Aug. 13, 2006. In the aftermath of the foiled liquid bomb plot for flights originating in London, travelers of all kinds must get accustomed to the new rules of air travel.
As a frequent flyer who was jarred awake on Thursday morning by the news of the London plot and the new rules now in effect for my morning flight, I had to adapt quickly to the new reality on August 10. Fortunately, I boarded in a small airport in Lubbock Texas, and there was surprisingly little hassle. The security personnel were courteous and efficient, and the line moved fast, which was quite different from some of the news reports I saw of airports in the major cities. I was already aware of the new rules against carrying anything resembling a liquid aboard. Therefore, I put all the prohibited items in my small bag I had always taken on board with me on short trips and checked it this time.
When I connected in Houston, things were still pretty much normal, with the flight to Atlanta leaving and arriving in a timely manner. The big difference I noticed was the lack of luggage in overhead bins. In recent years air travelers have gotten accustomed to cramming everything possible in the overhead bins. They do this to avoid the extra time required to wait for checked baggage and to avoid the possibility of lost luggage, something that happens all too frequently. Starting August 10, this has changed. Most travelers will have to check a bag unless they plan to buy their toiletries upon arrival.
My own luck ran out when I reached Atlanta to connect to my short flight to Western North Carolina. A combination of thunderstorms and security delays in some airports had made the situation at the Delta Connection Terminal intolerable. Since my flight was scheduled for 6:49 pm departure, I had a reasonable expectation that I would reach my destination that night, even though I might be delayed. Then we were told that our flight would be delayed for over an hour because the inbound flight was late. Then a thunderstorm shut the entire airport down for about 30 minutes. At that point, I should have just given up and rented a car. However, I had been forced to check my luggage, and was afraid it might get lost.
Delta began to announce cancellations of other flights, but not my flight. Instead they kept moving the flights back an hour till finally they announced it would leave at 11:00 pm. Then, at about 10 minutes before departure, Delta took the flight off the board. There was no announcement, but when passengers inquired, they were told that the flight had been cancelled, and we could go to another gate to rebook for the next day. The fliers were furious, because Delta must have been aware long before the departure time that they would cancel the flight.
I took one look at the line for rebooking, which was over a block long, and called my rental car company. I drove out of the Atlanta Airport about midnight, and spent the night in a motel along the way, driving on to my destination the next morning. Fortunately, I was able to retrieve my luggage at my destination airport.
American vacation travelers have already proven that they are a resilient and adaptive lot. They should not expect that their experience will be as bad a mine was post August 10. The problems I encountered with Delta Connection were characteristic of a carrier that is stretched thin and is hard pressed to operate properly even on the best of days. It is notorious for flight cancellations as well as flight delays. Delta has not been able to afford to invest in the human and technical infrastructure to run a first class operation for its connector lines.
On most airlines, vacation travelers should expect things to go smoothly, as did I on the first two legs of my journey. However, they must keep in mine that carryons must be limited, and it will be impossible to avoid checking luggage. All beverages bought at airports must be considered before boarding. At most airports, the security screening process had been become pretty efficient and hassle-free for most travelers.
You can no longer count on this being the case. You should add at least another 30 minutes to the time you allow yourself to get to the airport. As we reported in our July 20 blog, traveling has been particularly difficult this summer with the cutback in airplanes that are available, with increased travelers, and packed airplanes. To minimize this hassle, the advice we gave in that article is still good. Try to avoid the busiest travel days, and fly in the morning hours whenever possible.
If vacationers will follow these guidelines, there is no reason why they can’t still enjoy the benefits of vacations at far away destinations, especially if they book one of the many luxury vacation rentals that are available around the world. The travel industry might suffer a small short term downturn, but it should experience no lasting damage post August 10. As for vacation rentals, over 80% of the guests travel by auto. However, this is not the case in such prime destinations as Hawaii and the Caribbean.