Flying during COVID-19

[hav154]

Hello,

I may have to fly from Sacramento, CA to Buffalo, NY the first week of May. I've been religiously tracking flight cancellations on flighttracker.com to figure out what day, and through what city would be the best to go. Understandably, it seems like there is no rhyme or reason to these cancellations.

Because of all the cancellations, I'm concerned about getting stranded at one of the connecting airports, since there are no direct flights from Sacramento to Buffalo. Will Southwest tell me ahead of time if one of my connections is cancelled? A lot of the flights go through Chicago, Phoenix, Las Vegas, etc. and I don't want to get stuck at one of those airports.

Additionally, I know certain states and cities have mandatory 14 day quarantines when you arrive. Does this count for people who have connections in one of these places? For example, I know Arizona has a mandatory 14 day quarantine upon arrival, and a lot of the flights going to Buffalo from Sacramento have a layover in Phoenix. 

If anyone has any other helpful information about traveling during this pandemic, it would be much appreciated. Thank you!

[TheMiddleSeat]

A cancellation that is so last minute that it strands you in a connection airport is not something that is a planned cancellation, that's more like a cancellation due to unplanned mechanical or crew issues.  Any planned cancellation is going to be done  far enough ahead of time to allow you to reroute or change your plans.

Sorry, I can't offer any help with the quarantine questions.

--TheMiddleSeat

[hav154]

Thank you for the response! 🙂

[chgoflyer]

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@hav154 wrote:

Hello,

I may have to fly from Sacramento, CA to Buffalo, NY the first week of May. I've been religiously tracking flight cancellations on flighttracker.com to figure out what day, and through what city would be the best to go. Understandably, it seems like there is no rhyme or reason to these cancellations.

Because of all the cancellations, I'm concerned about getting stranded at one of the connecting airports, since there are no direct flights from Sacramento to Buffalo. Will Southwest tell me ahead of time if one of my connections is cancelled? A lot of the flights go through Chicago, Phoenix, Las Vegas, etc. and I don't want to get stuck at one of those airports.

Additionally, I know certain states and cities have mandatory 14 day quarantines when you arrive. Does this count for people who have connections in one of these places? For example, I know Arizona has a mandatory 14 day quarantine upon arrival, and a lot of the flights going to Buffalo from Sacramento have a layover in Phoenix. 

If anyone has any other helpful information about traveling during this pandemic, it would be much appreciated. Thank you!

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Unfortunately, it does appear (according to FlightAware) that many flights are being cancelled daily in addition to those already part of the schedule reduction. Assuming your travel is essential (it's unlikely stay-at-home orders will be lifted by early May, so elective travel would be discouraged) you will have some challenges. I'm not sure what advice would be helpful -- unfortunately, much of the service is connecting these days so non-stop flights are limited. (You might want to check other carriers just in case anyone is offering a non-stop.) There's likely no rhyme or reason to the cancellations, but if you see a pattern and can adjust that may be beneficial. You can always ask at the gate about the status of the connecting flight. Quarantine restrictions shouldn't apply to a layover. Good luck!

[hav154]

Thank you! 🙂

[DancingDavidE · Accepted solution]

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@hav154 wrote:

Hello,

I may have to fly from Sacramento, CA to Buffalo, NY the first week of May. I've been religiously tracking flight cancellations on flighttracker.com to figure out what day, and through what city would be the best to go. Understandably, it seems like there is no rhyme or reason to these cancellations.

Because of all the cancellations, I'm concerned about getting stranded at one of the connecting airports, since there are no direct flights from Sacramento to Buffalo. Will Southwest tell me ahead of time if one of my connections is cancelled? A lot of the flights go through Chicago, Phoenix, Las Vegas, etc. and I don't want to get stuck at one of those airports.

Additionally, I know certain states and cities have mandatory 14 day quarantines when you arrive. Does this count for people who have connections in one of these places? For example, I know Arizona has a mandatory 14 day quarantine upon arrival, and a lot of the flights going to Buffalo from Sacramento have a layover in Phoenix. 

If anyone has any other helpful information about traveling during this pandemic, it would be much appreciated. Thank you!

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I saw a good article today from Cranky Traveler analyzing Southwest's recent update to the schedule and he pointed out several "hubs" of Southwest that remain connected to the spoke airports including DEN, MDW, LAS, and BNA among others. 

Find out which airports BUF will connect with and choose one of these that has mutiple flights per day to protect yourself not just from a cancellation but also weather, maintenance, crew, etc. - any of the usual flight delay causes could still come into play.

https://www.southwest.com/flight/routemap_dyn.html?clk=GSUBNAV-AIR-ROUTEMAP&int=

You'll have to re-filter it for Buffalo as arrival city and select non-stop, you can then see the connection cities that connect to BUF, see which has multiple flights per day (if any) and those might be your prioritized connection cities.

I would also have a backup connection city in mind in case of disruption that day that you can request at the airport.

[hav154]

Thank you! I just read the article and it sounds hopeful. Maybe I'll call customer service to see if they can offer additional reassurance.