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You\u2019ve been planning the perfect trip for months: that gorgeous, sun-filled apartment overlooking the Seine on one end and crystal clear views of the Eiffel Tower on the other; a slow breakfast filled with coffee and croissants galore; pre-booked tickets to the Louvre and d\u2019Orsay; and three impossible-to-get reservations at Paris\u2019 finest restaurants. <\/p>\n
That sounds like the perfect vacation: if only you could get there in one piece. Unfortunately, your flight was delayed 12 hours; you\u2019re not entitled to a hotel stay nor a paltry $12 airport food voucher; and you\u2019re now paying for an extra day of the apartment and missed your museum and dinner reservations. <\/p>\n
If you\u2019re feeling anxious about summer travel plans ahead, you\u2019re not a lone. A new survey of more than 1,000 U.S. travelers, conducted by Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS), found that 89% of travelers planning to fly in the next 12 months are concerned about delays or cancellations affecting their upcoming trips. Nearly one in four describe themselves as \u201cextremely concerned\u201d about their trips, and that sentiment is changing how they approach booking their travel.<\/p>\n
Disruptions have become the norm<\/p>\n
The findings show travelers no longer see disruptions as a rare inconvenience but a baseline expectation. According to HTS data, more than 58 million seats scheduled to depart from U.S. airports were affected by significant disruptions in 2025, up from 50 million in 2019. The frequency of what HTS calls \u201csignificant disruption days\u201d (when more than 10% of all scheduled departing capacity is delayed over two hours or canceled within a single 24-hour period) has roughly doubled since before the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been seeing over the years not just an increase in overall general disruptions, like a delay here and a delay there, but a significant increase in what I call a significant disruption day,\u201d said Hayley Berg, Lead Economist at HTS. \u201cThose days are increasing every year. We\u2019re up to close to 20 a year across the entire United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
These mass disruption events, sometimes caused by severe weather, air traffic control staffing shortages, geopolitical conflict, is often outside any individual airline\u2019s control.<\/p>\n
\u201cAirlines themselves have done so much work on operational efficiency, especially because of how bad 2021 and 2022 summers were,\u201d Berg told Fortune. \u201cThey\u2019re in a really great space now. But then government shut down, so you couldn\u2019t get through TSA. You couldn\u2019t make your flight. And then there weren\u2019t enough air traffic controllers, so there were these intermittent closures of airports. They can\u2019t control that, and they can\u2019t plan for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a year filled with government shutdowns, adverse weather conditions, poor airport staffing and support, and just plain anxiety and delays as understaffing and fatal incidents become all the more recurring, you wouldn\u2019t be faulted for getting anxious at the thought of traveling for your \u201crestful vacation.\u201d <\/p>\n
As a result, people have started booking \u201ccalmcations,\u201d or closer trips fully intended to relax in spas and get massages. Others have spent an arm and a leg to get to the same place they would have for much cheaper years ago, or are bracing themselves to find alternatives to an ultra-low-fare airline that recently went down. It seems like travel anxiety is now something people are willing to pay extra for to avoid. <\/p>\n
When disruption hits, travelers are on their own<\/p>\n
The survey paints a stark picture of what actually happens when a flight goes sideways. More than half of travelers who experienced a significant disruption (defined as a delay of two-plus hours or a cancellation) said they were not proactively notified, and instead found out from a gate agent, an airport announcement, or by checking the airline app on their own.<\/p>\n
From there, the resolution process is long and frustrating. Only 15% of disrupted travelers resolved their situation in under 30 minutes. Forty-three percent were still trying to figure out their next move more than two hours later, and 7% never reached a resolution at all. When asked to describe the experience, 53% said it was frustrating.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe timeline to resolution did surprise me a lot,\u201d Berg said. \u201cThe fact that half after two hours still don\u2019t have a resolution, and the way we defined resolution to the respondents was, you know, had a plan, knew what was going to happen next.\u201d<\/p>\n
The biggest barriers travelers cited: long wait times (48%), limited rebooking options (42%), and simply not knowing what options were available to them (34%).<\/p>\n
When resolution was difficult, leisure travelers reported higher difficulty rates than business or mixed-purpose travelers, likely because frequent flyers have more experience navigating the system. But business travelers face their own problem: every disruption carries professional consequences. Over 68% of those flying primarily for business or a mix of business and leisure experienced a significant delay, compared to 33% of pure leisure travelers. One in five disrupted travelers said they missed a major meeting or important event.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur poor business travelersm they\u2019re the savviest travelers, they\u2019re in the skies constantly,\u201d Berg said. \u201cOftentimes they\u2019re unable to rebook on whatever airline they want. They\u2019re stuck taking whatever is in compliance or whatever was booked for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The financial toll is real<\/p>\n
The costs add up quickly. Among those who experienced a significant disruption, 42% incurred out-of-pocket expenses\u2014hotel rooms, meals, ground transportation\u2014that were mostly not reimbursed. Sixty percent of those travelers spent $100 or more, with 26% spending over $200.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just money. Among disrupted travelers, 62% said they lost meaningful time, 50% experienced additional stress or anxiety, 31% lost quality time with family, and one in five missed a scheduled experience or event they\u2019d traveled for.<\/p>\n
\u201cDisruption has really turned into a slog for travelers,\u201d Berg said. \u201cIt\u2019s something they\u2019re stressed about before the trip. It\u2019s something that really negatively impacts the experience on the trip. And then if they do have a disruption, it\u2019s costing them more money at a time when airfare is so expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flexibility has become the price of confidence<\/p>\n
The survey found that flexibility is becoming a prerequisite for booking with confidence. Eighty-four percent of travelers said the ability to change or cancel their flight bookings is at least somewhat important for their next trip, with 20% calling it \u201cextremely important.\u201d For hotels, the number is even higher: 87% rate cancellation flexibility as important.<\/p>\n
The demand translates directly into purchase intent. Sixty percent of travelers said they\u2019d be likely to add a Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) option when booking a flight\u2014rising to 74% among mixed business-and-leisure travelers and a remarkable 90% among the most frequent flyers (13-plus trips per year). Sixty-five percent said they\u2019d be more likely to book with a brand that offers CFAR.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we\u2019ve been surveying about disruptions for a long time, it\u2019s always something that\u2019s top of mind,\u201d Berg said. \u201cBut when we asked similar questions years ago, it was probably more like two thirds of customers. Now it\u2019s 90-10. It ranks every time we ask this question, in any way we ask it, as the number one concern. There\u2019s just fundamentally a shift now, especially after the pandemic years, where people are prepared for it to happen because it\u2019s very likely to happen to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
HTS, the B2B technology arm behind the Hopper consumer app, powers travel infrastructure and fintech products for airlines, banks, and travel platforms around the world. Its partners include Air Canada, Frontier Airlines, Azerbaijan Airlines, Porter Airlines, Commonwealth Bank, Nu Bank, and others across more than 180 countries. The company\u2019s two flagship flexibility products, Disruption Assistance and Cancel for Any Reason, are designed to address the exact problems the survey identified.<\/p>\n
Disruption Assistance works like this: a traveler adds it to their booking as an ancillary at checkout. If their flight is delayed two or more hours or canceled, HTS detects it in real time using live schedule data and proactively notifies the traveler. They\u2019re then given two options: rebook themselves on any airline or keep the airline\u2019s rebooked itinerary and receive a full refund of the ticket price to their original payment method.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s putting the control and the autonomy to make the decision back in the consumer\u2019s hands,\u201d Berg said. Cancel for Any Reason, meanwhile, lets travelers cancel a flight or hotel booking for any personal reason before departure and receive a refund, regardless of the original fare rules.<\/p>\n
Perhaps most telling is that 84% of customers who use an HTS flexibility product and have a claim go on to purchase it again, on the same channel where they originally booked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a product that brings customers back in a really exciting way,\u201d Berg said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s a bank or an airline, it\u2019s a loyalty hook. And if you think about it from an airline\u2019s perspective\u2014a total airport meltdown is a really bad day. To be able to offer a product that solves the problem more quickly for their customers and actually gets their customers coming back to book with them again is really, really targeted and specific.\u201d<\/p>\n
Airlines across the spectrum are buying in<\/p>\n
One of the more notable findings from HTS\u2019s partner ecosystem is that flexibility isn\u2019t a niche product for one type of carrier. The airlines integrating these solutions range from ultra-low-cost carriers to legacy airlines, spanning regions from North America to the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe range of airlines who we work with, who are offering these flexibility solutions, they run the gamut from LCCs to legacy carriers,\u201d Berg said. \u201cFrontier, Porter, Fly a Deal, Air Canada, they\u2019re all trying to address this flexibility problem. That tells us it\u2019s universal. It\u2019s not just one region, one type of consumer, one type of airline. Everyone has this challenge, and everyone\u2019s really eager to solve it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For airlines, the business case is compelling on both sides of the ledger. Flexibility products generate high-margin ancillary revenue\u2014HTS reports that fintech products now account for 45% of the company\u2019s total profit\u2014while simultaneously reducing operational strain on disruption days by giving customers a self-serve path to resolution instead of flooding gate agents and phone lines.<\/p>\n
What travelers should do this summer<\/p>\n
Berg\u2019s advice for summer travelers echoes what the data suggests: build flexibility into your plans from the start.<\/p>\n
\u201cBook with flexibility if you have the option to book a refundable fare, consider doing that,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t, and something like Cancel for Any Reason is offered where you can pay a little extra to make it refundable, do it. Just give yourself the flexibility to change your plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
#airline #industry #untrustworthy #travelers #bracing #delay #cancellation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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