A finance expert has shared how to ensure you have a stress-free holiday and which airline you should avoid to achieve this.
Vivian Tu, who shares her clever tips under the username Your Rich BFF, offered some guidance for those desperate to avoid flight delays or cancellations.
‘All is not lost’, Vivian insured spectatorsHe added that he will show people a “little tool” to help them recover from a canceled flight.
‘(The tool) will help you know what you deserve and what you ask from these airlines,’ Vivian explained.
First, Vivian said to go to Google and search for the Department of Travel Dashboard.
The site, he explained, provides a breakdown of compensation available for various air travel issues.
“This dashboard was designed to give air travelers easy access to comparative information about the services that airlines should offer them in these scenarios when something bad happens to them,” he explained.
To access the information, you go to the website and choose which airline you fly with.
Vivian Tu, who shares her clever advice under the username Your Rich BFF, offered some guidance for those desperate to avoid flight delays or cancellations (file image)
It then instructed users to look to the left side of the site to see what they are eligible for: listing food vouchers, hotel accommodations or ground transportation as examples.
“A quick scan (of the dashboard) tells me you should never fly Frontier,” he interjected.
“A lot of times, if you don’t know you’re eligible for these things, airlines won’t offer them to you anyway,” he joked.
“Just make sure you check the board and know what you’re owed and what to ask for,” he urged.
‘With holiday travel coming up, don’t be fooled by airlines! Find out what you’re owed when your flight is delayed or cancelled! Vivian captioned the clip.
And it looks like flight delays are only getting worse: Experts recently revealed a sneaky trick that airlines are using to hide long delays, with average flight times significantly longer than three decades ago.
According to data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, planes flying from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in 1995 were delayed 51 percent of the time.
Airlines have created the illusion of greater efficiency by adding “padding” to their schedules.
Vivian suggests using the DoT Travel Dashboard, which provides a breakdown of compensation available for air travel issues (stock image)
In 2023, only 37 percent of flights were delayed, even though these trips are longer than 28 years ago.
The average duration of a gate delay in 1995 was eight minutes. In 2023, that average increased to 13 minutes.
Passenger trips from JFK to LAX typically lasted five hours and 20 minutes in 1995. By 2023, planes were spending about nine minutes longer in the air.
Overall, the entire trip from New York to Los Angeles was a six-hour ordeal in 1995. Last year, 18 more minutes were added to the average trip.
Ironically, by telling passengers that flights will be longer than necessary, airlines have achieved fewer delays.