As the East Coast picks up the pieces from Hurricane Sandy, the media is abuzz with stories that highlight how important it is to have a travel agent in your corner when disaster strikes.
Larry Olmsted at Forbes kicks things off with his own Sandy travel horror story and how his agent helped him find his way home after his flight from San Diego to the Northeast was canceled.
Olmstead, who has been a booster of travel agents in the past, says that his agent was able to help him get home quickly in the small window of time when major flight cancellations started to occur and the East Coast airports shut down completely.
“Airports very, very rarely actually close, even though flights are cancelled all the time,” Olmsted writes. “For that reason, a small minority of the travelers who had their plans wrecked Sunday and into Monday, like me, were actually able to make some fast moves and still get home, but that window was small and for many, getting through it required help – and certainly not from the airlines…In short, I don’t know if I could have gotten home without a travel agent.”
The travel writers at USA Today reached out during the storm to two travel agents – Sandy Wick, owner of Four Seasons Travel, and Kellie Bishop, “chief possibility officer” at Travel Leaders / Cosmopolitan Travel - who shared their tips for traveling during stormy weather.
The agents highlighted the importance of having a person with inside contacts to help you when traveling during times of crisis, as well as the peace of mind that can come with buying travel insurance to protect your vacation.
Do you have a story regarding how you were able to help a client with travel plans disrupted by Sandy or another natural disaster? Sound off in the comments below, or share your thoughts on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TravelAgentMagazine