Saturday, February 9, 2013

Video: Options if you?re stranded by the storm



>>> this morning on "today's travel," stranded by the storm. as the blizzard continues to pound the northeast, you or maybe someone you love may be among the thousands who have plans disrupted. thousands of flights canceled friday. more than 3,000 on friday. more than 1,800 canceled today. the big question, if you were supposed to be on one of those flights, what did you do? amy farley is the news editor and writes the trip doctor column for " travel and leisure " magazine. nice to have you with us. almost as soon as they said we're canceling flights at the airlines, a majority said, hey, we're also waiving all the fees to rebook or if you need to cancel.

>> right.

>> but when you do need to rebook, they urged everybody to go line. is that the best way to do it?

>> you know, i think honestly, exercise every option available to you. we say get on line, get in line if you're at the airport. get on the phone. try every method possible. if you don't want to bother at all and your flight plans are totally flexible, they will often just rebook you automatically. so sometimes you can save yourself the headache. we say try every method possible.

>> try every method, including sitting back and letting them do it. in terms of canceling because for some maybe it was a business trip and now there's no longer a reason to go, are there full refunds being offered?

>> you know, that goes airline by airline. i know that jetblue, usairways, and united are the most flexible in offering full refunds or travel vouchers. some other airlines, it's a case-by-case basis. get this touch with your airline. they ought to -- if the whole purpose of the trip is a moot point, they should help you out.

>> you mention getting in touch and trying every option possible. at the airport, get on line, try to get on line. and twitter, social media has been effective in these situations.

>> i have to say after sandy and now airlines are good on twitter. they're really responsive. often it's a great way to get more information. i'm not sure they can always help with the specific problem. it's worth reaching out on twitter.

>> for a lot of people, saturday seems to be the lightest travel day of the week. in terms of airlines rebooting, it gives them a little more time. how are sunday and monday looking?

>> there aren't that many cancelations yet for sunday. i heard from jetblue that they hope to get operations going at jfk this afternoon and at boston logan this evening at 6:00. obviously the snow's still coming in boston, so that's wait and see. but they're optimistic. frankly, they've had practice in recent years at getting their flights, unscrambling the mess that the storms create. you know, i think there's reason to be optimistic for tomorrow.

>> that's good. i like the glass half full . when it comes to -- we talk about airlines and air travel . a lot of times people would have had hotels booked, as well. are we seeing a similar response in terms of refunds?

>> they're being more flexible. i mean, after sandy we were expecting the same sort of response right now from hotels. frankly, if they're in affected areas, they're taking in stranded passengers. so they have a reason to let you out of your booking.

>> because they will fill some rooms. if you are stranded, the best way to find a hotel is to go on line?

>> they'll give you a great rate for a room nearby you.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50754163/

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