GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — This holiday season, AAA predicts more than 119 million people will travel 50 or more miles away from home. The majority of those travelers, 90% of them, will be driving to their destinations.
Those who planned to take off via the skies at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport seemed to have discovered a travel ‘hack.’
Many claimed they prefer to book flights on Christmas Eve, because there are less crowds and lines at TSA. One traveler found that theory to be true upon his arrival at the airport.
“I was kind of thinking it would be like “Home Alone,” running down trying to get tickets, but, pretty easy, pretty quick,” Cameron Figg said.
News Channel 3 spoke with Figg while he waited to check his bag with his family for his American Airlines flight to Hawaii. Shortly after speaking with Figg, a “technical issue” caused the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue a brief ground stop for all American Airlines across the United States at the arline’s request. Flights resumed around 8:09 a.m., roughly an hour after the ground stop.
Another traveler on his way to Seattle offered the following tip for those traveling on Christmas Eve:
“Leave early, because if you get delayed, you have a chance to catch another flight,” Mike Staff said.
New guidelines from the FAA require airlines to offer passengers a full automatic cash refund for any cancelled or “significantly changed” flights.
Changes deemed significant include departure or arrival times being delayed by 3 or more hours for domestic flights and 6 or more hours for international flights.