Summer travel survival guide: How to deal with delays and other headaches

Timing is (almost) everything.

Wendy Schoenberger spent 31 years as an air traffic controller making sure travelers got to their destination safely. Since launching Solo to Group Travel, a vacation planning service, in 2012, she has shifted her focus to making travelers have fun. Her time in the tower still influences the advice she gives them. For those early morning departures, she advises booking flights as early as possible, noting that the plane usually arrives before dusk. [a plane] It’s eight hours late, it’s okay. But flying earlier in the week can make a difference. Lower-level supervisors tend to work Friday and Saturday nights, she said. That has no impact on safety, she said, stressing that “experience and efficiency go hand in hand when looking for solutions to problems,” from approving different routes to opening more positions.

joking

If it’s hard for you to keep it together during third-round delays or when you’re sitting on the pavement for the second hour, think of the kids. One person who does that professionally is Lauren Bruckner, occupational therapist and author of the “Amazing and Control” series of books that help kids manage everything from runaway tantrums to chronic “wiggles.” In addition to recommending toys like Lakeshore Learning’s Alpha-Bots, Ms. Bruckner suggests parents develop coping strategies. Among her tips: having the baby touch her toes or otherwise tuck her head under her knee, “activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which gets the body out of fight-or-flight mode.” And yes, she remembers, the technique can fix grown adults too.

The biggest payment

Michelle Couch-Friedman, founder of mediation service Consumer Rescue, said reports of airlines paying four- and five-figure fees to people stranded on their flights had created high and wildly unrealistic expectations among travelers about what they would do. He owes it to the wrong flights. Indeed, she says, US carriers on US soil are not required to pay for delays. European, Canadian and Israeli carriers, on the other hand, are more tightly regulated, with clearly defined fees for serious delays. If you’re traveling overseas, she says, booking with a foreign carrier will make a claim for compensation less likely.

Bad atmosphere

As an Air Canada captain,

Pilot Captain Doug Morris got plenty of practice this summer (politely) delivering bad news to passengers. The fault is often attributed to the weather. “Mother Nature can throw a lot of curves. She can challenge us,” said Mr. Morris, also a meteorologist and co-author of the book, “Pilot Weather: From Solo to the Airlines.” Florida is on the list of states most prone to thunderstorms, Colorado said. To avoid waiting for the storm clouds to pass, Mr Morris also suggests booking flights as early as possible. But if there are delays, they cause a “chain reaction all day long.”

The airport eats

Chef Mashama Bailey and John O. Morisano, partners behind Grey’s, in Savannah, Ga. And Diner Bar, a new Austin, Texas, outpost, spends a lot of time in airports. Ms. Bailey said she logged perhaps 100,000 miles this year, while Mr. Morisano racked up more than 175,000. They say some airports are better than others if you’re going to be stuck for a while. “Chicago [O’Hare] Airport is probably my favorite for food,” Ms Bailey said. Both One Flow South, in Atlanta, and Deep Blue Sushi, in JetBlue, agree.S

JFK Terminal, reliably serve fresh sushi – possibly the most decadent airport food ever. For a real treat when disembarking at Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2 in Paris, Mr. Morisano recommends seeking out Caviar House & Prunier Seafood Bar. “It’s kind of a bombshell, you know. Nobody’s ever sat there, and I’m like, ‘Wait, this is really good food, guys.’ You can slow me down at Charles de Gaulle, and I can eat caviar and drink champagne in the afternoon.