This has been one crazy winter for travel. And we’re back with a ‘crippling ice storm,’ a ‘state of emergency,’ ‘historic storm,’ a storm that ‘will make last month’s storm look puny’.

If you’re traveling this week, here are some things you can do to handle the challenges ahead in the best way possible.

• Hang up, call back if you don’t get the answer or help you want.

• Have the airline call you. Hold times can be long. Elite phone numbers are usually better, but during weather events those can be interminable too. Try non-U.S. call center numbers — Skype an Australia, U.K., or Singapore phone number for instance to get through. Or if your carrier offers you a call back option, have them call you back — whether you think you need to talk to them or not. You might need them two hours in the future, might as well get in the queue early (I’ll take heat for this suggestion).

• Delay your trip if you can. Why fly into a mess if you can avoid it? Remember that you can use airline liberalized change policies, and if your flight actually cancels you can change your tickets.

  Here are airline weather waiver information, details on relaxed change policies. (HT: Joe Brancatelli)
  

  • American
    
  • Delta
    
  • Frontier
    
  • JetBlue
    
  • Southwest
    
  • United
    
  • US Airways
    
  • Virgin America

• Status matters, phone queues aside, it’s helpful for getting helpfulness from agents, more proactive rebooking, and higher positions on waitlists.

• Get a hotel speculatively. Most hotels wind up sold out during major weather events. When it looks like there’s a reasonable shot you’ll be stranded, make a speculative booking (perhaps on points if the cost will be out of pocket). If you wind up not needing it, you may pay for it anyway but you’ve still won because you got where you’re going. It’s a hedge. And you can’t really know in advance if that’ll work out. If it doesn’t, you have a room.

• Act quickly and decisively, and budget with the assumption that you’ll incur some unexpected costs. I realize that’s a tough thing to say, and for many it can be a hard thing to do. But things happen during travel and that should be built into expected cost. Those costs may be offset or reimbursed, though, by the credit card you used to buy your tickets. Call them to find out.

• Plan to work, be comfortable, or entertained no matter what happens. Assume you need power sources and whatever other supplies to make the most of a situation.

• At the airport you’re better off getting help inside security than in the lines outside. You’re better off getting help in the club than the main terminal. And you’re best off getting help from everyone you can. Multitask. Get on the phone while standing in line, if one person doesn’t help you move onto the next.

• Check everything. When someone tells you that you’re set, it pays to ensure everything is re-issued properly. The more lead time you have to know any problems the better you’ll be able to adjust and correct.

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