Airport Travel Disruption Challenge

1 Participant Information

Participant Name

Team Name

2 The Scenario

Your group is traveling together to a major conference. A severe thunderstorm has caused your flight to be canceled, and the airport is crowded with stranded passengers. The next available direct flight is tomorrow, hotel rooms are filling quickly, and one team member has medication packed in a checked bag.

To protect the group, control costs, and still arrive as close to schedule as possible, your team must agree on the exact order of six actions. Some actions may happen quickly, but choosing the wrong first move could leave the group without transportation, lodging, or essential items.

3 The Scrambled Actions

A

Reserve nearby hotel rooms with a flexible cancellation policy.

B

Contact the airline service desk or app to confirm rebooking options and baggage status.

C

Notify the conference organizer and any scheduled transportation provider about the delay.

D

Gather the full team, confirm everyone is safe, and identify urgent personal or medical needs.

E

Compare alternate travel routes, including connecting flights, train, rental car, or another airport.

F

Assign roles so one person handles airline options, one handles lodging, and one communicates updates.

4 Your Rankings

Instructions: First rank the actions individually. Then work with your team to reach one shared ranking. Do not vote or average answers—the team must reach full consensus.

Sequence	Individual Ranking	Team Ranking	Expert Ranking

5 Debrief Questions

1. What caused the biggest disagreement between team members?

2. Which action seemed urgent but was not necessarily the best first step?

3. What communication behavior helped the team reach consensus?

6 Facilitator Area

The answer key should be revealed only after the team has completed its ranking.

Recommended Logical Sequence

Step 1 = D — Gather the team and identify safety, medical, and immediate personal needs. The medication issue may affect every later decision.

Step 2 = F — Assign roles immediately so the group can work in parallel without duplicating effort or missing critical tasks.

Step 3 = B — Confirm official airline rebooking choices and checked-baggage status before committing to a replacement plan.

Step 4 = E — Compare realistic alternatives using the confirmed airline information, arrival needs, timing, and total cost.

Step 5 = A — Secure lodging once the team knows whether an overnight stay is likely. Flexible cancellation protects the group if plans change.

Step 6 = C — Notify the conference and transportation contacts after the group has enough information to provide an accurate update.

Facilitation Notes

There may be reasonable debate between Steps 3–5. The strongest teams explain assumptions, surface urgent needs, and avoid acting on incomplete information.

The exercise is designed to demonstrate that assigning roles early allows multiple tasks to move forward while the team still follows a shared strategic sequence.

Emphasize process over perfection: listening, clarifying assumptions, handling disagreement, and reaching true consensus are the main learning goals.