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How Arkansas travel agents work around flight cancellations

For the last few years, the pandemic knocked the travel industry down. Now as demand is picking back up, the airline industry has been having a hard time keeping up.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Luggage spilled into the hallways of the Clinton National Airport airport on Monday, as it awaited passenger pick up after cancelled flights.

Arkansas' TSA Spokesperson, Patricia Mancha reported last Thursday, that they had seen record highs of travel during the past weekend.

"We're seeing about 97%, of pre pandemic levels at the TSA checkpoints," said Mancha.

And with more travelers, travel agencies have been busy.

Poe Travel in Little Rock continues to work towards the goal of bringing back their full pre-pandemic staff, but recently, they have seen demand unlike ever before.

"We've already surpassed where we were in 2019...nobody really anticipated the demand that would come so quickly," CEO of Poe Travel, Margaret Kemp said.

While some travel agencies charge service fees, not all do. But Poe says either way, travel agencies can help when your travel plans become chaos.

"We then have access to inside numbers for airlines hotels... with advance notice, then we reroute you and handle all of that exchange," Kemp added.

But overall, as ticket prices have taken off, Kemp said that all passengers need to plan ahead. 

Poe Travel, and many others, have mentioned that airlines have been much less likely to compensate passengers for travel changes or overnight stays, now that the demand for travel has been so high.

They also noted that COVID-19 regulations for travel have been constantly changing. So before you book a trip, make sure you know the requirements.

If all else fails, you can be rest assured that things will just fine in the end and you'll be soaring through the clouds soon enough.

 A 6-year-old passenger shared some words of wisdom on what you should do if your plane is delayed. She said that you should, "just calm down and wait a minute," because the plane will come eventually. 

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