Plan for airport chaos in Europe this summer

Hard to plan for every contingency, like weather. Carry-on is not always possible, but the article makes a few good points that even at the last minute can help:

• Be polite

• Be persistent

• Download the airline apps

I would add to have a contingency fund. A credit card with a good available spending limit can get you out of many problems.

FWIW we had to find our Plan B on the fly a couple of weeks ago when our travel partners had to cancel a trip to Ireland with us. We were already in the UK but we don’t drive left hand side. Our driver was the one who had to cancel. Plan B: go to the continent where we did not need a car and to a place we know intimately and love. We salvaged the trip and luckily, due to liberal cancellation policies, didn’t have to eat much in the way of loss. We did lose some sleep and a half-day or so to rearrange all the plans. Switzerland is MUCH more expensive than Ireland so that old adage “Money can solve almost everything” held true.

mindfulness, thank you for the article. I try for direct flights with no more than one stop. Multiple stops just not a good idea.

We are team carry-on. I know there can be situations where the airlines must check your bag, but we try to keep control of our luggage. It makes it easier to navigate the airports and train stations, saves time and stress. We do pack essentials in our personal item bags so if they have to pry our carryon from our fingers and check it, we have what is needed to enjoy our trip. We can sink wash and purchase some clothes on the fly if needed. We also try to limit our flights to one connection each way.

I agree - keep the essentials and a change of underwear with you, and pay attention to your apps. And, unfortunately, be ready to throw money at the problem.

I thought this was excellent advice in the article :

Decter advises his clients to check on flight status, weather and news — both where the flight originates and where it’s going — a day or two before departure.

Forewarned is forearmed. We see a lot of people here on the Forum who are doing that — keeping themselves informed - so then they get wind of something and are able to come here and ask for guidance. I always feel for the unknown people who are out there who are on there way here or Italy or wherever with strikes on the horizon, and they have no idea that they may need alternate plans.

Laurel, I’m so sorry that your Ireland plans got completely upended. I hope your would-be travel partners are okay, and I know you must be enjoying Switzerland.

Thanks for sharing the article, Mindfulness. NYT subscribers will have seen a similar articles yesterday as they published a whole series about getting ready for summer travel. Here’s a gift link to one article, especially pertinent to travelers to Europe where strikes loom as mentioned in the Points Guy article above:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/travel/summer-strikes-europe.html?unlocked_article_code=ol64wPLvfet40O9K27N5-meFd7mp6pWYX5vb8ONeyQyT0utll9Re6YouOeg715ZaTcVELHY4xQNYZb0pZB1_vHtdtOR0Tp4_RAoCtQSPDQcVTCirUfHYV-HHuknR09zQuIir_Q8Eu8JqEWBA0wcn8YvOWtHTH1JM_TCCs20LyhLiAh_UoEg5xyuheDODnHm-tQnm05tCYOerokSJwTTCGBxXp8l4ujXV4yBMsAOwEq0TPRkOZ7qT6uEja4-lqUvgfhHiVkFfgK4OFVNYeC3ptQB7ivy1wwdcKxmf_PambV0jylfE_YM2CudUrO84BSmuW5eFFcO0np90tfoiFA&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

The passport e-gates are not working at all UK airports today- leading to long lines

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65731795

When Delta changed my flight schedule for this September (TheShire - AMS - CDG) a couple months ago ; it increased my layover at AMS from 3.5 hrs to almost 5 hrs. Instead of changing my connecting flight to an earlier one; I've decided to keep it as it is in case of airport chaos. Too bad there's no non-stop flight from my city to Paris.

Now I'm thinking maybe I should book a Thalys train (Schiphol - Paris Nord) as a contingency plan. The problem is if I skip the second leg of the flight; the airline will cancel the rest of my booking. Does anyone know if they will allow/waive this rule in the event of airport chaos?

@Kim:
Tracking where one's plane is before flight is indeed a good suggestion (something I have never thought of). I just googled and found this article on this topic. For the very first time :) I just realized https://flightaware.com indeed has a button 'Track inbound plane' (under 'Flight Details') which shows where your plane is en route from, its current location and arrival time ... pretty cool.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/how-to-track-airplane/#

3rd vote for downloading the Airline apps AND having a data plan to access them with.

Also...give yourself plenty of time at the airport!

My flight from LHR to SEA was cancelled last Friday. It was cancelled between the time I checked the app on hotel wifi and headed out to when I got to the airport. I had a moment of panic (I'm not sure why!!), then stepped back, clicked on data, clicked on the app and Delta had already rebooked me via SLC. That flight left about 20 minutes before my previous flight left which was no issue as I was there well ahead of time. E-gates were working that day,plenty of people in security and got thru quickly. I was doing carry on because originally I had a shortish transit time in Seattle and didn't want to wait around for my bag.

I also agree with having lots of room on various credit cards for back up plans!

Now I'm thinking maybe I should book a Thalys train (Schiphol - Paris Nord) as an insurance. The problem is if I skip the second leg of the flight; the airline will cancel the rest of my booking. Does anyone know if they will allow/waive this rule in the event of airport chaos?

I wouldn’t book the Thalys. For every horror story you hear, there are thousands of people who have uneventful trips. I know on my travels last fall (4 flights), I had zero problems with flights, luggage, strikes, or immigration queues.

“Now I'm thinking maybe I should book a Thalys train (Schiphol - Paris Nord) as a contingency plan. The problem is if I skip the second leg of the flight; the airline will cancel the rest of my booking. Does anyone know if they will allow/waive this rule in the event of airport chaos?”

First of all, why do you believe there will be airport chaos at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport this summer? Because some article says so? Yes, the airport had issues last year, but things have improved greatly. There have already been some peak periods since then without any major issues.
Second of all, if you miss your flight to Paris due to delays at the airport it’s the job of the airline to get you there. If you proactively decide to skip the Amsterdam-Paris leg of your flight, you will be considered a no-show and your subsequent flights will be cancelled.

"Yes, the airport had issues last year, but things have improved
greatly. There have already been some peak periods since then without
any major issues."

... past performance (so far) is no guarantee of future results :)
Let's hope they will keep it up 🤞

Mindfulness

Yes, Delta could work with you on missing a flight in the circumstances you described . But what you need to do is talk to them and make sure it’s noted in your account and in the ticket record before you get on the train - do not just get on the train and hope they’re going to work with you. I’ve had to do this with some connecting flights and when it’s chaos or bad weather, they will work with you, but you just need to make sure you’ve told them, and they’ve agreed to it before you head off to the train

I’d be prepared to call back to the US from Amsterdam in your situation. It’s a lot easier to talk directly to Delta than it is to talk to KLM who will talk to Delta.

And document everything. So when you call Delta and tell them what you’re doing and Becky Joe says that’s good make sure you write down Becky Joe’s name the time you talk to her, etc.

Laurel hit on the best points,
Be polite
Be persistent
Download the airline apps

But you realize that not much in the article had anythig to do with the numbers of visitors other than summer is always busier. Its about strikes and maybe to some degree staffing (but I get the impression that is almost cured now). AMS has gotten tons better for instance when they replaced people with machines.

Strikes can happen anytime and when you fly into or through airports with strike prone labor unions its the risk you take. Avoid the UK and France for sure if that is a concern.

I think we have a fairly typical summer coming because this isnt anything new. Here are the pre COVID strikes in 2019: https://www.travelpulse.com/News/Airlines-Airports/The-Most-Expensive-Airline-Strikes-of-2019

But I guess I will find out as I am flying on five different carriers and not all in the same aliance.

30/31 May (US / International)
13/15 June (Schengen)
21/26 June (Schengen)
4 July (international / US)
11 July (US)
6 August (US / international)

@Carol,
Thanks for your suggestions. I hope Delta will be flexible under such circumstances; and yes it's definitely important to get the consent from them before skipping the flight ... this same rule actually also apply to Amtrak. Years ago I skipped my Amtrak train to SF and flew there instead; and was told later my returning train ticket had been canceled because I didn't show up for my first leg of the itinerary. Luckily seats were available and Amtrak staff was willing to reissue the ticket. Lesson learned!

@Mister É,
Yes the airport chaos is not just because of the huge number of visitors; all the strikes and labor shortages do aggravate the situation. You have quite a busy schedule lined up; enjoy your trip!

Let's hope everything is hunky-dory this summer :)

Always hoping for hunky dorey when I travel.

A little research revealed that "Europe" is expected to reach 80% to 95% of pre-pandemic tourism this Summer.

Based on UNWTO’s scenarios for 2023,
international tourist arrivals could reach 80% to 95%
of pre-pandemic levels this year, with Europe and
the Middle East expected to reach those levels.
However, important risks remain ahead, especially
economic and geopolitical.

In the fine print they said better recovery in Western Europe than Eastern Europe .... that works for me. Between that and inflation, Eastern Europe keeps looking better this year.

Another trend I have read about and spoken to a friend in the European accommodation business is that while numbers, ajusted for the season, arent any higher than pre-COVID, people are booking earlier.

@Laura. Sage advice. As a bit of context, "Statista" estimates 151,000 flights and 10,351,000 passengers fly PER DAY every day somewhere in the world. When you add in issues beyond airline control such as weather, local strikes, unrest, etc it would be interesting to compare that to any other industry.

I suppose trains (in Europe aka not Amtrak) might be better.

Plan ahead and plan for contingency, but get out there and enjoy traveling!

I just returned from a month in Europe and i have to say we did not encounter any airport "chaos" which I was expecting. We traveled on BA with connections and had regional flights on Vueling, Ryanair and Wizz. All left on time and delivered our luggage. I did do carry-on going over because I wanted to make sure I had my things at the start of the trip. In fact, our BA flight back to the states left 10 minutes early and arrived 40 minutes before scheduled.

I have a leg injury so I had to use my cane which we ended up calling the "magical cane" because at every airport, employees would see me and wave me to the front or a special line etc. In Naples as I was walking down the staircase from the plane, an employee rushed over and told me that he would personally drive me to the terminal, get me a rolling cart, grab my suitcase and make sure I met my driver. My able-bodied husband loved all the perks he got as a result. This never happens in U.S. airports when I travel.

One thing I insisted on doing was to get to each airport a little bit earlier such as 2.5 hours before our flights. It made everything very calm and we could grab a coffee or drink. We had no rushing to the plane and could figure out our gates with no stress.

Apps and notifications worked great since we knew immediately of our gate and just kept us up to date. I hope everyone else has the same luck as I did for their airport journeys this summer.