We all know that the upcoming holiday travel season is likely to be stressful. But just how stressful? A new calculator can help you work out that very specific number.
FlightsFinder, a flight comparison search engine, has created the ‘Flight Stress Calculator’ just in time for us all to book flights home for Thanksgiving and beyond, to help us find the calmest travel days, or at least prepare for what’s to come.
Users simply enter their departure airport, airline and departure time to find out how stressful the experience is likely to be.
The stress level is calculated from the frequency of flight delays at the selected airport (aka how late you’ll be), the baggage weight restrictions for the selected airline’s most basic economy fare (aka how often you’ll be asked to go through gate check) and the volume of travellers during the selected time period (aka how busy security will be).
“While we can’t promise a hassle-free travel experience, we can give you a clearer picture of what to expect during your time at the airport before you travel,” the website says of its new calculator.
We tried it out by entering our home airport (New York’s JFK), selecting American Airlines and choosing a flight time between 7am and 8am.
For this itinerary, the calculator gave us a stress level of just 26 per cent, which didn’t feel too bad. However, if we move the departure time to the evening, between 4pm and 8pm, the figure jumps to 56 per cent, showing us that a morning flight might be worth getting up early for during the holidays.At least you’ll get to your destination earlier.