Lukla Flight Inconsistencies - Beware and Plan Better for Everest Base Camp Trek

Lukla Flight Inconsistency is a major problem for all those planning the Everest Base Camp Trek and other treks that starts from Lukla and the Solukhumbhu region of Nepal. Lukla is one of the most Dangerous airport in the World and the flight schedule is very much affected by the weather conditions. Often it happens that the flights might not take off due to turbulent weather and visibility conditions for which your plan may fall out of schedule. It affects not just your schedule but also the tea-house bookings and the local bookings that you might have made for guide an porters.

I have listed the below important pointers to keep in mind while you plan to take this flight to start your trek.

1. The flights to Lukla is not a simple one and is not always guaranteed to fly on time and reach on time. It is governed by the Weather Gods and that's not under the control of your trek operator or the airlines. Understandably, for safety reasons, on a bad weather day, the flights do not take off. This is a serious problem and your entire planning will fall apart if you do not make a note of this. Including buffer days for this particular uncertainty is very much advised. 
2. A good travel planner will always consult and check out weather alerts before scheduling their travel.
3. Sometime flights do not fly on consecutive days.
4. Mostly, the first flights take off, so make it a point to book your flights very early to be assured a first flight. 
5. If you miss a flight, do not cancel it as the airlines will try its best to put you on the next flight, next day, without any cost. If you cancel your tickets, they will charge you cancellation charge. However, the flights for next day will not be empty either, so you might not get the tickets for the next or you might not get the tickets on the first or second flight. If you are time bound, do check with other airlines as well if they can book you a seat in their first or second flight. If they can, cancel you previous tickets.
6. The delay in a day, or sometimes couple of days might affect your schedule and bookings of the tea houses. These things are out of your control. So plan in a manner which is for the best interest of everyone involved in your plan - i.e. the guides, porters, travel agent, tea houses etc. Usually everyone understands this problem and tries to co-operate. You too need to co-operate on this matter.
7. This problem of the flight not flying can also create a problem managing your stay in Kathmandu, as you might not find suitable hotels during a peak season, or might have to put up in a expensive hotels because of your unplanned return. Do keep this in your mind.
8. We suggest including atleast 2 buffer days in your travel plan and booking first flights to Lukla to overcome this uncertainty.
9. Usually while flying back from Lukla, the airlines can pre-pone your tickets without any cost if they have a seat flying without a passenger. You may keep this in mind while booking your return flight.

A Better Hope:

The Government in Nepal is on plan to connect Lukla easily by road from Jiri and onwards. The roadhead now gets closer and can be driven till Salleri. Once thats complete, we can definitely get off with the Lukla Flight Inconsistencies Problem while planning our treks and expeditions to the Solukhumbhu region.

Checkout the different treks that start from this region.

• Everest Base Camp Trek
• Everest Gokyo Circuit Trek
• Everest Gokyo Three Passes Trek
• Island Peak 6189 with Everest Base Camp
• Mera Peak Summit Trek
• Lobuche Climbing Expedition