Spring Break travel kicks off on the heels of a challenging February for travel disruptions

Spring Break Season is in full swing with many school vacations already kicking off in early March. Travelers hitting the skies this March and April have travel disruption top of mind, with 76% of spring break travelers concerned about the potential for travel disruptions during their spring break trip. 

It’s no surprise that travelers are increasingly worried about disruptions, as February saw high delay and cancellation rates for flights departing from US airports. 17% of flights scheduled to depart in February were delayed 15 minutes or more, up 25% from just 14% of flights last year. A further 1.5% of flights were canceled before departure, more than a 2.5x increase from the cancellation rate of 0.6% in February last year.  

Worst Airports Expected for Spring Break Travel

How to prepare for potential travel disruptions?

Whether caused by unexpected weather, technical challenges or something else, travel disruptions resulting from flight delays and cancellations can be frustrating, and expensive. The best way to reduce the impact of travel disruptions is to plan ahead for them: 

1. Add a Disruption Assistance to prepare for the unexpected: If you’re getting away for spring break, or any other trips this year, we recommend adding services like Disruption Assistance, offered on Hopper and other travel providers. If your flight is delayed, canceled, or you miss a connection, you can immediately rebook on any flight, regardless of carrier. Skip the lines, forget the frustration, and head on your way. 

2. Book the first flight of the day. It pays to get up early to grab the first flight out! On average, flights departing after 9am were up to 2x more likely to be delayed than those 5am - 8am flights. Cancellations are also typically highest at the end of the day, with over 3% of flights canceled on average between 5pm and 10pm last year.

3. Fly direct: You will usually pay a premium to fly direct, rather than with stops, but it may be worth the cost for travelers concerned about getting to their destination on time. Missed connections following flight delays or cancellations can make getting to your destination on time challenging during busy travel periods marred by bad weather or other disruptions.

4. Build in a buffer day for events and holidays: Headed home for spring celebrations like Easter or Passover? Travel a day early to your special event, concert or holiday celebrations if possible, that way if you’re impacted by a delay or cancellation, you will have 24 hours to reschedule your travel and get onto your final destination.