Chicago Fire Causes Airline Chaos
by Lark Gould /While air travel mishaps happen, last Friday’s air traffic control tower debacle in Chicago may have raised the bar for headaches for travelers and travel agents alike. And it’s a scenario that is becoming more and more commonplace.
By some reports nearly 2,000 flights had to be cancelled for schedules in and out of Chicago airports after a fire broke out at the FAA air traffic control center in Aurora, Ill.
The tower serves Chicago's O’Hare and Midway Airports, easily some of the world’s busiest airports handling some 68 million passengers annually.
At the same time Sabre had to take the bulk of its available American Airlines seat inventory out of the system in order to manage the situation, causing further havoc for agents trying to reroute business and leisure clients during the airport shut down.
O’Hare is one of American’s primary hubs. The carrier had cancelled more than half of its daily 520 flights through the gateway before resuming operations last Friday afternoon.
United Airlines is the other big carrier at O’Hare with nearly 600 flights a day. Southwest Airlines, a big client for Midway, also cancelled all flights through the area until Friday afternoon.
To cope with the chaos, the FAA has sent Chicago's air traffic controllers to manage air traffic at other regional offices.
The FAA said Sunday that it was currently operating at 60% of typical traffic at O'Hare and over 75% at Midway. The FAA has also targeted Oct. 13 as a date for the full resumption of service to Chicago Center in Aurora.
Agents put out fires
“It was crazy for a while,” said Jennifer Wilson-Buttigieg, co-owner of New York-based Valerie Wilson Travel, a Virtuoso agency, with 16 agencies around the U.S.
“We had clients trying to get in and out and it was impossible to get through to some of the airlines,” she said. “Sabre pulled American’s inventory and didn’t advise us of their move.
“It was particularly challenging with some managed corporate clients we have who had booked their travel on their own and out of policy, so they were not covered by the usual protocol given to these emergencies.”
“But we managed to take care of them and actually have quite a few success stories to tell,” she added.
Not all agents affected
Other agents were not as impacted.
One Chicago agent noted her good fortune in not having clients caught in the mayhem.
“We mostly book international flights that leave later in the afternoon; if we did [have clients in] we would book them tomorrow,” said Csilla Dali of Global Voyages. “We had no groups leaving, just individuals.”
Lynne Franklin, president of Travel Forum in Chicago, added, “We had people leaving from there and we didn’t have any calls asking for help. We heard that rebooking lines are long – but we haven’t had any major complaints.”
The bigger picture
The fire and airline crisis in Chicago comes on the heels of a report released last week by the Global Business Travelers Association (GBTA) Foundation.
It found that air travel mishaps, even of a less serious nature, happen frequently and cost travelers an average of 2.3 missed work days and about $1,475 in missed work and out of pocket expenses caused by these incidents.
The report, "Business Traveler Study 2014: The Cost of Mishaps," sponsored by AIG Travel and Travel Guard, surveyed more than 500 business travelers who had experienced at least one travel mishap while on a business trip in the past year.
It follows a February 2014 GBTA Foundation report that found that 75% of travelers encountered a mishap while traveling on business during that year.
Problems are increasing
The new study hikes that figure to 90% when it comes to business travelers who experienced problems while traveling—and had at least one mishap related to air travel.
Only a quarter of travelers were able to “complete their business responsibilities without delay,” following their most negative mishap, according to the study.
Cancelled flights are perceived as having the “most negative impact” by a majority (52%) of travelers who experienced this type of mishap – ranking higher than medical emergencies and lost luggage.
More than 40% of respondents indicated their travel mishaps occurred abroad, resulting in an average total cost of $2,148.
Europe, 66%, was by far the most common region where travel mishaps occurred, followed by Asia-Pacific, 39%.
“Travel-related issues, including delays, cancellations and evacuations, are an unfortunate aspect of business travel,” said Joseph Bates, GBTA vice president of research.
“By understanding the biggest woes, travel managers can take steps to identify and mitigate some of the frustration, lost time and added cost involved.”
Anticipate snafus
Amy Hyatt, vice president of operations and global account management for BCD Travel, a TMC that manages clients in 92 countries, has noted that eight to 12% of all flights are disrupted for the average corporate travel manager.
“The polar vortex, storms, mechanical delays, volcanoes—no doubt disruptions are on the rise and especially in the U.S. with the consolidation of airline companies,” said Hyatt speaking at a seminar during the recent GBTA annual conference in Los Angeles.
These flight delays, the rooms that require walk-up rates if they can even be found during a travel emergency, the chaos of expenses—can all be steep, she said.
“It’s important to understand your top city pairs and the on-time performances of the airlines going there, said Hyatt.
And that’s just on ho hum days.
Harvey Chipkin contributed to this report