[ad_1]
Portland, OR (PRWEB)
December 17, 2010
The holiday season is an extremely busy time at airports. Flights are crowded, the lines are long and things can go wrong sometimes, especially in bad weather. We would like to offer you a series of tips that will help you navigate the complexities of air travel while on vacation like a seasoned road warrior.
Airports are the busiest, and flight delays and cancellations are most common between December 19-23 and December 26-28. If you are traveling on one of these days, pay special attention to the following tips.
General suggestions:
1. Travel light. Ship your gifts in advance and don’t check in your luggage if you can help. Having checked baggage makes it difficult to change your plans along the way – catch an earlier flight on hold or get a seat on a later flight if yours is canceled. If your luggage is in the hold of a delayed flight, you have to stay with it and if the flight is canceled, getting it back is never easy.
2. Don’t drive to the airport yourself. The car parks are often full during the holidays. So take a ride with a friend, take a taxi, or use the train if you can. If you must drive, reserve a parking space in an off-airport parking lot well in advance.
3. Stay Connected. Arm yourself with information tools. Download one or more of the many useful mobile travel apps that include FlightStats flight data or bookmark mobile.flightstats.com so you can track airport delays, check flight status, search for availability on other flights, and more. Or if you prefer to use a laptop, sign up for Wi-Fi service at airports and on flights.
Here is your checklist before heading to the airport:
1. Check the weather forecast for each airport you will pass through on the outbound trip. Bad weather anywhere along the way can disrupt your trip, sometimes severely
2. Check the airport delay map on FlightStats.com to see what’s happening at the airports you will be visiting. If you see any yellow or red dots, it indicates that delays are a factor – a clear indication that you need to closely monitor the status of your flight.
For a video tutorial on how to use FlightStats.com to track airport delays and set up flight statistics alerts, watch this short video.
3. Set up theft alerts to send to your mobile phone to save you the trouble of checking the flight status.
4. Check the punctuality of the flights you will be making. This will tell you whether or not you are likely to have a tight or missed connection. If you’ve booked a close connection with historically delayed flights, you may want to make a back-up booking with a refundable fare.
For a video tutorial on how to use FlightStats.com to check flight status and on-time performance, click here.
Smart travel also means staying informed throughout all phases of your air travel – whether at the boarding gate, on the flight, or arranging an airport pickup. Check out these new FlightStats tutorials to best manage your travel experience:
Using the FlightStats mobile website – monitoring flight status and using the FlightStats flight availability tool for canceled and missed connections. See the video.
In-flight – viewing the status of your current flight on a map, checking the status of a connecting flight, and using the airport terminal detail page for local traffic information, weather and amenities (this covers our new “Interactive Terminal Maps” feature). See the video.
Family and Friends Air Travel Tracking – Stay on top of departures, arrivals, delays and cancellations. See the video.
Safe travel!
About FlightStats
Conducive Technology, the creators of FlightStats, is the global leader in the collection, monitoring and distribution of real-time and historical flight status and travel information. The company’s unique and patent-pending TripTalk ™ messaging platform enables airports, airlines, agencies and other travel stakeholders to post a variety of messages to travelers across the extensive network of subscribers, FlightStats affiliates and partners.
FlightStats powers numerous route monitoring and messaging services, airport websites and FIDS screens, flight information offers on major search engines including Google and Bing, numerous flight apps Popular mobile travel, automotive GPS systems, leading travel websites and the world’s premier hotel chains. Over three million unique users check flight and airport information every month on the company’s public website: http://www.flightstats.com and the number is growing rapidly. Millions more access FlightStats data through search engines, mobile apps and affiliate websites. Airport passengers around the world trust data from FlightStats.
Fly smarter. Go to http://www.FlightStats.com
###
Share the article on social media or by email:
Source link
