After the Trump administration announced it would cut 10% of air traffic at 40 of the busiest airports in the country, airlines, airports and travelers are scrambling to adjust their plans.
The reductions began Friday with a planned 4% reduction in affected markets and were set to expand over the weekend until they reach a 10% decrease by next Friday, the Transportation Department and Federal Aviation Administration said.
The list of 40 affected airports was released late Thursday evening. The Transportation Department said airlines could decide which flights to cancel, and that international flights don’t need to be canceled.
Some U.S. airlines have indicated that their reductions will target regional trips and routes that operate more frequently that don’t fly between hub airports. This means that the cuts could have an outsize impact on smaller airports that prioritize domestic and regional flights.
The cutbacks follow a drumbeat by Trump administration officials and travel industry organizations, raising concerns about the fragility of the air travel system and the possibility of chaos at airports as the shutdown stretches toward Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
At a news conference Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the cuts are meant to “alleviate the pressure” on air traffic controllers, who are among the federal employees working without pay during the shutdown. Although flight disruptions have largely been minimal, air traffic control facilities across the country have experienced an elevated absence rate. That includes the New York area, where the FAA reported last Friday that nearly 80% of air traffic controllers were absent.
Geoff Freeman, the president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, an industry organization, said that while safety is the top priority, the reductions would “come at the cost of the traveler experience, in terms of reliability, efficiency, just the smoothness of the system.”
Here’s what travelers should know.
What do I do if my flight is canceled or delayed?
Airlines have begun to announce cancellations. Delta Air Lines said that while it will operate the vast majority of its flights, it will cancel 170 flights scheduled for Friday. A spokesperson for United Airlines said the airline had canceled fewer than 200 flights on both Friday and Saturday; the airline published a list of all flights canceled this weekend on its website.
American Airlines will cancel 220 flights per day from Friday through Monday, a spokesperson said.
If you receive a notice that your flight is canceled, check your airline’s website for next steps. Most carriers will rebook you on a later flight or offer you a waiver for change fees or the price of the missed flight. According to the Department of Transportation, you can turn down your rebooked flight and request a refund if you prefer.
If your flight is delayed, arrive at the airport as scheduled. Security lines are likely to be long as the disruption continues, and flight times can change on a dime. If you choose to travel on a significantly delayed flight, you waive your right to a refund or any monetary rewards, the DOT said.
What are the airlines doing to help out?
Many major airlines are waiving cancellation or change fees in response to the flight reductions.
United Airlines passengers can receive a full refund if they choose not to fly while the reductions are in place, even if their flight was not directly affected, said Scott Kirby, the airline’s CEO, in a letter to airline employees. The policy includes nonrefundable and basic economy tickets.
American Airlines said on its website that customers can change their flights or request a refund with no penalty if they choose not to travel or their flights are canceled.
Delta is waiving fare differences for passengers who rebook and issuing refunds upon request to passengers who choose not to travel, the airline said on its site.
Most JetBlue passengers affected by the reduction will automatically be rebooked, the airline said on its site. Passengers whose flights are canceled can request a full refund if they decide not to travel.
Frontier Airlines is also waiving change and cancellation fees, though passengers who rebook must still pay the fare difference. Those who cancel will receive a travel credit, according to the airline’s website.
What best practices should travelers adopt?
Even if your flight is not affected, you may still feel the effect of the reductions, said Katy Nastro, a travel expert for Going.com, adding that almost 70% of domestic flights are either to or from one of the 40 affected airports.
Check your airline’s website or app to see where your plane is coming from and whether it took off on time, which are factors that could affect whether your flight is delayed, Freeman said. Nastro also recommended checking your flight’s seat map on the airline’s website or app; if there are a number of empty seats, prepare for the possibility that the flight could be canceled. Also be aware that flights to smaller cities are vulnerable to cancellation.
Websites like FlightRadar24, FlightAware and the National Airspace System Status can help you figure out whether your airline or your airport are experiencing, or may experience, problems. The MyTSA app may also help you anticipate how long you may have to wait in security lines (although during the shutdown, the app has been updated less frequently). Some airports also list security wait times on their websites.
Freeman cautioned that travelers should not believe everything they read.
“Don’t believe the commentators on social media that think they have it all figured out,” he said. “The airlines are making complex decisions right now.”
In a post on LinkedIn on Thursday, Barry Biffle, the CEO of Frontier Airlines, suggested that travelers who really needed to get somewhere should purchase a backup ticket on a different carrier as insurance. Make sure to buy a fully refundable ticket, he added.
Will travel insurance help?
Read the fine print in your policy, said Mark Friedlander, a senior director at the Insurance Information Institute, an industry research and education organization.
If your flight is canceled because of staffing shortages, most policies characterize that as a “common carrier issue” that would be covered.
However, most policies have a standard “known event” clause, which excludes coverage for events that are publicly known at the time the policy is purchased, such as a hurricane, a pandemic and — most often — a government shutdown.
So, if you purchased your policy last week, when the shutdown was already in effect, claims for a canceled trip are likely to be denied. But if you bought your policy in September, your flight will probably be covered, even if it’s canceled because of the shutdown, Friedlander said.
But don’t expect to be covered if you miss your flight because the security line is three hours long, an experience that frustrated travelers in Houston last weekend.
If you choose to cancel your flight preemptively because you don’t want to deal with a mess at the airport, that will not be covered by your insurance unless you have a very broad policy, such as “Cancel for Any Reason” insurance, Friedlander said, and even then, there are often limits to when you can cancel and still have coverage.
As the situation remains dynamic, the best thing to do is to pay extra for a refundable ticket.
What do international travelers need to know?
International flights are not expected to be as affected by the restrictions. But while your flight might not be canceled, chaos at airports could still be a factor. Prepare for long security lines and give yourself more time to navigate to your gate.
Many people traveling to the United States from abroad, Freeman noted, will still have to connect to domestic flights, which could be canceled or delayed. Those travelers, he said, may choose to forgo their trips instead of potentially getting stuck.
What if you still haven’t booked Thanksgiving travel?
If you have yet to book your Thanksgiving travel, expect prices for last-minute flights to increase even more than usual, Nastro said, as the number of available flights will most likely decrease. If you have already booked, stay up-to-date on shutdown news and flight reductions and prepare to make changes to your trip.
“I can’t imagine that leaders in Congress are going to allow this thing to last until Thanksgiving,” Freeman said. But, he added, it will take the airports and airlines time to recover from the current flight reductions.
“Even if it were to end tomorrow, it’s going to take days for this thing to pass, and the airlines could use some of that time to begin prepping their networks,” Freeman said.
Are there viable alternatives to flying?
If your travel destination is accessible by Amtrak, consider planning ahead to take the train instead of flying. Amtrak expects more travelers to choose the train over air travel if flight disruptions become more widespread, said Beth Toll, a railroad spokesperson.
Toll encouraged travelers to “book now and early” to secure their reservations. Amtrak prices often spike in the days immediately before travel. The railroad, which is operating as normal during the shutdown, has already experienced an increase in recent bookings and expects to serve a record number of passengers over Thanksgiving, Toll said.
Flix North America, the parent company of the bus lines Greyhound and FlixBus, said in a statement that the company was “fully prepared to accommodate travelers impacted by flight delays, cancellations or long airport lines.” Both Greyhound and FlixBus were expecting increased demand from travelers because of air travel issues, the company said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.