Flight During Wartime: The Right Way to Travel

In a time of war, a holiday is the last thing on travelers' minds.

As demand for travel screeches to a halt, the airlines have responded by temporarily scaling down their operations, cutting back on the number of flights between cities and flying smaller planes. Already, five of the largest U.S. carriers have announced staffing and capacity cuts, led most recently by Delta Air Lines'(DAL) and Northwest Airlines'(NWB) 12% cuts on domestic routes for much of spring.

"This is no surprise at all. Everyone expected this to happen as soon as war breaks out," said Christopher Elliott, editor of TripRights.com, a consumer travel Web site. "These predictions have been going on for months, but basically, most expect 10% across-the-board reductions."

As the table below shows, domestic travel will be curbed, but international travel will be hit particularly hard.

Here are four things you need to know before buying your fares during a time of war.

Chances Are, the Leisure Traveler Won't Feel the Pinch

Frequent travelers who carry around dog-eared schedule books with them so they can get the latest flight to Tokyo will certainly feel a difference as these cuts take hold, but most once-in-a-while flyers won't. Carriers won't out-and-out abandon cities, but travelers will have fewer flights to pick from and fewer of the deep-discount cheap seats to sift through.

The Emptying Skies
Carrier	Capacity Cuts
American	Plans to cut international flights by 6% in April on top of a 7% cut on its domestic routes.
Continental	Nipped and tucked at international service from now until late April. Service to Tokyo has been nearly halved and one daily flight from Newark to London and one from Newark to Paris have been eliminated. Flying smaller planes to Amsterdam and Rome.
Delta	Cutting 12% of its flights, paring down service on routes, without eliminating them altogether. Cuts could continue past April if demand stays weak.
KLM/Royal Dutch	Paring down all flights, including its important New York route, by 7% over last year's levels. Many Middle Eastern flights have been canceled, and the carrier plans to use smaller aircraft to service European routes.
Lufthansa	Canceled some Middle Eastern service, but will resume flights to Israel on Tuesday and said it will impose a temporary surcharge on freight to offset higher costs during war.
Northwest	Slashing its flight schedule by 12%, while eliminating 4,900 jobs to meet lower demand.
United	Plans to temporarily cut its worldwide schedule by 8%, while placing nonessential workers on temporary unpaid leave.
Source: TSC Research

"Between Dallas to New York, American Airlines(AMR) has 21 flights a day," said Tom Parsons, CEO of BestFares.com. "But if they take away 15%, can you tell me what hour of the day I will miss getting my flight? You'll still have an awful lot of options."

Between some routes, Parsons says to expect a more limited schedule, with only 10 flights a week instead of the usual twice-a-day routine. And because most of these cuts have yet to take full effect and are subject to change as the carriers monitor demand, it's very important that you keep in touch with the airlines to make sure your flight hasn't been canceled.