Holiday Travel Frustrations, Plus Enter Day 3 of the 12 Days of Giveaways

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Thanks to all of you who have left such great comments on Days 1 and 2 of Magic of Miles 12 Days of Giveaways contests! I love reading them and I hope you do too.

If you’re just joining today, Magic of Miles is running a contest each day in December, where you can win a box stuffed full of goodies! To read full contest details, click here.

Holiday travel just feels different to me than travel during other times of year. There’s excitement in the air and routines change and quicken.

Not everything is full of gingerbread cookies and snow angels though. Before lounging in front of the fireplace with loved ones and enjoying a round of bubbly, there’s often the matter of getting there, which can be plagued by delays and frustration.

Car trips can be brutal with jammed traffic and kids squabbling, wrong directions via GPS (like I experienced in Athens, Greece), plus add in some poor weather.

Dumb & Dumber

At least in the car you are hopefully surrounded by people you know and like. In the airport, there’s always at least one person at the longer-than-usual TSA checkpoint that forgot to take the change out of their pocket…and then forgot their belt…and then their wristwatch. (and you silently wonder how they got TSA Pre-check as they try for the fourth time).

In planes, you’re stuck in a metal tube with people you might avoid if given the chance. Honeywell Aerospace even conducted a survey a couple Christmases past that showed some interesting statistics about holiday travel on airplanes.

The season of perpetual hope

Here is some interesting data from the survey –

31% of those surveyed would give up one of their holiday presents to avoid braving the holiday airport rush.

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15% find the disorganized traveler in security lines the most annoying, over line-cutters and arguers.

41% want to avoid “the smelly traveler” that passes gas or doesn’t wear deodorant.

A whopping 72% of people in the survey have considered confronting an adult whose child won’t stop kicking their seat.

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When all else fails, 30% of those surveyed admit to taking a sedative or sleeping pill to dull their frustration while traveling.

To win today’s holiday goodie bag, let me know in the comments below what your biggest holiday travel frustration is. The line jumper at the airport, terrible traffic, or the TSA pat down?

Today’s contest ends at 9pm PST tonight, December 15, 2016.

Good luck to all!

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16 Comments

  1. The biggest holiday travel frustration is the weather and I have absolutely no control over that. This holiday season isn’t off to a good start with all the cold, snow and ice.

  2. My biggest frustration is dealing with the long lines at check-in and security. I always arrive very early at the airport, but the lines are still a huge headache for me.

  3. Air travel really, really stresses folks. My frustration is the pervasive climate of anxiety. Even when things go well, the situation is tense. When something goes wrong (and it often does), it gets much, much worse.

  4. Delayed flights makes me very frustrated. This past July 4, I was supposed to go to Charlotte for the weekend. The flight was supposed to leave that Friday before at 7p. I got to the airport around 2:30p straight from work. They delayed the flight about 5 times and changed the gates about 6 times. Around 11, they said the flight will leave at 12:45am! There was so many excuses..bad weather, the plane was in PA to get fuel, then it was upstate for another reason. Then at 12:30am, they cancelled the flight!!! I went crazy. SMh. Next morning they rebooked us on a flight that was leaving on Sunday with 3 layovers! Isn’t that crazy! I said what’s the point if I’m returning Monday evening! After so many phone calls and tweets, they gave me a $200 gift card. Thinking about that days still frustrates me. lol

  5. Not traveling for the holidays, so my only frustrations are getting ready for the family get-together – cleaning, decorating, cooking.

  6. Although I am a mom and love children – it is the child (sometimes adult) that wears jingle bells. In the airport, or worse on the plane moving said body part that has jingle bells attached and is constantly making too much noise.

  7. The areas I need to fly have a lot of weather-related issues, especially during the winter holidays. SFO…… those three letters make me cringe. And then there are the flights originating from bad weather areas. You’re looking at beautiful clear skies at your airport, but your plane is stuck in fog (or worse) somewhere else. At boarding time, there is no plane in sigh, and no announcement. I’m looking at you, UAL.

  8. Many of the problems are created by people who don’t normally travel. Plus, add in people carrying gifts, employees who’d rather be someplace else, and the usual bad weather, and it can get ugly.

  9. I try not to fly during the holidays if I can help it and drive instead, so traffic is by far the worst for me. Everyone forgets how to drive in winter weather.

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