Those Dreaded Words: Irregular Ops

Irregular Ops is an abbreviation for Irregular Operations, which is airline-speak for those not uncommon flight delays most commonly connected with weather, especially at this time of year.

In less than a week we're scheduled to fly SEA-ORD-IAD-FCO, with one-hour connecting times both in Chicago and Washington-Dulles. While we have some built-in advantages as long as we maintain UA 1K status, including an "elite" phone line and priority rebooking, we still have to look out for ourselves.

Scott McCartney of the Wall Street Journal recently wrote a characteristically practical Middle Seat column on this topic, Room Service in Terminal B, that can be found here.

As for us, our cell phone contains the 800-numbers for UA 1K and Customer Relations, our preferred hotel chains, and car rental outfits. We also retain phone numbers for a couple of SEA airport hotels.

We'll be checking airport conditions, UA operations, and weather forecasts starting at least 48 hours before we depart. We're signed up for the text message and e-mail alerts known on UA as Easy Updates (warning: they're not always dependable). We'll continue to monitor conditions on the day of the flight and, as time permits, during our layovers. At the first hint of a problem, we'll decide whether to call the 1K line and ask to be "protected," i.e. to have seats reserved on an alternative flight. We did that a couple of weeks ago when the MIA-IAD leg of our MIA-IAD-SEA flight was delayed in taking off. It turned out we didn't need it, but it was a relief to have it. Needless to say, as soon as there's an actual problem, we'll be on the phone to UA immediately, rather than simply standing in one of those customer service lines.

Finally, we always try to leave ourselves extra time and look on the inevitable delays from time to time as part of the travel adventure. Sometimes that's the hardest lesson to learn.