What to do if your flight is cancelled - Weather, mechanical, etc

[bavaria]

Oh, those danged, old-fashioned airports that don't even provide pay telephones for passengers' use...

At O'Hare in the United terminal, most payphones have been removed and are now laptop stations. There was a long row of behinds along the concourse on Sunday night as people were trying to change plans. Luckily I spend most of the night in the lounge, eating chocolate and playing around online on this site!

But you do bring up a good point - don't count on using a payphone much these days, even in airports.

 

[bavaria]

bumped per request

 

[PURTYPAT1]

At O'Hare in the United terminal, most payphones have been removed and are now laptop stations. There was a long row of behinds along the concourse on Sunday night as people were trying to change plans. Luckily I spend most of the night in the lounge, eating chocolate and playing around online on this site!

But you do bring up a good point - don't count on using a payphone much these days, even in airports.

Did you make it home for Christmas?

 

[bavaria]

Did you make it home for Christmas?

46 hours worth of Christmas before I headed out again - but thanks for asking!

 

[Callie]

Great tips. We were flying from South Bend to Fort Lauderdale this x-mas through NWA michigan hub. When we got to Detriot we missed out connection and stayed calm while they told us we'd have to wait until the morning to fly out. We nicely told them why our plane was late and they looked it up. We ended up flying first class to St. Paul, then first class to Florida finally that night.

 

[Alexander]

...Also, a special note about travelling with small children or anyone who has special dietary needs. Always carry at least 24 hours worth of whatever special items or foods that the person needs; baby items are not widely available in airports, and when there is a ground stop they run out super-fast...

Too true! Especially if your baby requires a special formula! I traveled last Feb. with enough RTF formula cans for 9 bottles, and the TSA gave me a bit of a hard time. They thought it was excessive for my flight....Well, lo and behold, we ended up at the airport for 18 hours and then overnight in a nearby hotel. I used the last can of formula as we were landing the next morning. DS took a very specialized type of formula due to severe allergies, and without my "excessive" amount of formula, we would have had a real problem!

PS--We didn't have any clean undies, and ended up washing them in the sink with shampoo! That won't happen again--we'll be better prepared!

 

[rdevine10]

Wow, some great tips! Ill be sure to remember these! Our last flying experience, our flights were cancelled each way and left us with over an 8 hour delay in the airports with 2 very young kids (4 and 1). It was miserable!

I was unaware I could book by phone onto another flight. I will SURELY remember that! At least when one of the delays was at MCO, and my kids enjoyed riding the shuttles!

 

[starrzone]

Bumped for all us March/ Spring Break travelers! I'm going on a (non-Disney!) Mexican Riviera cruise leaving Sunday from LA. I live in NB, Canada, so it's a pretty long trip to get there; I fly out of Halifax on Continental with a connection in Newark. I'm meeting my friend in Newark and we are flying to LA together. I'm a bit worried what will happen if one of us gets delayed (my friend is flying Albany- Newark to meet me) since I don't have a cell phone...does anyone know if there are many payphones at the Newark airport? I do have my friend's cell # and can call him from a payphone if need be.

Thanks!

 

[safetymom]

I followed all the "rules" when I was coming back from DL several weeks ago. We were on the plane when they announced the flight was cancelled. I got off the plane and called special member services. They couldn't get on another flight until the next evening. I talked with other flyers around me and found they were getting confirmed seats on the next flight that night. So I called sms again. Told the same thing.

Finally I approached the gate agent. She forced us on the standy list for the next flight. Thankfully we got on it.

I researched the facts before I approached Delta and then I emailed them. The responded several hours later. They did gift us with miles.

I told them I understood that things happen but as a preferred flyer I should have been "protected" with a confirmed seat on the next plane. I also thanked them for the great professional gate agent that helped me.

I realize that bad things happen with weather, etc and fully expect it. It all depends on how they treat me if I will fly them the next time.

Bavaria, I know ORD well and sitting on the floor making plans. We were evacuated from there the last time I flew in. There was a tornado sighted in the area and we all had to go to the tunnel. Made for a good travel story. I met many new friends while I was sitting there waiting for a friend.

 

[Lewisc]

I don't think I've seen this suggestion, if for some reason your outbound flight is changed, particularly to another carrier, double check your return flight. The computer system may cancel your return flight if you don't take your outbound flight.

 

[bavaria]

I've made a few new friends with the travelling!

To the previous poster, I sat at EWR while writing a lot of this thread, and there were still a few payphones.

Last week I was connecting at ORD; my 2.5 hour connection became a 12 MINUTE connection. I made it from B gates to C gates and on board the aircraft in 4 MINUTES (I am a lot faster than I look!)

But as we were sitting on the tarmac for almost an hour, I kept calling UA 'EasyUpdate' to find out the status of my connecting flight as well as the gate, so as soon as we pulled in to the gate I was ready to run.

My luggage of course did not make it, but I was able to deal because I had my two changes of undies in my handbag, along with my 3-1-1 items.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

My luggage of course did not make it, but I was able to deal because I had my two changes of undies in my handbag, along with my 3-1-1 items.

I need to list the contents and photograph what I now call my 'bavaria' bag. It contains everything I need in case we are stranded somewhere for an extended period of time. One Adam Twelve, be on the lookout.

 

[Jillpie]

I read this thread for the first time a year ago, right before our March BOS-MCO trip. Well, my son and I ended up getting stranded on the way home at JFK, and sleeping on the floor of that airport all night long. I remembered this thread! Anyway, my biggest tip for anyone potentially going to be stranded...I had a portable DVD player with me, it SAVED my life that night!! I was the envy of everyone around me. I had an entire season of Grey's Anatomy with me, and literally watched about 7 hours of it. It was awesome and it really passed the time. It was the longest night of my life. And why the heck when JFK has thousands of poor people trying to sleep everywhere that they don't turn that blasted loud music off?? Anyway, bring DVD and charger with you, you'll be glad you did.

 

[debster812]

Anyway, bring DVD and charger with you, you'll be glad you did.

ITA with this, at least for a while longer. I'm generally travelling with my 10 year old, and while he's a GREAT traveller, he does require a little more 'entertainment' than the average business traveller.

We were delayed nearly 6 hours in Ft Myers on Friday, due to snow and airport closures in the Northeast. At one point, DS and about 8 other kids were all crowded around his DVD player. We found a wall outlet for them, parked them in the corner, and took off the headphones.

One of the other dads went up the concourse, and bought snacks and candy for the kids, "Just like at the Movies".

 

[bavaria]

Bumped for Easter/Spring Break travel

PLEASE a reminder to not let your emotions take control. You have the power to control your destiny, if you educate yourself a little beforehand.

And yet another reminder:

There is no pixie dust when it comes to Transportation

 

[Valjean13]

I just found this thread, it has great tips. Many of which I have used myself in previous situations.
A few years ago DH and I were in the air, on the way from Vancouver to Toronto, when all the tv channels (satellite tv on West Jet) suddenly cut to a plane that had gone off the runway at Toronto. The airport was shut down for an indeterminate amount of time.... Our flight ended up being diverted to Winnipeg, and all West Jet told us was to either stand in line or call their 1-800 number to see about getting rebooked. DH and I took one look at the amount of people coming in (lots of planes getting diverted there) and decided that I would use my cell to call the airline, while he went to the big hotel advertisement board and used the phone to look for a hotel room. The hotel manager even gave us 15% off after DH told him why we were booking a room at the last minute.
Turns out we had to wait 3 days for another flight home, but it turned into a Winnipeg mini-vacation for us. When we got to the hotel and watched the news that night we saw tons of people stranded in airports all over the country, sleeping in the terminal because they had no where else to go. We were so glad we'd found a room, because our hotel booked up quite fast due to the number of delayed people in the area.
After that experience we know you have to be flexible, avoid standing in line at the counter to make changes if you can do it on the phone, and make the most out of travel delays. We explored the city, did some tourist stuff and just relaxed, knowing our situation was 100% better than many other stranded people!

 

[CruisinEars]

Wow, great thread. Thankfully I have only been stranded once and that was many years ago here in Seattle with a fog delay on Christmas Eve. I was about 19 and traveling alone. I did end up getting out later in the day, but I did keep my cool and just did the waiting game until my name was called for standby.

The one item I always have with me is a good book to read while waiting (I don't have a laptop to keep me entertained). I also keep snacks in my carry on and always have my prescription meds with me.

We are flying to MCO from SEA in just over a month and I don't expect any trouble, but now I know what to do just in case. My dh has a blackberry so I will be loading that with info before we go.

Thanks to all who have posted the wonderful ideas as well as actual stories. They really help put the ideas into real world situations.

 

[crashbb]

This came up in another thread, and I'm not sure it is clearly stated here, so I thought I'd add it:

If you are in a canceled flight situation, tell the agent if you are able/willing to change your departure and/or arrival city. Most go into "automatic pilot" mode and look for flights between the original A and B. If you are willing to fly from C or into D, TELL THEM.

For example, I was flying to Fort Lauderdale one Christmas and the flight got canceled. Getting to FLL was going to take a day, but I could get to Miami or West Palm Beach. Since both these other airports were reasonable for the person picking me up (actually West Palm was even better than FLL), I got one of those flights. This didn't work for those who had car rentals waiting at FLL (a last minute car rental over Christmas from the new airport would have been insanely expensive), but it worked for me, so I made sure that the agent knew that.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Keeping your cool can help. We were at our regional airport when we watched on flyeraware our plane out of Atlanta divert elsewhere due to "weather", BUT every other plane was landing no problem. We just joked with the gate agent that the pilot was from Atlanta and those drivers can't handle any flakes. So before the plane was officially called cancelled. He got us on the next plane out and we were only an hour late to our final destination, with our luggage no less.

However, I have had bad gate agents. The USAir gate agent assigning us seats on the plane a Delta agent booked us on due to a flight cancellation wrote SSS in pen knowing we had 20 minutes to run through the airport, get through security and make it to the gate. We had just driven 2 1/2 hours from one airport to another. She wasn't happy to find seats for 6 people and couldn't have been less pleasant. It was obvious to us she didn't consider us "her" customers. Wouldn't even look us in the eye. We tried joking around and being as pleasant as we could - hey we were relieved to have a flight to begin with - but she knew if she wrote that we would be pulled aside. The TSA agents missed me and I took my shoes off and sprinted to the gate to let them know we were on the way.

Anyway, here is my tip. Even if you are traveling with someone else, carry some money of your own. I had lunch and a glass of wine while two spouses with no money and no one nearby went hungry.

 

[hannah03]

Great thread and info everyone I'm hoping for good weather out of MHT in 12 days!!