Stuck at an Airport? Don’t Forget Your “Mini Motel”

We have all seen the newspaper photos and television coverage – practically every Thanksgiving and Christmas travellers get stranded at airports usually because of bad weather. The airlines can’t control the weather, so nobody gets food or hotel vouchers in those cases. Everybody tries to get cosy wherever they can.

Flight cancelations caused by the airline (mechanical problems etc) often resulted in food and hotel vouchers, especially when travellers were forced to wait for a flight overnight. These vouchers, however, are rapidly disappearing in the US. (In Europe, delays of more than 5 hours entitle passengers to a hotel voucher, if an overnight stay is required.)

The plight of air travellers is growing and so are the entrepreneurs offering help.

Frank Giotto has developed a small tent, called the Mini Motel, which includes a mattress, alarm clock and pillow. It looks cute, but I can’t imagine dragging it around with me on every trip. On the other hand, if I could easily buy one at the airport when I needed it, it might not be bad.

There is also a website called www.sleepinginairports.com. The site offers ratings and reviews of most airports around the world (where can you sleep the best?) plus tips for how to sleep in an airport.

The best tip by far: carry hotel phone numbers with you and go to a hotel to get a good night’s sleep.

Have you ever slept in an airport? What were the circumstances?

Image from fightgridlocknow.gov