Avoiding holiday travel hassles

NEW YORK - Nearly half of Americans are planning to travel over the holidays. Many of them will be flying. Are the airlines up to the task? 

A FlightAware analysis found that hubs Newark Liberty and LaGuardia airports had the highest percentage of cancelations between May and September of this year. Over the summer, airports were struggling with canceled flights and delays. A lot of it was credited to staffing shortages from the pandemic.

Travel experts say airlines learned a lot from that summer turmoil. The Points Guy senior writer Zach Griff said airlines will be reducing flight schedules, making sure they have enough spare parts for airplane maintenance, and also bringing on more staff.

However, Griff said you should make sure you have a backup plan to avoid being stuck on the holidays.

"Maybe that means you have a competitor that you may want the airline to rebook you on," Griff said. "Or maybe you have a credit card that includes lounge access and you know that you'll go to the lounge and ask the lounge attendant to help you rebook."

Griff said if you want to travel this holiday you should book as soon as possible, because airlines likely won't be adding more flights to their schedule.