New Tips And Triks For You

Last week's eastern snowstorm stranded millions of travelers, and I was one of them. On Wednesday, I had flown from Greenville, S.C., to Washington, D.C., for a dinner and a day and a half of work. I also had a flight to Florida booked for Friday noon, from my home airport, after a 12-hour turn-around. Little did I know my itinerary would become a stressful mash-up of Survivor and The Amazing Race. I made it out, and fairly early, but it was only through total dedication to the pursuit of an escape. And upon reflection, the takeaway was a few key points that were repeatedly driven home.

1. Give yourself breathing room

Don't book back-to-back winter trips involving places that get snow, if you can avoid it. If you must book a tight turn-around, pay extra for changeable tickets if the second trip is important.

Hot tip: pack clothing applicable to the second trip, in case you don't make it home first. 2. Pay attention to radar and forecasting

All the weathermen in my local market were saying the snow would begin on Tuesday and would be heavy. I had a Tuesday morning flight booked, but made a last-minute decision to fly on Monday night, ahead of the storm, and ahead of any risk. The airline accommodated me without a change fee, possibly because they knew I had a chance of getting stuck if I went as scheduled.

By the next night, I began to realize the gravity of my situation: the storm burying my home airport was headed for D.C. next. Neither airport would be open at the same time. It was time to think carefully about my next move.

Hot tip: Have your phone fully charged, and loaded with travel booking apps, as well as hotel, airline and travel booking phone numbers, including your own account numbers for each. It's also a great idea to keep a charger with you in an impending weather event. 3. Make strategic decisions

The forecast for D.C. was for one of the heaviest storms in years. Because traffic is typically legendary in the city, I cancelled the hotel I had booked in the Northern Virginia suburbs and opted, instead, for lodging a stone's throw from Reagan National Airport. It would be painful to land one of the early seats out of the city, only to have icy roads foul up a run to the airport by car. A good alternative would be to choose a hotel that's a subway ride from an airport.

Hot tip: My mistake was not booking a hotel with a view. My room looked out at a wall of buildings and a small, snowy side street below. A room actually overlooking the airport or a major road would have been more informative . . . and less claustrophobic. 4. Dedicate yourself to the search

When my original flight home cancelled, it came as no surprise: All airports anywhere near Greenville-Spartanburg were closed. Because I had only originally given myself a brief turnaround to make my next trip, I soon realized if I got out at all, I'd have to fly straight to my next destination. I booked an alternative one-way flight to Florida on Friday, from the airport near my hotel.

Hot tip: Don't forget to cancel unused tickets and request refunds. They aren't always automatic. 5. Ask lots of questions

When my alternative flight out of D.C. cancelled, I called the airline and asked if there was any reason to think I might get on another flight if I hung out at the airport for a standby seat. The agent said it was highly unlikely. I called and waited for another agent, then asked the same question, and got the same answer.

My next move was asking if a train could get me out of the snow and to a better airport situation. I researched until I found out trains were not an option. I kept the local news on, so I could see if the other major airport happened to open. My room next to the airport allowed me to hear if jets were taking off or landing.

Hot tip: Enlist a travel-savvy friend to help you get the answers you need if you're tired or stressed. 6. Think outside the box

When my husband asked if I could get to Hagerstown, Md. -- 80 miles away -- for a low-cost flight to Florida, I considered a rental car (too icy), a train (wasn't running, but didn't go there anyway), and a cab (but I didn't think the roads were passable). I went to bed thinking I was doomed to be stuck all weekend, but at 4 a.m., I woke up with the realization that I hadn't tried everything.

A quick search of websites for both airports revealed a couple of small airlines I'd never heard of. At 5 a.m., I discovered that one of these -- Sun Air -- flew from Dulles Airport to tiny Hagerstown, Md.: departure point for the low-cost flight to Florida.

Hot tip: All airport websites list the airlines which service them, and most are links you can click to learn more. Look for sections called Route Map, Where We Fly, or a dropdown of destination choices for each airline. 7. Question live storm coverage

I'm not saying to head into a hurricane when you see a reporter standing next to an evacuation sign. But when television stations are tasked with reporting from a large storm for hours on end, part of their job is to keep fools from making bad decisions which tie up rescue resources. These worst-case scenarios don't always mean that a professional driver and a plowed road isn't an option. Without the benefit of a view from my room, and nonstop television coverage of icy road conditions, I might have trusted that I'd never make it to Dulles. But I didn't. Which brings me back to:

8. Ask more questions

I called the front desk and asked if there was a way to get to Dulles. The fellow who answered gave me a phone number for a driver named Samir. Turns out Samir was on the road from Dulles back to D.C. when I reached him, and claimed it was no problem at all. I booked him for a pick-up in 30 minutes, then quickly bought the one-way flight to Hagerstown on Sun Air International for the unbelievable price of $25.

Next stop: Allegiant's website, where I booked a $200 one-way flight to Florida. At that moment, the only escape from D.C. seemed to be a Friday flight to Florida from an airport 80 miles away. I just wasn't sure the flight from Dulles would actually take off, although one runway was reported as having been cleared.

When Samir arrived at my hotel, I did ask if I should have him drive me to Dulles or to Hagerstown, since both were about the same distance. He made that choice easy, saying the trip to Hagerstown would be more than three times the rate, because it would be risky.

I remembered to cancel the next two nights in my hotel, and the flight home I had finally scored for Sunday; forgetting those two moves would have cost over $700. The hotel nights were actually nonrefundable, but I successfully implored that particular Hilton to drop the charges since I have a rewards account, and so many people were stranded without reservations.

Then off Samir and I went to Dulles, but as he drove away, I knew we had cut it a little too close for a one-hour check-in. To my horror, a small sign on the counter at Sun Air said something like "If you have arrived with less than an hour until flight time, the crew has left the counter, and you have missed your flight."

My first thought was panic. But since I was only a couple of minutes late, I immediately asked the lonely agent at the adjacent counter if she knew where the Sun Air crew was, and could she catch them for me. To my surprise, she simply pointed to the two busy agents for Porter Airlines -- also adjacent to Sun Air, and who were servicing a long line of stranded passengers. She said they could help me.

9. Be kind but persistent - as you ask even more questions

I knew had to interrupt a Porter Airlines transaction due to my time constraint, but once I did - respectfully and kindly -- one of the agents broke away and came to my aid.

I didn't - and still don't - understand the relationship between the two airlines, but I was so grateful I had asked the lonely agent what to do. I was also happy I had interrupted the Porter agent. Because of my persistence, I had a boarding pass in hand and was hurriedly off to find the gate. The clock was ticking.

I raced into the first open airport train, beneath a sign that said "to Gates A-C", and promptly got lost. Who knew that B doesn't come between A and C? At Dulles, it's apparently located somewhere between C and H and Z - I think? - and I only got straightened out after a Washingtonian came to my rescue, when I asked for help. My error had cost precious minutes, forcing a necessary run to the last gate in the terminal. I arrived, panting, and no one was there except an airline captain and a ramp worker, who greeted me by saying "It's a good thing you ran." I asked if I were the last passenger and was clued in to the joke they shared, when they replied, "You're the only passenger."

Captain Nelson Bailey awaits passengers on his 10-seat Cessna Navajo Chieftain for a Sun Air International flight from Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., to Hagerstown (Md.) Regional Airport.(Photo11: Libby McMillan)

An old but sturdy 10-seat Cessna Navajo Chieftain awaited at the end of our short march across the wintry tarmac: the ramp worker held my arm so I wouldn't slip. I met my pilot, Captain Nelson Bailey, and we climbed in the rear hatch. After a quick orientation about my option of climbing out a window onto the wing in an emergency, and the fire extinguisher's location in a seat up front, we were ready to depart for the Pennsylvania/Maryland state line. The little unusable ashtrays next to each seat made me smile, but the chieftain's engines rumbled to life and I felt safe in Captain Bailey's capable hands. Unlike a jet, this plane could take off from a short span of runway.

As we taxied, heavy equipment was clearing the second runway at Dulles, and only one lone jet was also on the move. I'm not sure why large carriers hadn't yet sprung to life - perhaps due to de-icing at this early, colder hour - but it was like this massive airport was ours alone. We crunched over some snow on the way to the runway, then revved and rolled, lifting off easily. It was a bumpy but beautiful low-altitude flight over a winter wonderland of barns and pastures.

10. Keep the faith - and buy changeable ticketsHagerstown was welcoming. Its tiny airport had a total of three friendly airline and TSA employees at that hour, and me. I said good-bye to Captain Bailey, charged my phone for a bit, then tried to check in early with Allegiant. When it turned out my ticket was for the following Monday instead of that Friday morning, I felt a moment of panic 80 miles from a metro area, and wondered what madness had occurred without caffeine at 5:30 a.m. I suspect that when I chose my date, the airline's website defaulted to the next available flight and I didn't notice. What mattered most, though, was that I had purchased a product called TripFlex for $12.50. When all but one of 166 passengers didn't show up for their flight from snow to sun, I got that one remaining seat without question. (Apologies to the man who was also waiting and hoping, weekend bag packed, on that Valentine's morning. My paid ticket apparently trumped his buddy pass, and only one of us would have a romantic dinner that evening).

The Final WordMistakes are easy to make, especially after hours or days of stress and worry, and being surrounded by sad and angry stranded passengers. But thinking strategically, asking lots (and lots) of questions, and having a crisis game plan can get you through a weather event, and headed home or to your next destination. Being kind to all those you deal with increases your odds of success. And of course, good luck also helps.