Wall Street Journal predicts "Brutal Summer" for air travel

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article on page D1 predicting what it calls a brutal summer for air travel.

The article, by Scott McCartney, assigns the blame to the leaner staffing airlines are using to control costs. We have self-check-in kiosks and fewer gate agents, for example. When things go well, no problem. But when we have storms as the Northeast had this past couple of days, there is no one there on the airlilne's behalf to handle the changed travel plans for all the passengers.

More flights are cancelled and delayed by aircraft maintenance problems, and the airlines are carrying fewer spare aircraft in inventory.

Airlines are encouraging more ticketing via the Web, and they are staffing their call centers with fewer people.

More flights are at capacity, so even if you are entitled to a seat by reason of Rule 240, there may be no seats available, especially when there are a lot of flights cancelled because of weather. If you flight is cancelled while you are at the airport, there will be fewer people on hand to help and fewer people answering more calls for reticketing.

The Journal offers a few suggestions. Fly early in the morning in the summer, as thunderstorms tend to build during the heat of the day. Allow extra time between connecting flights, especially if you are flying into or from an area where cruise ships dock. Do not pack medicine or other necessary items in your checked bags.

My suggestion is to expect delays and be prepared to deal with them. A delay may be galling if you are going for a long weekend, and a summer storm means you miss your last connecting flight for a long weekend Somewhere Idyllic because it has only one flight, but there's nothing the airline can do about the weather, and neither can you. Go somewhere that you can make a call and be on hold a long time and leave the other enraged passengers to scream at the gate agents while you calmly put your backup plan into effect.

While Rule 240 may be of little help if 20% of all the flights are cancelled, you may want to refresh your recollection.

Our article on delays and lost luggage may offer some comfort in the calm leisure of your study before you get stuck in the same situation.

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