Another ground stop at Newark Liberty International left travelers facing a new wave of cancellations and hourslong delays at the New Jersey airport on Sunday. This disruption follows weeks of chaos marked by air traffic communication issues and staffing shortages.
While waiting areas, makeshift chairs and benches were emptier this weekend compared to the crowds of stranded passengers last week, outages on both Friday and Sunday left travelers grappling with the lingering effects.
Akash Gupta had his travel plans completely upended on Saturday when his flight to Indianapolis was delayed six hours. He passed the time chatting with his wife over a video call and doodling on some paper.
“I’m comfortable with flying, but I’m experiencing this kind of delay for the first time,” Gupta told NBC News.
Your flight is delayed — now what?
The first action delayed passengers should take is to look for alternative flights, advises Sean Cudahy, a senior aviation reporter for travel website The Points Guy. When checking for alternatives, he recommends not to wait for the perfect solution.
“If you see even a halfway decent option, grab it, book it, and a lot of time the airline will let you keep making changes,” Cudahy said.
To contact an airline for rebooking or to explore more options, airline apps or live chat functions are often more efficient than waiting in long customer service lines. NBC News aviation analyst John Cox recommends the flight-tracking app Flighty for real-time updates.
Cox recommends taking advantage of frequent flyer perks. Many airlines have agents dedicated to rebooking frequent flyers, making them easier to reach.
“From a passenger standpoint, it’s understand what you want,” Cox said. “Be polite, be nice, but understand that you need to get your business taken care of and let the agent move on to somebody to help somebody else.”
The Department of Transportation ruled last year that airlines are required to quickly give cash refunds to passengers with canceled or severely delayed flights. The refunds, however, only apply to passengers who book with a different airline or opt for another mode of travel, not to those who accept a rebooking with the original airline.
Travelers should also review the airline’s rebooking and refund policies in advance, said a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the Newark airport.
“We originally were supposed to come here on United today, but it was canceled about five or six days ago, and they did refund our money,” said Judy Davenport, who was traveling through Newark this weekend. She and her husband ended up booking a separate Delta flight to make their connection to Paris.
While waiting out a delay at Newark, travelers have several options for passing time or grabbing a bite to eat before the security lines. Each terminal at the airport offers seating for passengers before and after their TSA screening.
“Go early and get your seat, get…
Read More: How to navigate Newark airport amid delays and outages
