What Is Happening with Travel Right Now? A Pilot, Flight Attendant and Travel Agent Give Their Insights

While McIntyre says replacing flight attendants may be easier, it’s not the same for pilots, given the fact that pilot training naturally takes longer.

“If they’re not training enough pilots to compensate for the amount that they lost, then things are going to be rough [because flight] routes are coming back full speed,” McIntyre says.

And with the high demand of pilots, there is also the concern that the industry might become lenient. She continues, “Pilot training used to be a lot more competitive, and because they need people so badly, there is that concern of passing people through [out of desperation] and it’s such a safety-critical job.” (To that end, a regional airline asked the FAA to reduce the number of hours a pilot needed from 1,000—with an accredited college degree—to 750, the military requirement, but that request was denied, according to Insider.)

And Partly a Tech Problem

In addition to personnel shortage, there’s also the fact that behind the scenes, the technology hasn’t exactly kept up with the times.

“Part of the problem is technology-based,” says Jessica Fisher, a female pilot in the charter space and founder of Flyjets. “There is no reason why airlines are not all integrated together from a technology perspective. If they were, it would be much easier to find reliever options in case of issues.”

In other words, the reason why travelers, like me, sometimes find themselves stranded in airports or airport hotels is because once they book a flight with one carrier, then only that carrier can handle their trip—unless they’re willing to pay for another.

“If airlines were a bit more integrated, and let’s say you were delayed from airline A, you could then book a flight out with airline B and get your funds and fees transferred,” Fisher explains. “Scheduling should all be tied together to some extent to prevent extensive delays and disruptions.”

All this shifting and uncertainty also means travel agents must give their clients news that they may not want to hear—like having to dole out a bit more cash so as to better the odds of a smooth trip. “Some low-cost carriers might be a lot cheaper, but they might only have one flight instead of five,” Les says.

As it stands, traveling might be a bit rough for the foreseeable future. Even the CEO of United Airlines conceded to the notion, saying “the system simply can’t handle the volume today, much less the anticipated growth,” in the coming summer months, during an earnings call in January.

But There Are Some Things You Can Do for Smoother Travel

And because things might be rough for a while, we asked our experts to share some tidbits that won’t guarantee you have a smooth trip but can at least set you up to win. Here’s their best advice:

1. Book flight earlier in the day.While delays can be caused by several things, Les says the early morning flights are a lot less likely to be stalled.

“If you’re booking one of the first flights out, the plane is there from the night before so, unless it’s really bad weather or a mechanical issue, it’s most likely going to take off,” she explains. “If you book a flight mid-morning to early afternoon, however, that plane is most likely coming from somewhere else, and it has more opportunity to be delayed on its way to you.”

2. When you have a connection, don’t book your flights back-to-back. No one wants to spend more time than they have to in an airport, however, McIntyre advises against booking connecting flights that are too close together.

“[It used to be that] the minimum connection time was one hour. Now it’s 30 minutes and you’re almost guaranteed to miss that flight,” she says. “So many people don’t look at that because [they see] the shortest duration or the cheapest [option], they book it, only to miss it almost every time.”

3. Avoid checking bags when you can.If you have the option to pack light and travel with just your carry-on luggage, Les highly encourages you do so. “Legally, your bags can’t fly without you,” she explains. That means, if your connecting flight is delayed for eight hours, for example, you don’t have the option to look at any earlier flights because your bag gets automatically loaded onto your designated next flight.