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Paul Nelson, KSL NewsradioThis is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but few things are as annoying as missing your flight. The only thing more annoying is missing your flight even when you arrive at the airport on time.
"I showed up at the airport my typical 90 minutes early and went to my gate, and they said that the flight was canceled," traveler Joy Pickar said.
Pickar says the weather was fine that day, so that probably wasn't the problem. She says getting some sort of information that her flight was canceled might have helped her before she got to the airport.
"Had they told me, it would have been better, even if the real reason was they only had five people and couldn't make the flight. But I really was given no explanation," Pickar said.
Some travel analysts say airlines may cancel or reschedule a lot of flights this January.
Bestfares.com CEO Tom Parsons said, "They're still committed to the flights they have. What happened is they were hoping the demand [for flights] would be even heavier than it is."
Parsons says fewer families will be traveling at the same time the first week of January because some school districts restart classes Jan. 2, while others restart on Jan. 7. "That puts less demand all through that seven-day period for the airlines," Parsons explained.
Parsons says flyers should check with the airlines and make sure their flight leaves when they think it does. "If you bought your tickets more than 30 days ago, it's ‘buyer beware.' Airlines can make changes to their schedules," he said.
Parsons says airlines will typically give notification of any changes, but they don't have to. He also says, as you check your flight, you may notice the price went down.
"It would be wise to go ahead and take the penalty from the airline, go back and get the cash differential, and then use that differential for a future flight in 2008," Parsons said.
Parsons says he expects demand to be much higher next year because New Year's Day falls on a Thursday and everyone will be traveling over the following weekend.
