Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the FAA would be reducing flights by 10% in 40 of the top U.S. airports. This extraordinary plan will cause some flight delays but is designed to avoid safety disasters and cascading disruptions.
First, here are your relevant rights:
- If an airline cancels your flight for any reason, you are owed a prompt refund.
- If your flight is delayed, you are not direct compensation by law unless the flight is international or part of an international itinerary.
- The airline contract of carriage may entitle you to meal vouchers, hotel vouchers, and ground transportation for certain delays, typically those caused by the airline.
Here is how you should navigate this reduction in flights:
- Book direct flights and avoid connections. While flying through high traffic hubs should not present catastrophic delays for now, you are increasing your chance for minor delays.
- Book directly with the airline. Achieving refunds or rebooking from third party websites is more difficult.
- Book early morning flights. This limits the effects of cascading delays throughout the day and limits your need for an additional hotel stay.
- Book a second, refundable ticket on another airline, particularly if the airline you booked does not offer frequent flights to your destination.
- Leave extra buffer time for important events. If you have an important event on a Thursday and would normally arrive on a Wednesday night, consider arriving on Tuesday or extremely early on Wednesday.
- Anticipate long TSA lines and monitor TSA checkpoint status information from publicly available trackers.
