HOW TO DEAL WITH TURBULENT TRAVEL

When your flight is canceled or there's no rental car for you, know the rules and your rights.

- EMMA PATCH

On January 11, the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency in charge of maintaining safety in the nation’s skies, halted all domestic departures— for the first time since September 11, 2001—because of a software problem. The 90-minute grounding caused delays for most airlines throughout the day, but the timing was particularly unfortunate for Southwest Airlines. Southwest and its customers were still sorting through the fallout from the carrier’s decision to cancel more than 16,700 flights over the holidays, which affected the travel plans of more than a million people.

No one can control the weather, but Southwest and other airlines are under pressure for the way they handle flight delays and cancellations and communicate with passengers. Meanwhile, the FAA is grappling with how to keep the skies safe despite years of underinvestment in technology. When air travel soars, the potential for trouble spikes.

Forecasts are mixed about the outlook for 2023 travel. Demand will likely be up from last year, though not as drastically as it increased in 2022 compared with 2021. But if you’re faced with the kind of nightmare scenarios that many holiday travelers experienced, it’s important to know your rights.

AIR TRAVEL

Flight delay or cancellation. Last December, when Southwest Airlines canceled the flight from Las Vegas to Denver that Denver residents Crystal Piedy and her fiancé were supposed to take, the airline offered to rebook them on another flight the next day. When that flight turned out to be full, they booked a flight the following day-but then that flight was canceled.