Business travel has always required flexibility — but in recent years, disruption has become more frequent, more costly, and more complex for travellers and the companies that support them. From weather-related cancellations to missed connections, operational delays, and rising visa challenges, travellers experienced record-high interruptions in 2025. And all signs point to 2026 becoming another challenging year.
In this article, we’ll break down how travel disruption will affect you in 2026, what it will mean for your business, and how travel agencies, TMCs, and corporate travel teams can better prepare using modern tools like ORX Travel.
Over the past three years, disruption has shifted from an occasional inconvenience to an everyday expectation. In 2025, nearly nine in ten business travellers reported experiencing delays, cancellations, or missed connections. The global airline industry continues to face labour shortages, infrastructure strain, and operational challenges — and those pressures are expected to remain in 2026.
Weather remains one of the biggest disruptors. Extreme temperatures, winter storms, hurricanes, and wildfire smoke continue to affect flight schedules across North America and Europe. Visa processing delays and new digital entry requirements are also contributing to unexpected disruptions for international travellers.
Corporate travellers, in particular, are being hit hardest. With more global teams working in hybrid environments, in-person meetings often carry higher stakes — meaning a single disrupted trip can derail negotiations, key milestones, or revenue opportunities.
Travel disruption isn’t just inconvenient — it’s expensive. In 2025, U.S. businesses alone lost more than USD 17 billion due to travel cancellations and rebooking costs. Those numbers are expected to rise again in 2026 as hotels, airlines, and car rental providers continue adjusting their pricing models during peak disruptions.
Accommodation, rebooking fees, overtime pay, and last-minute transport are among the largest expense categories for companies managing disrupted travel. Many agencies are already seeing average rebooking costs climb by 20–30%.
If 2025 taught us anything, it’s this: disruptions compound quickly. Even a single cancelled flight can trigger cascading costs across travellers, support teams, and finance departments.
In 2026, agencies and TMCs will need to:
This isn’t just cost-management — it’s risk management.
Business travellers lose valuable time every time a trip is disrupted. In 2025, travellers lost an average of five hours per disruption — and those hours often translate to delayed deliverables, extended workdays, and added pressure on teams.
When your travellers spend hours waiting in airports, fixing itineraries, or rebuilding lost time, your business loses momentum.
A cancelled flight or a delayed connection can be the difference between closing a deal or losing it. In 2025, nearly half of senior executives missed important meetings due to travel disruptions, and a significant percentage believe they lost business as a result.
In 2026, with competition increasing across nearly every sector, companies cannot afford the revenue leakage that comes from missed in-person opportunities.
Enhanced workloads, long delays, and repeated schedule changes contribute to higher stress levels across all age groups — but particularly younger travellers who value work-life balance. Disrupted travel often leads to sacrificed personal time, strained schedules, and reduced overall satisfaction.
When unmanaged, these stresses affect talent retention and morale — especially within teams that travel frequently.
Travellers are evolving their habits to accommodate disruption. In 2026, we expect more travellers to:
Flexible travel arrangements are becoming the new professional standard.
While automation and AI tools continue to improve, travellers still overwhelmingly prefer real human support when things go wrong. During major disruptions, real-time human assistance remains the most trusted and valued resource.
This presents a clear opportunity for agencies to differentiate themselves through strong, accessible customer support.
Policies are shifting from guidelines to structured frameworks that help:
Companies increasingly require travellers to book through approved platforms, which helps ensure policies are followed automatically.
In 2026, flexibility is no longer optional. It’s a strategic advantage.
Businesses that adopt flexible fares, cancellation coverage, and broader booking windows can reduce the financial and emotional strain of disrupted trips. Many organizations that introduced flexible booking options in 2025 saw significant savings — even with upfront higher ticket prices.
Technology is transforming how agencies manage uncertainty, offering:
Platforms like ORX Travel give agencies a modern, branded, white-label portal with GDS + NDC content, flexible pricing tools, and automated workflows — allowing teams to manage disruptions faster and with fewer errors.
Technology can solve many issues, but not all. High-stress, high-impact disruptions still require experienced human guidance.
The best organizations pair advanced automation with 24/7 real human support. This hybrid structure keeps travellers confident and moving — even when the unexpected happens.
The pace and frequency of disruption require agencies to operate with more resilience than ever before. A modern white-label booking portal isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s essential infrastructure.
Agencies using white-label solutions can offer:
It’s a major competitive advantage for both client experience and operational efficiency.
ORX Travel was built with these realities in mind. The platform gives agencies:
In short: ORX helps travel agencies and TMCs stay resilient, even when the industry isn’t.
To navigate rising uncertainty with confidence, agencies should:
With the right tools in place, disruptions become manageable — and even predictable.
Travel in 2026 will see more disruption, not less. But agencies and companies that plan ahead, implement strong policies, and adopt modern technology will be better positioned to reduce costs, support their travellers, and maintain steady business performance.
With ORX Travel, you can build a disruption-resistant travel program that works for your team, your travellers, and your bottom line.
Book a demo with ORX Travel today and give your clients the modern, flexible, stress-free travel experience they deserve.
