Successful winter travel is successfully travelling in the winter weather. I express repeatedly to my clients the chances of excessive delays and cancellations, passenger strandings and airport problems which can happen anywhere. Although there are now federal regulations to prevent delays more than three hours, we are unfortunately still at the mercy of the airlines when snow and storms strike.

One of the biggest issues when traveling by air is going through connecting airports. The risk of missing a flight or getting stuck in a connecting airport is higher in the winter because of weather. For this reason, you should fly non-stop whenever possible.

If you absolutely must fly a connection, watch your layover times carefully. If a weather delay causes you to miss your connection, know that the airline is not obligated to find you a seat on the next flight and technically cannot do so if the flights are full and unavailable. If you have a really tight connection time, let your flight attendant know. He or she may be able to hold the next flight or at least get you off your first flight as quickly as possible.

Attempt to book your connecting flights through a southern city where weather shouldn’t be as much of an issue. Now there are no guarantees, as northern airports tend to be equipped for weather conditions, while a snowstorm can shut down an airport that more often suffers from too much sun. Remember to choose a morning flight, for two reasons. You are far less likely to have your flight affected by problems at other airports. Second, if your flight is canceled or badly delayed, your options for alternate flights are increased, improving your odds of getting on another flight by the end of the day.

Very often the problem is not solely the weather but the overall volume at the airport as many airports are not built to handle the amount of volume they are taking on these days. This can be especially problematic when flying out of the larger cities that offer multiple airport choices such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Houston, whereas second tier airports tend not to be too far out of town and are tied into the transportation grid.

Get ahead of the game at security check. Put all of your gear and pocket change in a sleeve of your carry-on bag. With so many valuables and items getting dropped in a bin all day, it’s inevitable that things get left behind, dropped, damaged, broken or even stolen. If you take 15 seconds to stow everything, you’ll make the time on the other side of the security gate and won’t risk losing cell phones, wallets, keys, etc.

The annual holiday gift wrapping rule: Don’t wrap gifts. Security will have to rip them open. Consider shipping gifts ahead of time and wrapping them once you get to your destination.

Avoid peak travel dates as best as you can, particularly holiday weekends.  

Have a wonderful winter vacation!

Tarrian Grant-Burnett

BBbyT Weddings, Travel & Events, LLC

www.beautifulbeginningsbytarri.com

404-704-4766