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Articles Tagged ‘holiday travel’

Orbitz Insider Index: Busiest airports for Thanksgiving travel

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

If you’ve booked your flights and are planning to travel this Thanksgiving, here’s some information to help you stay in the know and on time when you go.

The Orbitz Insider Index has identified the airports expected to be the busiest this Thanksgiving, based on airline ticket sales for travel between November 22-30. Las Vegas McCarran International Airport has taken the top spot, pushing former number-one Chicago O’Hare down the list. And it looks like more people have booked Thanksgiving flights to Miami and Seattle; this is the first year those cities’ airports are on our busiest list.

Top 10 busiest airports for Thanksgiving 2008
1.Las Vegas, NV — McCarran International Airport (LAS)
2.New York, NY — LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
3.Chicago, IL — Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
4.Los Angeles, CA — Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
5.San Francisco, CA — San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
6.Dallas, TX — Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport(DFW)
7.Newark, NJ — New York Newark International Airport (EWR)
8.Miami, FL — Miami International Airport (MIA)
9.Denver, CO — Denver International Airport (DEN)
10.Seattle, WA — Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)

As for the best days to travel, here’s our list:

Least busy:

  • Tuesday, November 25
  • Monday, November 24
  • Saturday, November 29

Busiest:

  • Sunday, November 30
  • Wednesday, November 26
  • Sunday, November 23

No matter when you travel, trust OrbitzTLC to keep you up to date with travel news and flight delays. You can sign up for Orbitz TLC Alerts to have information delivered directly to your phone, computer or PDA. And Orbitz Traveler Update
has parking and transportation tips — even up-to-the-minute
information about security wait times — from fellow travelers to help make your trip easier.

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Posted in Flights, Holidays & Events, Orbitz Travel Insider, Top 10 Lists, Travel News | No Comments »

Airport advice: Orbitz holiday travel tips

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

Holiday flights
It may well be the most wonderful time of the year, but the holiday season can create a few extra challenges for travelers.

Not only are Thanksgiving and Christmas among the busiest travel periods of the year, but wintry conditions can hold up holiday flights and create ripple effects throughout the country.

But some extra planning and preparation may help you cut back on the holiday travel hassles and increase the odds of reaching your destination on schedule.

Before you get to the airport

If possible, pack light and carry your luggage on board. That way you can print your boarding pass in advance, head straight to the security checkpoint, and avoid paying checked baggage fees. And you won’t have to wait at baggage claim.

It’s a good idea to mail your gifts in advance if it’s not too expensive. But if you want to carry them in your luggage, wait to wrap them until you reach your destination, as wrapped items may be opened for inspection.

And just in case you get stuck at an airport, make sure you put everything you’ll need for the next 24 hours in your carry-on — including clothing and medication — as you may not have access to your checked baggage.

The Transportation Security Administration recommends packing your carry-on as neatly as possible so it will be easier to screen, with separate layers for clothes, electronics and toiletries.

Security checkpoint

Although the TSA tries to add more screeners during peak holiday travel times, arrive early and prepare for longer lines.

Also, get yourself, and everybody else, through the security checkpoints a little quicker by remembering the following:

– Liquids, gels or aerosols must be in containers 3 ounces or less and should fit in a quart-size, zip-top bag. Remove the bag from your luggage at the checkpoint so it can be screened separately.

– Remove all metal from your pockets, including coins and cell phones, along with belt buckles.
Take off your shoes and coat.

– Remove large electronics, including laptops and portable DVD players, from your carry-on and place in a separate bin.

Weather

Monitor weather reports and check the OrbitzTLC Traveler Update site for real-time weather, traffic and tips from fellow travelers about airport conditions across the country. It also features the OrbitzTLC Flying Forecast, featuring the Orbitz air-traffic analysts’ provide round-the-clock updates on delayed flights across the country.

If it looks like wintry weather may be an issue, consider departing early or postponing your travel. Airlines often will allow travelers to reschedule their flights without paying a rebooking fee when major snowstorms disrupt travel.

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Flying with kids during the busy holiday season

Monday, October 27th, 2008

family travel
By Jim Cohn

As my kids are still young, my tips focus on traveling with smaller ones (under age 7).

First, timing your flights. If flying for Thanksgiving, I’m a big fan of flying out Thursday morning and coming back Monday.  Aside from saving on airfare, you’ll avoid the huge holiday crowds in the airports and the long lines and your kids will be better, more cooperative travelers as a result.

Not to mention, you’ll have a better chance of avoiding flight delays on Wednesday and Sunday — two of the busiest travel days of the year. Flight delays, long lines and crowded airports spell stress for parents and meltdowns for kids -– not a good combination.

Find out what’s in the airport for kids. Spend a few minutes online checking out your home airport or one where you’re making a connection. Many have some pretty nice kids’ areas, including things like an interactive airport play area for kids at O’Hare in Chicago, which is an extension of the Children’s Museum in the city. These types of things are great –- but you have to know where they are. You can always ask someone in the airport too.

Teamwork. Holiday time is family time, but splitting up the duties with the kids while en route can make life a lot easier.  For instance, rather than hauling your kids to rental car lots, remote lots and getting on and off of shuttle buses with kids and bags, take advantage of opportunities to drop them off, pick them up, etc. Don’t take them places they don’t absolutely need to go. Or consider spending a few extra dollars to take a cab, which can drop you off right at the terminal and pick you up at bag claim rather than hassling with parking. Again, this one can be a cost issue, just something to consider.

Boarding the plane. Some people think it’s wonderful to pre-board with kids. I think it’s crazy. What, pre-board so your kids can sit there even longer? No thanks. I let my wife pre-board with the carry on bags (at least the big ones). I let the kids run around until the final boarding call, then bring them on the plane. And guess what -– they’ve had more time to run, and spend less time sitting waiting for the plane to pull away from the gate. Win/win.

Don’t overschedule. As parents, we all know that an over-tired kid can be a nightmare. They all need downtime. Make sure on travel days there’s some R and R built in somewhere. If we’re driving, I’ll gladly go 10 minutes out of my way to hit a park where the kids can run. And while my wife and I aren’t fans of McDonald’s, we’ll even bite the bullet and go to one if it has a play area.

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When Jim Cohn is not running drills with his wife and kids, he can be found at Wrigley Field watching his beloved Cubbies, coaching t-ball or chasing his other passion, a little white ball on the golf course.

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Posted in Family Travel, Holidays & Events, Orbitz Parent Panel | No Comments »

Family travel: A little holiday spirit always helps

Monday, October 27th, 2008

Thanksgiving_dinner
By Allan Burstyn

There may never be a time when it is easy to travel with your family, but traveling during the holiday season can be particularly challenging. But what if, instead of treating the holiday travel process as something that simply must be endured, we could make it part of the overall holiday experience?

When our family has traveled around a holiday, we try to imbue the travel experience with some of the spirit of the holiday. Besides getting the kids excited about the holiday and keeping them occupied during the trip, it’s also a chance to teach them something.

Dressing your children in holiday clothes is an easy way to provide a cue to them that the trip you are about take is part of the holiday experience. While older kids might resist, younger children will be excited to wearing something special.

Holiday-themed toys, books and videos are perfect for those occasional holiday-time delays. Grandparents and others will be impressed by your well-read youngsters.

Singing holiday songs on the way to the airport is a great way of getting everyone excited about the trip ahead. While no one wants to hear a 4-year-old sing at the top of his or her lungs in a crowded terminal, breaking into song when your family has some privacy — although potentially corny — can also be fun.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, holiday travel can also be an opportunity to act in the holiday spirit. When traveling during the holidays there are many opportunities for your family to help one another and others, whether that means carrying luggage for bigger kid or picking up things that people accidentally dropped for smaller ones. By doing good deeds during your holiday travel experience you will help others feel the holiday spirit as well. We were once put on a bus after a snowstorm shut down our connecting airport. We and our 2-year-old were cranky after a long day of travel, and if it weren’t for the kindness of some of our fellow passengers who helped keep our child occupied, that bus trip might have turned into a disaster.

While these suggestions may seem like small measures, given how stressful and exasperating holiday travel can be even seemingly small things can go a long way toward making the difficult moments easier to handle.

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With three boys under five years of age. when he’s not at Orbitz
Allan can be found changing diapers or breaking up fights. Allan
divides his vacation time between local road trips, scuba diving and
skiing.

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Tips for surviving holiday travel

Friday, December 21st, 2007

Denverairport
By Joe Brancatelli

I’m almost old enough to remember when holiday travel was a more intimate affair, a matter of going over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house.

Of course, nobody goes over the river and through the woods anymore. Now we all drive to airports on traffic-jammed roads and fly around the world on packed planes to see our friends and families for the holidays. And the rush is on right now, when business travelers cede control of the air-travel system to those jolly holiday travelers who often can’t tell an airport from an air balloon.

So how will we all survive and co-exist until the end of the first week of January, the traditional end of the end-of-the-year holiday rush? Here are ten of my best suggestions. The more you fly, the more you know this stuff. But it never hurts to read over this list and check it twice.

Fly early in the day

Transportation Department statistics show that flights scheduled to depart and arrive early in the day have the best on-time performance. But relative timeliness isn’t the only reason to fly early: If your selected flight is canceled, you’ll have a better chance of being rebooked on a flight later in the day. Conversely, if you book an evening flight, you’re not only subject to longer delays, you also may not get on another flight that day if your original one cancels.

(more…)

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Posted in Business Travel, Holidays & Events, Top 10 Lists, Travel Tips | 1 Comment »

Top 10 holiday travel destinations

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

By Jim Cohn

Where’s everybody
headed for the holidays? Mexico, Caribbean, Chicago and New York flights top our list this year.

Here’s Orbitz’ top 10 list of destinations for
Christmas 2007, based on air ticket sales on Orbitz.com. The list covers flights departing between December 21 and January 2, based on net bookings as of
November 2, 2007.

Domestic

1. Chicago
2. New York City
3. Los Angeles
4. Denver
5. Washington, D.C.
6. San Francisco
7. Atlanta
8. Newark, New Jersey
9. Orlando
10. Boston   

International

1. San Juan, Puerto Rico
2. Cancun
3. Mexico City
4. London
5. Puerto Vallarta
6. San Jose Cabo, Mexico
7. Paris
8. San Jose, Costa Rica
9. Frankfurt, Germany
10. Guadalajara

Jim Cohn is an Orbitz
spokesman specializing in business and leisure travel.

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Posted in Caribbean Vacation, Holidays & Events, International Vacations, Mexico Vacation, New York Vacation | No Comments »