Cancelled Flights In Bad Weather

Happy Holidays! Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday travels and hopefully time off.

Today's travel tip is about cancelled flights. On my way back from Boston, my flight was cancelled due to bad weather (while en route to the airport). I still was able to get back to NY (albeit with lots of Amazing Race strategies). Here are a few tips to get you where you are going if caught in this situation:

1. Don't wait in the long lines at the check-in area. Utilize your mobile and call the carrier directly while at the airport.

2. Instead of booking "the next flight out", check and see if earlier flights are still delayed that you have enough time to get to (I was scheduled for a 4:40p but got on a 11:50am that was not scheduled to leave until 5:15p! Had I booked on the 6:40p, I wouldn't have departed until 9:30pm!)

3. Use the check in kiosks. If your reservation has been locked out and it won't process it (as mine was) and you need to then get the boarding pass in a hurry, use the curbside skycap service. Even if you don't have bags to check, they can still check you in and give you your boarding pass (for a small tip, of course). (In my case, the skycap was also locked out of my reservation, but he took me back inside to the counter and got me up to the front of the line).

4. As a last resort, book the later flight and try standing-by on anything else that still hasn't left yet.

Happy Travels!