Smart Planning Can Help Limit Impact Of Last-Minute Travel Disruption

A good holiday is something that everyone looks forward to. However, some travel disruption can throw plans off track and, this year, it is the stoppage of operations by the airline, GoFirst, that has caused quite a bit of turbulence. Even those not directly involved are feeling the heat as air fares have shot up significantly.

This is where your planning comes into play and which can save the day. Here are some of the points that can be followed to help individuals who are faced with such a situation. 

Whenever there is any disruption with respect to your travel plans, it is very vital to take a look at the bigger picture and the larger impact that would be faced in the aftermath of the event. This will help in arriving at the critical area that needs attention, and which can salvage the situation.

For example, if your flights to a holiday destination or a connecting flight while going on a holiday is cancelled, then the first thing to worry about is to replace the cancelled flights with other options. Not doing this will lead to the disruption of the whole holiday where hotel bookings and the whole trip comes under risk.

This identification becomes crucial because the spillover effect can be high where the hit is bigger than the initial one. Once the critical area is identified, it is time to tackle the problem here.

In order to get an alternative in place, it is important that your travel plans and the finances related to it have a buffer in place. This is essential for every plan because there can be several places or occasions where you will find that there is an extra expense that is incurred.

Getting an alternative ticket becomes one of such areas. The amount here might be higher if there is a family travelling and the cost of the other airfares on the same route have jumped. At this crisis stage, however, there is no other option and, hence, it will require the deployment of the amount that has been put aside for other use in case the planned amount is not sufficient. Having some extra amount, which can be around 5% of the total trip cost, eases a lot of the pressure, especially during an emergency. 

Sometimes, it might not be possible to have ready liquid amounts for extra spends and, hence, it is important for the presence of sufficient unused limit on credit cards. People do not pay much attention to the available limit that is present on their credit card, but it is in an emergency like this that it becomes very useful.

This is why it is always advisable to never use the full limit on the credit card or why it is better to keep two cards, where one of them can be used when there is a need. The spends can also be done on the card where the due date is sometime away based on the billing cycle dates that are present. This will ensure that there is some relief in terms of the payment period present for the additional expenses. 

There might be a situation where the planning would require a new booking to get to the desired destination. The prices for a direct connection might have gone very high or it could be that there is no ticket available.

If this is the case, then the journey would have to be rerouted and a separate connection might have to be made. Some other mode of transport might have to be taken for part of the journey. This can prove to be a hit in terms of the time taken to arrive at the destination, but it might be the only way out to salvage the situation.

This is the reason why keeping an eye out for the various options that are present, the costs that would be incurred and their handling would ensure that the trip goes on as planned.

Arnav Pandya is founder of Moneyeduschool.