How a travel nurse or travel therapist can deal with or avoid unexpected flight delays and cancellations

No one enjoys a flight delay or cancellation. However, a travel nurse or travel therapist may have even more cause for stress than some. Flights to and from contract destinations combine the stress of commuting to work with travel.

From thunder storms to technical problems, flight delays and cancellations can run the gamut for explanations. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Air Travel Consumer Report, there were 387 flight cancellations between May 2010 and April 2011.

Broken down to a month's figures, carriers canceled 2 percent of all scheduled domestic flights. Carrier's filing on-time performance data showed that 7.57 percent of flights were delayed by aviation system delays, 8.35 percent by late-arriving aircraft, 5.68 percent by factors within the airline’s control, such as maintenance or crew problems, 0.55 percent by extreme weather and 0.04 percent for security reasons, reports the source. 

All of these reasons for delay or cancellation may throw a kink in a travel RN or travel therapist's plans. Therefore, it is best to create a few different plans of action to deal with or avoid unexpected travel interruptions.

Here are four tips to make traveling to your new contract as smooth as possible:

1. Check the flight. While it may seem simple, a travel nurse or travel therapist should always check the flight status before stepping out the door to travel to the airport. Smartphone applications such as FlightTrack, FlightView or FlightCaster all provide instantaneous information on the status of a flight. Looking for something a little more official? Many carriers now provide smartphone applications to deliver the news instantly.

2. Find out if another carrier has seats. A traveling professional may need to get somewhere fast. As a result, she may be able to confer with an airline representative about finding a seat on another carrier in the same airport that will depart before the original carrier is up and running. Sometimes an airline will be willing to take the flight on credit for the other carrier's ticket. If not, she may find herself paying an additional expense.

3. Arrive ahead of time. An experienced traveler knows she can never be too careful. Try to arrive at the airport at least 90 to 120 minutes in advance of a flight's scheduled departure to avoid potential problems.  

4. Contact the agency. A travel nurse or travel therapist's staffing agency may have in-house travel agents that are able to handle any flight interruption smoothly.