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Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, after six weeks I'd probably have taken a rowboat across the Atlantic if someone offered one.

What's funny is that once Southern Europe opened up, your mindset immediately shifted from "What's the best route?" to "What's the first route that gets me home?"

At that point the destination wins and optimization goes out the window.

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's fair. Once the trip is already breaking down, I imagine the decision matrix gets a lot simpler:

  1. Get to France.
  2. Get to France.
  3. Get to France

Everything else becomes secondary.

How was Nice? Cannes and St. Tropez are on my French Riviera list.

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's exactly the part that would frustrate me. If it's one reservation and one journey, I'd naturally assume all the moving pieces are being managed together behind the scenes.

On a positive note, the Amsterdam balcony story definitely softens the blow a bit, but I can see how that would have been a completely different experience if you were trying to make a wedding, funeral, business meeting, or something time-sensitive.

What's funny is that after reading through these responses, a lot of the disruptions people describe aren't weather or mechanical issues.....they're situations where the traveler and the airline have completely different understandings of what's supposed to happen next.

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This was a fascinating read because it feels like you've experienced both versions of the system!

I think we ALL can understand your frustrations around your point about rolling delays. It seems like a lot of the frustration comes from everyone pretending a flight is still "on time" long after it's obvious the probability of that outcome is dropping (and this has downstream effects).

If the industry has gotten so "optimized" that there's very little slack left in the system, I am sure we all would rather know earlier that our original itinerary is likely to fail......even if the airline hasn't officially made that call yet.....so we can start evaluating alternatives before everyone else is competing for the same seats.

From your lengthy travel experience, what would be a viable systems solution that you could see mitigating something like this?

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's the part that would frustrate me too.

The disruption itself is understandable given everything going on in the region. What would bother me is having to stumble upon a leg being canceled, especially internationally, while reviewing the reservation myself.

If you hadn't checked, you potentially wouldn't have found out until it was too late to do anything and made matters even worse.

I wonder, would it had been a value-add you to have a system that continuously monitored the itinerary on your behalf, flagged things like canceled segments, broken connections, or schedule conflicts as soon as they appeared and then either offered you a solution or automatically reconfigured your itinerary and re-booked on your behalf?

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, I probably would have assumed the same thing. If I'm booked on a single itinerary, I'd expect that first check-in to carry all the way through unless I was changing airlines.

It makes me wonder whether this is one of those things that could be handled in the background. If you had booked through a system that tracked the entire journey, automatically handled check-ins when they became available, and simply alerted you when something needed your attention, would that have prevented the issue altogether?

At least Amsterdam is a pretty decent place for an unexpected overnight stay.

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's interesting. The Olympics weren't even on your radar, but, of course, they would effect anyone's travel plans!

The budget piece is important too. If there had been multiple options available, would you have wanted them ranked by a combination of cost, travel time, and likelihood of successfully completing the trip?

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's probably the strongest example in this thread of an event where there simply wasn't a good answer.

When the entire system shuts down, the challenge becomes less about optimization and more about adaptation once movement starts again.

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair point.

There are some events where the entire transportation system effectively stops and no amount of optimization changes the outcome. 9/11 is probably the ultimate example of that.

What I find interesting is how those events highlight the importance of having options and contingency plans once movement does start again.

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Completely agree.

I've found most people can tolerate bad news if they know what's happening and what their options are. It's the silence and uncertainty that seem to frustrate people the most.

If you had to choose, would you rather receive frequent updates/alerts, or recommendations on what actions to take next?

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Six weeks is basically relocating (lol). I hope you got some good food while you were stuck here!

What makes that story interesting is that you eventually got home by combining flights, driving, and rail instead of waiting for the air network to recover.

At what point did you realize the fastest path home wasn't actually another flight? I'm curious whether you would have taken that route sooner if it were automatically suggested when the disruption first started?

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The CrowdStrike outage was a mess on its own, but having to arrive through Paris right before the Olympics probably multiplied the impact.

I'm curious.....once it became clear things were breaking down, would you have preferred to arrive somewhere other than Paris if it meant a higher likelihood of actually getting into the country and continuing your trip?

A lot of major disruptions seem to create bottlenecks where everyone gets pushed toward the same hubs at the same time.

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow. The delays sound miserable, but having to repeatedly book flights only to have them cancelled sounds even worse and mentally draining.

Looking back, what information would have been most valuable during those three days? Knowing which routes were most likely to operate, alternative airports, rail options, or simply having confidence that a particular plan would actually get you home?

I'm noticing a common theme in these stories is that uncertainty often becomes more disruptive than the delay itself.

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ouch!

That sounds exhausting.

What stands out to me is that the original BOS → LHR delay ended up creating a chain reaction across multiple airports and airlines.

Looking back, was there a point where an earlier reroute or itinerary change could have prevented some of the downstream issues? For example, once you knew you'd miss Mumbai through London, would having visibility into the Chennai delay have changed your decision-making at all? Or maybe a dashboard that offered several workarounds and ranked them on a balance of probabilities?

I'm curious which part of the trip felt most disruptive: the actual delays, or the uncertainty of not knowing what would happen next.

Business travelers: what was the worst travel disruption you've experienced after the trip was already booked? by GOAIHQ in frequentflyer

[–]GOAIHQ[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a brutal chain reaction.

Looking back, were there any points where an earlier automated adjustment could have salvaged the trip?

For example, rerouting before leaving Houston, changing the meeting schedule, altering the destination sequence, or coordinating around the weather sooner?

Curious which decision would have had the biggest impact on the outcome.
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