Cancelled flights are a headache for everyone. Airlines don’t like to cancel. Cancelling a flight starts a whole domino effect, not just for your flight, but for flights down the line all through the day. Planes end up in the wrong places with crews that can’t fly them because of time regulations.

The most common reason a flight is cancelled is probably weather. Sometimes this is obvious, like if you’re sitting in the middle of a snow storm, and no one is moving anywhere. Sometimes it is not obvious. The bad weather might be occurring somewhere else. Maybe there are severe thunderstorms on the East Coast, and that’s where the flight is coming from. Maybe the flight is coming from sunny Florida but would have to fly through a hub in the middle of one of those storms. Maybe there is a sandstorm in the Sahara desert or a typhoon in Japan. Weather anywhere in the world can affect your flight if it is a long haul flight.

Another reason flights may be cancelled is mechanical problems. In this case, you certainly want the flight cancelled, but it’s hard not to feel frustrated anyway.

A flight could be cancelled because there have been delays, and now the crew has been waiting for too long. There are rules about when they can fly and when they can’t.

If your flight is cancelled, the second you hear that your plane is not going anywhere, call the airline’s toll-free number. It’s a smart idea to have it programed in your cell phone. Get into the line at the counter, especially if it’s fairly short, but make that call while you’re standing in line. There’s a good possibility you’ll get rebooked quicker on the phone than at the counter where a couple of overwhelmed airline employees are being swarmed by a plane full of disgruntled fliers.

Ask what your options are. It pays to have alternatives in mind before you get to the airport. Most of the time you won’t need to use the alternatives, but with cancelled flights, the sooner you can act on those alternatives, the more apt you are to get on your way while everyone else is still trying to figure out what to do.

Most airlines will rebook you with no fees or penalties on the next flight on which space is available. During holiday periods or really bad weather situations, this could be more than just a few hours. As you have seen in the news the last few years, you know it can even be days!

If the wait seems too long, ask the agent if there might be a seat on another airline. They are in competition, but airlines will often endorse your ticket to another carrier to try to get you on your way in a timely fashion.

If these things don’t work, suggest solving your flight problem by connecting through another city or going to another airport. Remember, all of these suggestions only work if your cancelled flight is pretty much an isolated situation. If all the airlines are canceling flights, as they must in bad weather, patience is the only thing that will help.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 5:20 pm and is filed under Adventure Travel, Travel Basics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.