International Travel

There are quite a few countries that are opened up and some that have been opened up for a long time. Mexico never really closed up to tourists for example. There are quite a few Caribbean countries that are now open and are not requiring a test (some only vaccinated people can come in without a negative Covid test). The EU and United Kingdom are now open to vaccinated Americans and do not require a quarantine on arrival. Some countries like the UK require a negative Covid test (at least 72 hours before arrival) and that also includes if you are connecting in London as many European flights do. While countries are starting to open up its really important to check the rules often as they change frequently. Some countries such as Australia are still not open and will not be open for some time (possibly as late at 2022). One obstacle to take in consideration for international travel is if to get back into the US you must have a negative test within 72 hours of arrival into the US. If you test positive you will have to wait to come back home. We have not yet traveled internationally.

Travel Today

Travel for us is still very rewarding and something we love to do but it definitely is much more complicated than it even was during the height of the pandemic with the added crowds and flight operation issues. Some of these issues have caused us to cancel a couple recent trips that had complicated connections as we did not have confidence with the state of things that we would make it to and from the destination. While I still am looking forward to future trips I am watching things much more carefully as there are a lot of issues with travel right now.