Dick Eppstein with the Better Business Bureau communicated the following traveling suggestion.

Caller to BBB: “Hey BBB. I know there is nothing you can do, but I have a flight scheduled to visit family for Thanksgiving and again for Christmas. I see the news about airlines canceling hundreds of flights and I am very worried that they may cancel mine. Do you folks have any tips on ways to protect yourself against a canceled holiday flight?”

BBB says: Well, yes, sort of. We have all seen the terrible situation where some airlines cancel hundreds of flights, leaving holiday travelers stranded.

Here are a few tips to try and protect yourself against this.

•First, try and book the earliest possible flights.

If you experience a cancelation, you will have the best available options to take a later flight or travel on a different airline.

•Next, see if your credit card includes flight interruption insurance (also called travel insurance). Many credit cards provide it.

There are also travel insurance companies that sell coverage. Be sure to check their BBB grade–some programs are better than others.

•Third, make sure you have the airline app installed on your phone and check the status of your flight regularly.

If it is canceled, you will learn about it immediately on the app and have possible ways to reschedule immediately.

The alternative is spending hours on the phone trying to talk to someone at the airline.

•Fourth, if your itinerary includes changing planes, try to book through a warm weather airport rather than really busy airports in cold weather cities.

If the weather looks like a problem, you might do some quick research on hotels in the transfer city to avoid getting stranded and spending the night at the airport.

Important tip: before you hire a company or buy from an unfamiliar seller, be sure to get a BBB report on the company. Go to BBB.org or call 419-531-3116 or 800-743-4222.