By Ed Hewitt

updated 4:18 p.m. ET March 22, 2007

It is some kind of nasty irony that the day after US Airways announced that about 100,000 travelers remained stranded due to weather and software problems — that's about nine times the size of my hometown — the very next news cycle featured video of the first-ever arrival on U.S. soil of the new 500-passenger Airbus jumbo jet. Get me requisition — we'll take 200 of those today!

St. Paddy's Day weekend was a truly nasty weekend for air travelers, featuring a couple of lengthy tarmac strandings — Royal Air Maroc took top honors with a 14-hour stranding at JFK — and of course US Airways' complete and utter meltdown.

As usual the airlines blamed the weather, blamed the crowds, blamed it on Cain, you name it, with the implication that neither they nor the passengers could do anything about the problems — and to some extent that was true. But there was a lot more to the story, as we'll get to promptly — and whether we're faced with corporate incompetence or an act of God, the Lord helps those who help themselves. It's clear that passengers are going to have to learn to help themselves, since the airlines certainly aren't going to do it; forthwith we will present tips and tactics to help you avoid an overnight in the airport.

But first, what really went wrong
We've bantered quite a bit here about how the airlines couldn't give a hoot about how little travelers prefer the airport floor to their own beds, about how they routinely blame the weather and other factors for their own mistakes, and how the rash of tarmac strandings, which have occurred on a monthly basis this winter, only intensify the call for a passenger rights bill, or at least some oversight of how these problems are handled. We've beaten that drum enough for now, but it's worth noting that US Airways chose the spring break season to launch a buggy new computer reservations system — without telling anyone.

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Eighteen months after merging with America West, the airline staged a secret March 4 switchover to merge the reservations systems as well, a project that reliably developed into a spaghetti bowl of problems that lasted more than a week and a half. Despite hubristic claims that they could make the change without anyone even noticing, extensive delays and check-in problems resulted almost immediately; in the first five days, less than 45 percent of US Airways flights arrived on time.

These problems continued up to and through the onset of the winter storm, and the quadruple whammy of a botched and poorly timed software switch, spring break crowds, bad weather and corporate intransigence stole a lot of living time from a lot of people. And I do mean a lot of people; over 1,000 people slept on the floor in the Philadelphia airport on the first night of the storm.

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(Even worse than a night on a linoleum floor was the plight of the DeRespino family, who missed a crucial surgery appointment to due a reservations system snafu.)

And so we get to witness US Airways' utter official banalities like, "It's just a busy time of year with spring break ... and then with that storm, that really put a wrench in the works for a lot of folks" while stranding enough people to match the entire population of Missoula, Mont.

Tips to help you help yourself
OK, I said I wouldn't spend too much time complaining — so let's get on to what you can do about it if (hopefully not "when") it happens to you, whether it's corporate incompetence or weather woes. Here are a few tips to help travelers protect themselves in the event of software switches, spring storms or other airport snafus.

Watch the weather: US Airways' bug-ridden software you can't do anything about, but when it comes to the weather, you don't need to be Vivian Brown to know when a storm might affect your travel. If you are flying in winter, there's no excuse not to know at least a couple days ahead of time that your flight could be threatened. Particularly in the case of a winter storm, weather forecasting is pretty reliable 48-72 hours out; summer storms can be less predictable, as thundercloud formation can occur fairly quickly. But forewarned is forearmed, and it's not like you need to look for red skies in the morning of your travel these days to know that you might have a problem.

Consider getting a hotel reservation: Most hotels don't charge your card until you show up at the front desk, so you can usually safely book a room and cancel if your flight does take off reasonably on time. If you're stuck in an airport without easy Internet access, a good tactic is to have on hand the phone number of your preferred booking Web site.

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They're usually pretty easy to remember: 800-EXPEDIA, 888-TRAVELO, 888-656-4546 (for Orbitz — I can't figure out a good mnemonic for this one, guess they couldn't get ORBITZ1 or the like), etc. If you use this tactic, check out airport hotels first, of course; subsequently look for off-airport hotels that offer shuttle service to the airport so you can ditch your rental car or otherwise count on a ride to the airport without too much trouble or expense.

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