Introduction
After Delta was Crowdstruck, which caused massive delays and cancelations that continued for days, an AA flyer was overheard saying “at least I’m flying American and not Delta”. In case it’s not immediately evident, this phrase is more rare than finding Earth rocks on the moon’s surface or than John Hodgeman throwing socks at an audience.
Self-Insurance
Could you have predicted this outage and pivoted away from Delta early? Probably not this one in particular, but in general it’s safe to assume that a US airline will meltdown at least a couple of times a year and if you fly a lot, you’ve got a reasonable chance of getting caught up in a meltdown.
We’re lucky though, because travel hackers are uniquely positioned to insure themselves against events by realizing:
- Most non-basic economy award bookings are easily refundable
To insure yourself against meltdowns, book a backup flight on another airline at least a few hours after the flight you really want to take, then refund it when your original flight looks like it’s going to work out. If there’s a meltdown, refund your original flight and take the backup.
It’s really that easy, but of course there are a few failure modes, specifically:
- Sometimes points bookings have a cancelation fee
- Sometimes you have to pay a few extra points for your backup to be cancelable for free
- You might forget to cancel your backup or original flight
If you’ve got a lot of points though and can set a reminder in your phone, none of those probably matter that much.
Conclusion
Booking a backup award ticket on another carrier before a meltdown saves you after the meltdown.
Happy Monday!
What’s the backup plan when your pizza joint has a “vendor technology issue” and your pizza shows up with Kiwi though?