Thanksgiving was a breeze! After a summer plagued by cancelled flights and long flight delays, airlines and airports are patting themselves on the back for a job well done last weekend. The heavily traveled Thanksgiving weekend caused barely a blip on the radar screen. For most airline travelers, it was smooth sailing as an estimated 4.7 million Americans breezed in and out of the nation's airports on one of the year's busiest travel weekends.
The holidays, particularly Thanksgiving through New Years, are often travel nightmares. Unpredictable weather in one part of the country can start a domino effect of delayed and cancelled flights across the country. Fortunately, last weekend saw mild weather throughout most of the country. Another issue can be the greater number of inexperienced travelers, many families with children, who flood airports during the holidays, often causing delays at check-in counters and security checkpoints. This year, that wasn't a problem.
We can only hope that Christmas travel will be as problem-free as Thanksgiving. Barring a catastrophic weather system, air travelers have a good chance of reaching their holiday destinations in plenty of time to collect their loot from Santa. This year, several online travel sites are offering special up-to-the-minute reports designed to help travelers avoid potential delays.
- Yahoo! allows travelers with web-enabled cell phones to type in any airline and flight number to get the latest info on arrival times, gate numbers, flight delays, etc. Visit http://www.m.yahoo.com/. Text 92466 (Yahoo) with the airline and flight number and you'll get the same info back via text message.
- Orbitz provides flight status, airport travel conditions and Transportation Security Administration bulletins. You can also get real-time tips from fellow travelers on everything from which security line is moving fastest at O'Hare to the best place to catch a cab at LaGuardia. Visit http://www.updates.orbitz.com/. For mobile customers, access mobile.orbitz.com.
- On its blog, Travelocity will provide hourly updates on conditions and traffic at the nation's busiest airports on peak travel days. Visit http://www.windowseat.travelocity.com/.
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