Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Encore: 5 Tips to Prepare for a Flight Cancelation

Episode Date: June 5, 2022

Originally aired January 13, 2022 With thousands of flights canceled over the holidays, people are wondering: is this going to come between me and my pina colada getaway?! Today, Nicole shares her savvy travel hacks to help during this time of canceled-flights-galore.

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Well, it doesn't. Charge for wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. Nicole Lappin. Are you planning a trip in the near future?

If so, my condolences. I'm sure your heart rate is up, up, and away with all the recent flight cancellations and nonsense. You're probably wondering, what the fuck is going on? That's at least how money rehabber Laura feels. Here she is. Hey, Nicole. My name is Laura, and I'm a homemaker in Denver. My family and I have a trip planned to go to Florida later this month, and with all the flight cancellations, I'm totally freaking out. Should I cancel my trip? Ah, Laura, I totally appreciate how stressful that is. I just recently took a trip. It was my partner's first vacation, actually, since he started his company, and I was

just waiting for our flights to get canceled. It's a stressful time to travel, no doubt. Before we get into the question of whether or not you should keep your trip, let's look at what is happening with the airlines and why. Over the holidays, over 4,000 flights were canceled, and even now, some airlines are slashing their typical flight schedules. JetBlue, for example, has reduced its schedule by about 1,300 flights over the last few weeks and is re-evaluating today whether the company needs to continue to operate at a reduced schedule. The primary reason for all of these cancellations is staffing. Airlines are having a really difficult problem getting flight attendants and pilots and all of the airline MVPs to cover a typical flight schedule. Why is this happening?

Well, first, Omicron, the most contagious strain of COVID-19 yet. Airline employees are getting sick and consequently are unable to come to work. Other employees just don't want to put themselves at risk by being on an airplane with so many traveling, germy passengers. That brings me to the second major factor affecting staffing, and after yesterday's episode, you could probably guess what it is. Yep, the great resignation. As we talked about on yesterday's episode, there is a nationwide labor shortage, which is giving employees greater bargaining power to ask for what they want. And what airport employees want is to be safe from COVID and from rude customers. Is that too much to ask? Let's double click on

the rudeness factor for a moment because that's a real phenomenon affecting airport staff. According to The Atlantic, airlines in the United States reported that by June 2021, the number of unruly passengers had already broken records, doubling the previous all-time pace of assholery. So that's not exactly the term The Atlantic used, but they might as well have. Why are people being dicks right now? they might as well have. Why are people being dicks right now? Well, masks are mandatory on flights, but not everyone wants to wear masks. And who has to enforce the mask mandate? The flight staff. So the flight crew is stuck getting pushback from people who don't want to follow

the mask mandate. Although those people are still following the rule to buckle their seatbelts on the flight and isn't wearing a mask kind of the same thing? Anyway, more flight staff are reporting ugly encounters with passengers and they don't want to deal. Who can blame them? But back to you, Laura. What should you do about your trip? Well, honestly, it's not a bad idea to postpone your

vacation. I hate saying that. The last thing I want to be is the fun police. But there are many, many stories of folks getting stranded in far-off destinations, and it's no surprise that getting stuck away from home becomes an expensive ordeal quickly. An unexpected extended trip means you need to pay for last-minute accommodations, longer car rentals, buying food out, all sorts of expenses that were likely not accounted for in your spending plan. Airlines also think it's in your best interest to postpone right now. Alaska Airlines, for example, has asked passengers to rebook their trips for later dates. And with most airlines waiving change fees, pushing your travel plans back shouldn't cost you a dime. But if you can't push back your travel plans or you simply don't want

to because you need that vacation, here are five things you should do to prepare for some flight uncertainty. Number one, ask if you can be on standby for the airline's next flight out. If your flight gets canceled, the airline does need to rebook you on another flight. But picture this, one full flight gets canceled and 50 passengers need to be rebooked. The airline is going to need to scramble to place all of those passengers on flights, right? They sure as hell won't be able to squeeze all 50 passengers on the next flight out. So some folks are going to be bumped to other flights leaving the next day or even two, three days later. Even if there's no sign that your flight will be canceled, call the airline or use one of the online chat features and ask if you can be added to the

standby list for the following flight. Not all airlines will allow you to be on standby for one flight while you have a ticket on another flight, but it is worth a shot so that you can increase the likelihood that you'll be one of those few lucky people to get rebooked on a flight for the same day. Number two, do your research. Not every airline has been affected by the staffing shortage equally. On one day where 1,082 flights were canceled, United canceled 180, Delta canceled 137, and JetBlue and Spirit canceled 106 and 76 flights respectively. American Airlines has been a pretty safe bet compared to other airlines, but they haven't been completely immune.

Keep an eye out for which airlines cancel heavy and try to avoid booking with them. Number three, opt into those text updates. You know when you book a flight and you get that little pop-up window asking you if you want text notifications related to your flight and you might say no because who wants more spam texts from companies? Well, as it turns out, you want spam texts from some companies. Remember, if your flight gets canceled, even though the airline will rebook you automatically on another flight, your fellow passengers are going to make a mad dash to call the airline and ask to get on the next flight that's available. call the airline, and ask to get on the next flight that's available.

So if you can be one of the first people to find out about a cancellation because of a text update, you can be at the front of the pack when it comes to making that rebooking call. Number four, go to the airport early. I read one expert say that you should wait until the last minute to go to the airport in case your flight gets canceled. Their reasoning was, if your flight is going to get canceled, you want to save yourself a trip to the airport. And while I get that rationale, you have a much better chance of being able to work out a plan B if you're already at the airport and can talk to an airline rep in person. With the volume of cancellations in this scheduling madness, customers are waiting three or four hours on hold just to get a representative.

If you're at the airport, you're likely to have a shorter wait and get some in-person help. Number five, enroll in the airline's loyalty program. Before you check in for your flight, you should sign up for the airline's loyalty program. Before you check in for your flight, you should sign up for the airline's loyalty program. Airlines do give preferential treatment to folks who are loyalty members. Plus, some airlines have special lines that only loyalty members can use. So you might be able to use the airline's bat phone, essentially, and have a shorter wait to get a representative on the line. Those are my top five recommendations for positioning yourself most advantageously in case of a dreaded flight cancellation.

If your flight is canceled, here are my two recommendations for what to do next. Number one, ask what they can do for you. Some airlines are able to give you special help if they cancel your flight. According to the New York Times, American Airlines will arrange an overnight stay for customers whose flight is delayed and does not board before midnight on the scheduled arrival day. JetBlue offers compensation for flights delayed three or more hours, from $50 to $200, depending on the length of the delay. Delta will put up passengers whose flights are canceled between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at one of its contracted hotels for the night. And many other airlines have similar contingency plans in place. However, not all airlines will offer these perks automatically. Oftentimes,

you have to ask to get these vouchers, so speak up. Number two, call the international numbers. I love this hack from Scott Kyes of Scott's Cheap Flights, who actually came on Money Rehab to share some travel hack advice back on episode 88. He told the New York Times that the international phone numbers tend to have a shorter wait time than the dedicated U.S. phone numbers. He said, you want to make sure you know what the cell phone rates are, but if you're calling Canada, it's around two cents a minute. It's going to be a 20-minute call versus a three-hour wait if you're calling a U.S. hotline, I think it's worth the 40 cents. For today's tip, you can dig straight to the bank. If your flight is canceled and you do

get a travel voucher, you'll need to rebook directly with the airline, even if you found your flight through a third party like your credit card reward system or a travel site like Expedia. Reason being, your voucher won't be for that third-party site. It will be for the airline, and a third party won't be able to apply an airline credit when they book for you. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are Morgan Lavoie and Mike Coscarelli. Executive producers are Nikki Etor and Will Pearson. Our mascots are Penny and Mimsy. Huge thanks to OG Money Rehab team,

Michelle Lanz for her development work, Catherine Law for her production and writing magic, and Brandon Dickert for his editing, engineering, and sound design. And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.