[WishUponAStar]

It's one of our worst fears; we've planned our brains out and as we arrive at the airport we see "30 minute delay" which only ends up escalating into an hour & 1/2 delay, until finally.... CANCELLED. We spend so much time getting excited for our Disney vacation and missing even a few hours can be upsetting and frustrating. So, in summer, when airports have notoriously delayed and cancelled flights due to many things like overbooking, weather, air traffic control, capacity problems at the airports, etc... what can we do?

I just saw a REALLY helpful segment on the Today show about this topic and wanted to share everything b/c I found it REALLY helpful. (PS: all of these tidbits came from Peter Greenburg on the Today Show)

-Try NOT to book flights after 4pm. Apparantly over 75% of flight delays happen between 4-9pm.

- NY (JFK), Dallas, & Newark Liberty were amongst the top three WORST in delays.

- If you are delayed or cancelled for reasons OTHER than weather you can go to the desk and envoke "RULE 240" which is apparantly an often misunderstood rule BUT if it works it entitles you to: (taken from about.com)

If your flight is delayed or cancelled, or if you've missed your flight connection, these policies may give you free meal vouchers, hotel accommodations, phone calls, and other amenities. You may be booked on a substitute flight -- even on another airline -- and you may be compensated or given a full refund if the flight problems persist.

Most Rule 240s - each airline's rule is slightly different - allow for the following:

*If your flight is delayed by more than two hours, you're entitled to a free three-minute phone call in the continental U.S.

*If the delay is more than four hours, and it happens between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., then you can get a voucher for a hotel room. Also included: free ground transportation to the hotel.

*Rule 240 also entitles you to meal vouchers if you're delayed by more than a few hours on some airlines. But check the fine print. It's often only the first-class passengers that get free food.

They also gave two website that I think are AWESOME!

1) Federal Aviation Administration - Home : On the FAA website you can literally see a "real time" map of delays in the whole US which shows color-coded dots that indicate what estimated delay times are for every major airport. You can also view "Airline On-Time Statistics" for any airport/airline in the US.

2) FlightStats - Worldwide flight status / tracker with historical performance data : This website is really cool. You can check all US flight status reports, there are travel forums, and perhaps the coolest feature is called "flight ratings" which you can find under the "flights" tab. You can literally put in your depature airport, arrival airport, and the airline and it will bring up a "report card" for any specific flight. For example, I am flying Continental Airlines flight number 37 and flightstat.com shows it departs "on-time" 80% of the time, when it does have a delay the average delay time is 37 minutes. The helpful part of this is, if I was smart and checked this website BEFORE I booked my flight, I would have seen that Continental flight numbers 1892 and 372 from Newark to Orlando are "on time" 100% of the time!!! So, from now on I am checking this site before booking flights!!!



I hope all this info was helpful!

[Grumpy]

Great....I am flying after 4:00 pm and connecting in DFW. I guess I better start counting on delays then.

[tinkerbell]

see this is why we do not fly any more .. the longest we have been delayed was over night in Orlando ..made me so made ..could have spent another night at WDW !!
I have no tips or advice ...except they are worse when you have small children with you :( so anything you can do to entertain short humans to keep them from having a meltdown, no matter how silly ..do it!!!

[dac921]

Thanks for the advise.
I knew about Rule 240 - from my last trip to San Antonio.

Most people don't know anything about this.

[DisneyTeacher]

I saw that same segment on the Today Show, I didn't know about Rule 240 until then. Thanks for putting the info on here, I'm sure it will help a lot of people with future travel.

[WishUponAStar]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Great....I am flying after 4:00 pm and connecting in DFW. I guess I better start counting on delays then.

Well, I would look up your specific flight number's history record on the FlightStats - Worldwide flight status / tracker with historical performance data site. Don't forget, a lot of it depends on weather and storms so here's wishing you a CLEAR and BEAUTIFUL evening!!! Trust me, if I would have seen that site BEFORE I booked I would have booked a different flight number myself but ALL flights and airports are subject to delays from time to time so we just hope for the best. Just because I am paranoid, I would print out a copy of your airline's Rule 240 policy which you can usually find on their website, if they DO have a policy they are also required to keep it at the counter for customers to see.

I am sure you will be fine, no reason to get worried... just being prepared makes air travel so much smoother!

Smooth Flying to you!

[DayDreamer]

Thanks for the info. I've been pretty lucky, I only have had one delay out of all of my trips.

[Dana]

Cancellations and delays happen all year. I avoid try to avoid this by booking the very first available flight for my airline that goes into orlando nonstop. How can the first flight of the day be delayed? The only problems I have ran into is flights that don't go because they aren't full. They cancel and combine flgihts to save money. The very best way to avoid rushing and ruined plans are to not make and dining reservations for that day unless your original flight is a morning one. People plan themselves to be at a restaurant a few hours after landing. You are just asking for stress this way. To many things can happen to ruin this. You could be delayed at the airport because of flights, luggage or transportation to the resorts. You could be delayed at check in. The best plan is to have a loose, relaxed plan for your arrival day. You can't be dissappointed if you aren't missing anything. I have been trying to not get upset about things that are not in my control. Wasted energy.

[Floridasunshine]

I sure wish I had this info last month. My daughter's flight was supposed to leave Dulles at 8:05 am. The flight was delayed due to a broken toilet. By 1 pm she was in tears. United finally put her on another flight, but guess what? It got delayed too! Finally about 3:30 I told her to just go home if she wanted as she was very upset. She would have had to have been in Jacksonville by 5 pm to get my younger daughter & her friend to Orlando by 9 pm in order to check into the hotel for the Hannah Montana TL concert the next morning. There was no way she would have made it in time by then.

They sent a voucher for $100 but I am still arguing with United.

I think I will read up on this Rule 240 thing!!!

[Floridasunshine]

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[The Goof Father]

This is some seriously good stuff Wish!

I had unknowingly gotten some of these benefits when flying in my younger single years, but now that I have a family in tow this stuff is even more important to know!

THANKS!

[Disneyguru]

Thanks Wish for the info. I had no idea

[chris24]

if you have an AMEX platinum card, you can sit in the first class lounge before your flight. if there is a delay, you get to stay longer......

[Dopey]

Originally Posted by chris24

if you have an AMEX platinun card, you can sit in the first class lounge before your flight. if there is a delay, you get to stay longer......

hahaha, that is funny.

[Experiment6-2-6]

Originally Posted by chris24

if you have an AMEX platinun card, you can sit in the first class lounge before your flight. if there is a delay, you get to stay longer......

I used to have an AMERICAN EXPRESS PLATINUM card...

I gots entry into Continental and Northwest.

The only requirement was that I was FLYING that day.

Didn't even have to fly on their airline.

It was sweet.....