What happens when one flight a day gets cancelled?

[DebbieB]

Sorry, I guess I didn't explain myself well enough. I'm not worried about delays/cancellations per se. Things happen. And I only mentioned Southwest specifically b/c it's the only one besides Jetblue that has a direct flight. But Southwest, as well as AA & Cont. have like 4-6 flights a day from AUS-MCO, whereas Jetblue has just one. If there is a flight delay or cancellation due to weather/mechanics, etc odds I knew that at least with Southwest you might stand somewhat of a chance of being moved to one of the later flights that same day, whereas with Jetblue there just were NO other flights that day. I didn't know what would happen when an entire plane full of people lose their flight when there is only one a day -- even the next day you can't put them all on board if they are still just running the one flight. Make sense?

Most likely they will delay the flight while getting it repaired or when the weather clears. They could also reroute you through another city. Or you may have to wait it out on standby until a seat opens. During bad storms (hurricanes, snow storms), people have been delayed days waiting to get a flight out.

 

[crashbb]

Sorry, I guess I didn't explain myself well enough. I'm not worried about delays/cancellations per se. Things happen. And I only mentioned Southwest specifically b/c it's the only one besides Jetblue that has a direct flight. But Southwest, as well as AA & Cont. have like 4-6 flights a day from AUS-MCO, whereas Jetblue has just one. If there is a flight delay or cancellation due to weather/mechanics, etc odds I knew that at least with Southwest you might stand somewhat of a chance of being moved to one of the later flights that same day, whereas with Jetblue there just were NO other flights that day. I didn't know what would happen when an entire plane full of people lose their flight when there is only one a day -- even the next day you can't put them all on board if they are still just running the one flight. Make sense?

It really depends.

Mechanical Issue (lets assume that it is only the one plane affected).
1) Get in a new plane (Jet Blue doesn't have as much ability to do this as other airlines).
2) Get people onto connecting flights that eventually get them to their destination (maybe involve more than one connection)
3) Move people onto the next day's flight (or the day after that).

Most likely a combination of 2 and 3

Weather Issue (at home airport)
Lots of chaos. Getting in a new plane is not an option, nor are connecting flights (since those aren't taking off either).
Wait out the storm and get waitlisted onto flights after the storm. People already on those flights are NOT bumped off of them. Priority for everyone else is up to the airline's discretion (some airlines publish this, others do not). Generally based on some combination of: the day you were supposed to fly (assuming multiple days affected), the fare class you paid, when you check in, when you bought your ticket, any "status" you have

Weather Issue (at destination)
Slightly less chaos, but getting a new plane is still not an option. May send you to a hub city, so that there are more flight options once the weather clears. Might try to put people onto the next day(s) flights.

You are correct in your assumption that flying an airline with only one direct flight a day AND no alliance, makes weather/mechanical issues more of a problem. It is not that they are more likely to occur, just that they are a bigger deal if they occur.

 

[Brian Noble]

Even with multiple flights a day, it can take a while. I spent an extra two days in Washington DC a couple of years ago thanks to an ice storm that took out a half-day's worth of flights in and out---and that was with Silver (aka "Tin Elite") status on NWA.

I might have been able to get out earlier, but I took one look at the insane lines at the guest services desk, and called my hotel to get another night or two and called in the morning---even the phones were jammed all night, because a good chunk of the mid-atlantic got slammed.

 

[jamstew]

Sorry, I guess I didn't explain myself well enough. I'm not worried about delays/cancellations per se. Things happen. And I only mentioned Southwest specifically b/c it's the only one besides Jetblue that has a direct flight. But Southwest, as well as AA & Cont. have like 4-6 flights a day from AUS-MCO, whereas Jetblue has just one. If there is a flight delay or cancellation due to weather/mechanics, etc odds I knew that at least with Southwest you might stand somewhat of a chance of being moved to one of the later flights that same day, whereas with Jetblue there just were NO other flights that day. I didn't know what would happen when an entire plane full of people lose their flight when there is only one a day -- even the next day you can't put them all on board if they are still just running the one flight. Make sense?

Makes sense to me. I've wanted to try JetBlue (no issues at all with SW, just to try something different) but didn't know they only had one flight daily until recently. I usually fly out around 11AM, and it's reassuring to know that if something happens SW has several more flights that day. I'm sticking with Southwest

 

[snowbunny]

Be prepared with your own routings and solutions when problems occur, don't expect the agent to give you the best options!!

Do you think you were accomodated not only because you had a plan but because you are top tier with US?

Here's a story that happened last summer DCA-PHL on US. There were tornados in PA, everything on the east coast was backed up. After one cancellation followed by rebooking (on my cell in line!) and a long delay, my flight landed in PHL with well over an hour for me to make a connection to PWM, the last one of the day. However we sat on the tarmac for more than 2 hours because US PHL ops did not have a gate. They could have (I think but am not sure) brought airstairs to the E170 and offloaded us onto a bus. But we sat and sat, and the FA said that in fact my connection departed from the gate for which we had waited all that time.

In the terminal US agents said tough luck, yes our ops didn't have a gate for you and you missed your connection, but it was weather related so no hotel voucher, see you in the a.m. Was that reasonable in your opinion? (I was too exhausted to fight about it but it wasn't the weather that made me miss my connection, it was not being offloaded for 2 hours.)

 

[crashbb]

Do you think you were accomodated not only because you had a plan but because you are top tier with US?

Here's a story that happened last summer DCA-PHL on US. There were tornados in PA, everything on the east coast was backed up. After one cancellation followed by rebooking (on my cell in line!) and a long delay, my flight landed in PHL with well over an hour for me to make a connection to PWM, the last one of the day. However we sat on the tarmac for more than 2 hours because US PHL ops did not have a gate. They could have (I think but am not sure) brought airstairs to the E170 and offloaded us onto a bus. But we sat and sat, and the FA said that in fact my connection departed from the gate for which we had waited all that time.

In the terminal US agents said tough luck, yes our ops didn't have a gate for you and you missed your connection, but it was weather related so no hotel voucher, see you in the a.m. Was that reasonable in your opinion? (I was too exhausted to fight about it but it wasn't the weather that made me miss my connection, it was not being offloaded for 2 hours.)

It it likely that the reason that there was no gate was due to the flight schedules getting very messed up due to the weather. So, you did miss your connection due to weather.

Whether this is "reasonable" or not is up to opinion, but it seems that they were following the rules.

 

[snowbunny]

It it likely that the reason that there was no gate was due to the flight schedules getting very messed up due to the weather. So, you did miss your connection due to weather.

Whether this is "reasonable" or not is up to opinion, but it seems that they were following the rules.

Thanks. That's what they said...I know US has shuttle buses on site and surely there are airstairs available at PHL. Aggravating. US ops at PHL is apparently legendarily bad (according to the FAs on the flight, who had timed out long before we deboarded).

 

[Lewisc]

An airline might book you with an indirect connection. Texas-Chicago-Orlando for example. Consider an alternate airport in Florida. Tampa works, but make sure you can get an affordable rental car first.

 

[uva185]

Do you think you were accomodated not only because you had a plan but because you are top tier with US?

Here's a story that happened last summer DCA-PHL on US. There were tornados in PA, everything on the east coast was backed up. After one cancellation followed by rebooking (on my cell in line!) and a long delay, my flight landed in PHL with well over an hour for me to make a connection to PWM, the last one of the day. However we sat on the tarmac for more than 2 hours because US PHL ops did not have a gate. They could have (I think but am not sure) brought airstairs to the E170 and offloaded us onto a bus. But we sat and sat, and the FA said that in fact my connection departed from the gate for which we had waited all that time.

In the terminal US agents said tough luck, yes our ops didn't have a gate for you and you missed your connection, but it was weather related so no hotel voucher, see you in the a.m. Was that reasonable in your opinion? (I was too exhausted to fight about it but it wasn't the weather that made me miss my connection, it was not being offloaded for 2 hours.)

I'm not really sure, it didn't hurt, but I still wasn't offered a hotel room in PHL (I didn't ask either). Honestly what probably helped more was that I was the first person the agent helped from that flight that did not yell at her or blame the delay on her. I was also sympathetic to her dealing with all the misconnects by herself. Of course knowing exactly which flights had seats open (not per the seat map) helped tremendously so she could just plug in the flights and send me on my way. If she has a whole line of people to help she might not have spent additional time searching for the earliest possible flight with open seats.

In your situation US Airways was probably correct not to issue you a voucher. If weather caused the flights to get stuck in PHL (thus no gates were open) then it was the weather that ultimately caused the delay. Just curious but did you try to get on the nonstop DCA-PWM?

Another factor to remember is if there is first a mechanical delay and then a weather delay you can still get compensation as you can argue you may have missed the weather delay had you left on time.

I use a website called ExpertFlyer www.expertflyer.com to check airline availability. It is a pay site ($4.99 per month for the basic plan) but they do have a free 5 day trial available. For me it is an INVALUABLE tool during delays and cancellations. They have a mobile site you can use on your Blackberry too.

 

[snowbunny]

Honestly what probably helped more was that I was the first person the agent helped from that flight that did not yell at her or blame the delay on her. I was also sympathetic to her dealing with all the misconnects by herself.

ITA. I never take it out on the agent.

Just curious but did you try to get on the nonstop DCA-PWM?

Yes that was my original flight, which sat for 3 hours on the tarmac at DCA and then finally it was canceled. Rerouting through Philly was my only chance to get home that night.

We actually would have left for PHL earlier except in the row in front of me sat a woman who had whiled away the ground delay drinking in the bar. While we waited to push back she threw up all over. So the FAs had to deboard her and get the cleaning staff to come onboard. That held us up almost an hour but it probably would not have made a difference getting a gate at PHL. I felt really sorry for the crew, they'd been flying on the edge of storms all day and were worn out at least as much as me.