How severe storms can affect your air travel plans

Should hurricane Sandy hit the east coast of the US early next week, anyone planning to fly anywhere in the US may expect serious delays or even flight cancellations. Because US airlines are not required to provide any kind of reimbursement or compensation for flight delays or cancellations.

This storm may be particularly destructive because it may combine with other weather systems in conditions similar to those that created the 'Perfect Storm' of movie fame. Already this upcoming storm, possibly occurring around Halloween, has been given the nickname 'Frankenstorm.'

What flights may be affected If your airline has flights anywhere on the east coast of the US, a large major storm could disrupt your airline's flights throughout your network, and there may be disruptions for several days before and after the storm hits.

The current forecasts have the storm hitting the east coast early next week in an area that include airports in or near Baltimore, Boston, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. Airlines with major operations in this region include American, United, US Airways, Southwest, and JetBlue. Also, a number of international airlines fly into cities in this region.

Compensation for delays and cancellations For domestic US Flights, there are no US federal regulations that require any compensation for a delayed or cancelled flight. However, your airline may have a special policy for compensating passengers whose flights are delayed or cancelled by a major storm, and those policies may include things such as waiving fees for changing reservations.

What Should You Do?

• Check to see if your flight is affected
• Check the airline's web site for special notices about the storm
• Keep track of storm forecasts
• Be prepared to have your flight delayed, rerouted, or cancelled

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Airline Travel Issues and Hurricanes

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Resources
Compensation for delays and overbookings
Airline travel issues and hurricanes

What to do if you get seriously ill on a trip

What would you do if you started to feel really ill either just before or during a trip? Not just a slight head cold kind of sick, but sick with unusual pains or symptoms that you've never felt before? Unless you are are examined by a properly trained medical professional, you may not have any idea how minor or serious your situation may be.

If this happens on your last flight before you return home, your decision is probably an easy and sensible one—get on the flight and get checked out by a doctor when you land.

If you are away from home, or if it happens right before you fly, getting examined by a physician is still a good idea, but if doing so forces a change in travel plans, other considerations may cause you to think about doing something riskier, like going ahead with your trip and hoping for the best:

• If you are on a bargain air fare with a cancellation penalty, you may decide the the loss of money (including the cost of any new ticket) is worth the risk to your health.
• If changing the schedule means you may miss out on an important event like a wedding or a trip on a luxury cruise.
• If taking time to deal with your potential health issue significantly affects the travel plans of others.
• You convince yourself that the medical advice you get (either from the web or from an actual medical expert) doesn't apply to you.

Like many medical judgment calls, there may be no way to tell ahead of time if what you have is a minor annoyance or an immediate threat to your life. Given the potential financial or personal impact that canceling the trip may have, it may make sense to take some basic precautions before you travel that will either: (1) help make your decision making easier, (2) reduces or eliminates any financial impact of any significant change to your scheduled trip, or (3) allows you to get properly treated should you get seriously ill away from home:

• Choose an airline fare that allows you to make changes or even cancel the ticket with little or no penalty.
• Buy trip insurance that will reimburse you if you make a change that leads to fees or penalties.
• Make sure that you can get adequate medical attention at your destination, or at any location where you may be changing planes en route
• Purchase emergency medical evacuation insurance if you are traveling overseas, especially to places where sophisticated medical care is unavailable.
• Purchase supplemental medical insurance if you medical plan doesn't cover expenses at your destination (most US medical plans have limited or no coverage for medical treatment overseas).

This is the kind of advice the kind of advice that will be included in the upcoming AirSafe.com ebook series which will be provided to the public at no cost, and will provide air travelers with a valuable resource that will help them avoid or manage many of the common problems they face when they fly. To find out more about the project and how you can support it, please check out the video below or visit books.airsafe.com.

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Check out the Ebook Project Video

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How the Volcano Eruption in Iceland May Affect You

Ash clouds from the ongoing eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland continue to affect flights to and from Europe, with a number of major airports closed to all traffic. While steps taken by airlines will keep passengers away from any physical danger, it will disrupt travel today, and possibly through the weekend.

Who is affected by the volcanic ash cloud?
If you are scheduled to fly to or from any city in Europe in the next few days, or if your plane will make a stop in Europe, your flight may be delayed or canceled. Even if you are not traveling to or through these areas, your flight may be affected if your airline has many flights in Europe since these volcanic ash delays may be difficult for the airline to schedule aircraft for their other flights.

Among the non-European airlines with extensive European operations include United, American, Air Canada, Delta, and Continental. US airlines operate over 300 flights a day to and from Europe, and over half have been canceled today because of the volcano. If you are flying on any of these airlines in the next few days, even if your flight doesn't involve travel to or from Europe, you should check with your airline to see if your flight will be affected.

London, Amsterdam, and Paris are also major hub airports that are used by dozens of carriers from around the world, so many smaller carriers that use these airports will be affected.

What if your flight is canceled or delayed?
If your flight is affected, your airline will likely try to accommodate you on another flight. Also, most airlines will waive their usual change fees and penalties and will give you the option to change your flight without penalty, or to cancel it and get a full refund. Check with your airline for details.

In most cases, the airline will not provide you with meals, lodging, or other compensation for these volcanic ash delays. If you have not left for the airport, contact your airline to find out if your flight has been affected. Visit AirSafe.com for more details on your compensation rights as a passenger.

Volcanic ash basics
Volcanic ash consists of jagged particles of rock and natural glass blasted into the air by a volcano. While most ash may fall back to the ground near the site of a volcanic eruption, the tiniest particles can remain suspended in the atmosphere for days or weeks, sometimes traveling thousand of miles each day. Although an ash cloud will disperse over time, even a very light volcanic ash cloud can cause significant damage to a plane that flies through that cloud.

What can ash do to an airplane?
Volcanic ash contains particles with melting point is below that of an engine's internal temperature. During flight, these particles will melt if they go through a jet engine. As the particles go through a jet turbine, the material can rapidly cool down, stick on the turbine vanes, and disturb the flow of high pressure combustion gases. This can cause the engine to lose some of its thrust or completely shut down. Volcanic ash is also quite abrasive, and can damage cockpit windows and can reduce or even eliminate forward visibility.

A brief history of volcanic ash and airliners
There were two near disasters in the 1980s that have received the most media attention over the years. In 1982, a British Airways 747 unexpectedly encountered a volcanic ash cloud from an Indonesian volcano and the damage caused by the ash shut down all of its engines. The crew was able to restart the engines and land safely in Jakarta. In 1989, a KLM 747 lost thrust on all of its engines after encountering an ash cloud over Alaska. The crew was able to restart the engines and land in Anchorage.

These were not the only significant volcanic ash encounters. According to Boeing, nearly 100 commercial jet airliners have suffered damage as a result of encountering volcanic ash in flight. Two airliners experienced damage after encountering the ash cloud from Mt. St. Helens in 1980. Over 20 aircraft were damaged by the ash from Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991; and in 1997 and 1998, several aircraft were damaged by ash from an erupting volcano near Mexico City.

As a result of the knowledge gained from these many incidents, the airline industry has developed procedures to avoid these kinds of events, primarily by reducing or eliminating flights in areas where volcanic ash encounters are likely. The steps taken by the airlines this week will likely mean that no airliner or airline passenger will have to deal with any volcanic ash emergencies.

Areas affected by ash
The ash cloud is covering large areas of western and central Europe, and closing or partially closing the airspace over the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, and several other countries. Oddly enough, flights to and from Iceland are largely unaffected.

Satellite view from 15 April 2010

How do you pronounce the volcano's name?

Photo Credits: New York Times, BBC, USGS, NOAA

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Free Downloads from AirSafe.com
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AirSafe.com Baggage and Security Guide
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Parenting and the Internet
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