The Airline Bottom Line

1. Fly non-stop. This avoids many of the problems of missed connections, poor weather, and lost luggage. Even if the price is greater, it's probably worth it at this time of year to avoid aggravation.
   
   
2. Avoid riskiest airports. Chicago O'Hare (ORD) is a high-risk and must be avoided at all costs. Bad weather is the major problem at ORD, which invariably leads to most of the other crap. Also, ORD is one of the few capacity-constrained airports in the U.S., and it gets completely inundated around Thanksgiving and X-Mas. Because both American and United have hubs there, it's pretty tough to avoid ORD, but definitely worth it at this time of year.
   The following airports are somewhat risky at this time of year, and should be avoided, if possible: Minneapolis (MSP) and Detroit (DTW), both Northwest hubs, and Cleveland (CLE) and Newark (EWR), both Continental hubs.
   
   
3. Best airport bets. If you must change planes, try Houston Intercontinental (IAH), a Continental hub, Dallas-Ft Worth International (DFW) and Miami (MIA), both American hubs, Phoenix (PHX), Las Vegas (LAS), and Charlotte (CLT), all US Airways/America West hubs, or even try Denver (DEN), a United hub, which is frequently pretty dependable before January.
   
   
4. Plan longer layovers. The shorter your layover, the more likely you are to miss the connection, or have your bags miss the connection, in case of delay. So if you've got to connect through a hub, try to pick a layover of 90 minutes or longer.

Best of luck with your holiday travels. If it goes to shit though, try alcohol or painkillers.

# posted by Cletis Walkman @ 1:47 PM