Cancelled flights and airport chaos: Hordes in the Abyss and Beating the Lines

Research and White Paper

Date: March 31, 2025

Among the truths we hold to be self evident, does everyone being equal have to

pertain to stranded travelers? I’m pretty sure Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson

weren’t thinking about travel disruptions when they drafted the self evident truths into

what is now the United States Declaration of Independence. I’m even more certain

that centuries earlier the biblical scholars weren’t thinking about travel as they scribed

similar views but in terms of everyone being equal in the eyes with their chosen Gods.

Perhaps that’s why it would be hard to find anything more equalizing than how life

plays out during a travel disruption caused by an Act of God (AOG). But is it really

necessary that everyone be subjected to equal treatment when travel plans blow up?

I’m not suggesting anything discriminatory or unfair. I’m suggesting perhaps there

could be a choosable path less traveled, available to anyone, that leads to accelerated

certainty. An outcome more responsive than simply waiting for whatever happens next

in the great abyss of everyone else. That’s the question we attempt to address through

this paper. To that end, for the sake of this paper and the underpinning research

behind it, let’s define travel disruption as being what happens to travel plans in the face

of what in contract law is commonly referred to as force majeure. For clarity, here’s the

definition of force majeure according to Merriam Webster:

force majeure (forss-mah-ZHUR) noun (French). 1: superior or

irresistible force; 2: an event or eﬀect that cannot be reasonably

anticipated or controlled.

In the travel industry, force majeure denotes a cause, circumstance or extraordinary

event that disrupts travel on a large scale. Things like storms, earthquakes, volcanos

and other “Acts of God” all create uncontrollable circumstances known as force

majeure. Also falling into the force majeure greatest hits collection are events like

political unrest, strikes, riots, crime, epidemics and terrorism. While events as common

place as gate delays and aircraft mechanical issues can certainly cause small scale,

localized disruptions of travel, this paper deals with the big stuff. Large scale travel

disruptions affecting large masses of people across multiple airports and wide

geographic scopes.

Download the full research paper below:

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