By Chris Taylor
NEW YORK - If you thought last year’s holiday travel was insane, well, buckle your seatbelt.
AAA projects 79.9 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from their home over Thanksgiving, an increase of 1.7 million over last year. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says this could make for some of the busiest travel days in American history.
At airports, the crowds will put a lot of stress on the system: Security lines, staffing shortages, equipment snafus, potential delays and cancellations.
But there is good news for consumers: New rules and regulations are designed to make it easier for travelers to get compensated when things go wrong.
Here are tips from the experts.
ENJOY NO-HASSLE REFUNDS
Previously, if your flight was screwed up and you wanted a refund, you may have been out of luck.
But now this entitlement has been codified into law.
“If there is a snowstorm in Chicago and you can’t get to Thanksgiving dinner, airlines should now offer a refund automatically without making you jump through hoops,” says John Breyault, travel expert for the National Consumers League.
A caveat: This only applies if you want a refund rather than being rebooked to your destination. If you file for a refund and then have to book a new last-minute ticket, it could end up costing you through the nose.
Other factors to know: The new rules only apply to flights booked after Oct. 28. And the rules only kick in when there is a “significant delay” of at least three hours for a domestic flight and six hours for an international one.
PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR NOTIFICATIONS
Turning your phone off or leaving it on silent mode? Big mistake.
"Make sure the airline can text and email you, and install their app on your phone," says Teresa Murray, consumer watchdog director for the advocacy group U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
"Because if something is going on, you need to know about it quickly – and if you don’t respond to them, it’s on you.”
CHECK THE DASHBOARD
When it comes to meal or hotel vouchers for disrupted flights, the airlines all have different commitments that they have made to the Department of Transportation.
“It is up to the airlines to decide their own policies, but they do have to say what they will do for passengers in case of delays,” says Breyault. “And that is enforceable by law.”
Find that information on the consumer dashboard FlightRights.gov, which lists exactly what you can expect from the nation’s top 10 carriers. Ideally, do your research long before you go to the airport, so you are prepared if chaos hits.
Keep in mind that there is a difference between “controllable” events and those that are not. Staffing or maintenance problems are considered controllable, for instance. But a hurricane obviously isn’t. So in that case the airline would not have the same obligations to the traveler.
ASK – NICELY
Customer service responses from airlines are rarely uniform: How smooth your experience is after a problem may depend on the individual you are dealing with.
Remember that the airline representative is a person doing their job and likely is as stressed out as you are. So be polite, Murray says.
“That person you are talking to didn’t cause your travel problem – so don’t be nasty,” Murray says.