What happens when my flight is cancelled?

[Kimmar]

Not a "fear of flying" question, but more of a general aviation question just the same.

I don't fly much, so I don't know, but yesterday's weather basically shut down our international airport on one of *the* busiest days of the whole year here. One school board (Quebec) is returning all their kids from March break, and another school board (Ontario) is just letting kids out for March break, and I think they were *all* at the airport yesterday, during this horrific snowstorm.

So what happens to all those people? Do they get flights later when the weather clears? (I looked at the airport website this morning and most flights are still cancelled, but it looks like it will clear up this evening).

Just wondering what would happen to my family if this happens while we are away in Florida. What should I expect if my flight gets cancelled?

TIA!:)

[Passenger Mark]

Hi Tia!

I wish I could tell you that there is some well-organized plan. That automatically things run smooth and life is good.

Weather-related flight cancellations is just a simple reminder that as great as man thinks he is, mother nature is the real boss!

I am sure that the airports and airlines have some sort of plan, but basically, I think it is "play it by ear". Don't get me wrong, I am not being critical, what else can they do? We have yet to figure a way to control the weather.

However, they do control our safety, and there are parameters in place indicating when it is safe to fly. And if the weather does not cooperate with those parameters, flights are delayed, or canceled. No other option.

The airlines will attempt to reschedule their passengers. If it is going to be a while, there is nothing to do but camp out in the airport, go home or to a hotel, and wait. Note, that weather related delays and cancellations are NOT the responsibility of the airline, and as such, they do not owe you a hotel room, meals, etc.

All those people at your airport had to do just that. Camp out, go home, or find a hotel room. Call the airline, and watch the websites for updates.

Just like the airlines, and the airports, you are at the mercy of the weather. When the weather subsides, and it is safe to fly, they will begin getting their passengers to their intended destinations.

One thing NOT to do is get upset with the airline personal. I have seen this time and again, and have never understood it. I have seen passengers yelling at gate agents, in fact, one time at LAX, airport police had to be brought in to keep order. Why folks get all upset at airline personal is beyond me. They can't control the weather, and you sure don't want them putting you on a plane when it is not safe to do so!

[Kimmar]

I completely understand, and agree with airline safety coming first, and no matter how bad, I'm never gonna yell at a gate agent (or anyone else for that matter).

I wonder do they add extra flights when the weather clears or just try and squeeze us in on existing booked flights? Or some combo of both?

Seems there wouldn't be enough pilots, as they would be scheduled to fly already booked flights.

This is purely out of curiosity, so *I* can have a plan, should the weather take a nosedive...

I already leave a day between my arrival home and my starting work date. Weather's probably not going to be a real issue as I don't fly til the end of March, and weather is typically more springlike then. Freak snowstorms aside...LOL

[tusphotog]

If you get stuck somewhere, be flexible. It's tough when you don't have frequent flier status on an airline, but my advice is to be flexible. I've had flights get cancelled on my before, and while it's rare, you just have to be willing to do some creative routing to get where you need to be. For example, I had to be in Charlotte one year, when my ATL-CLT flight got cancelled. No space until the next day, so I ended up flying something really crazy: ATL-Cincinnati-Raleigh-Charlotte. The agent thought I was nuts. I just didn't want to drive. But it pays to know what other routings you can get. I know flying back east what the major cities are that have big hubs (BWI for Southwest, ATL for Delta etc). If you can get to a "hub" you'll have a better chance at getting out of the hub, than if you're at, say, Mobile, Alabama.

Extra sections are rare, but happen from time to time: like at DEN a couple years ago with that huge snowstorm. Normally they can fit you on other flights. Also, when you realize your flight is cancelled (and many other ones are, too), call the 800 number ASAP, when waiting in line to get rebooked. Chances are, you can get a reroute over the phone faster. Also, if things really go sour, find a hotel room ASAP. I never travel without my laptop and aircard so I'm always able to get hotels quickly. This happened to me a few years ago in San Diego. I had a hotel and car lined up within 10 minutes of finding I'd miss a connection and be stuck there for a night. It made it really easy to get off the plane in San Diego and go straight to the hotel.

[Passenger Mark]

Not too sure about bringing in "extra" planes. I don't think the airlines have too much extra equipment, as the way they make money is if the plane is in the air. Most likely they just get you out the best way they can, using what resources they have.

Tus makes excellent recommendations in being flexible.

Since the counter agents are most likely overwhelmed, I would suggest actually calling the reservation 800 number to work out your re-route.

I did this in Houston when our flight was canceled due to heavy fog. The counters were overwhelmed with displaced passengers, so while in line I got on the phone with the airline. By the time I got to the counter, I had all the details worked out, and it was just a matter of getting a new ticket!

[LeslieDEN]

Not sure what airline you are flying, but you might want to check and see if they have something similar to United's "EasyUpdate" service where they contact you in the event that your flight is canceled.

It's on my mind because it happened to me on Monday, and EasyUpdate saved me a lot of hassle. My flight was scheduled for 8:00 a.m., and when I checked my email that morning, I had an message from United saying that the flight had been canceled and giving me a number to call. I did, and the rep told me the flight had indeed been canceled and they had booked me on the 6:00 p.m. flight. Much better than going all the way to the airport before finding out!

To sign up for the service on United, you just have to be a member of their frequent flyer program and your reservation has to include your frequent flyer number. You don't need to be elite or anything. I bet your airline has something similar, and you might want to check into it. Chances are you'll never need it, but it's sure nice to have when you do!

[maroonwings]

I just had this problem over the weekend. I will be posting a longer report of my trip this morning, but to answer your question...we were stuck. We flew into Dallas just as a snowstorm hit, and our connecting flight was cancelled. American automatically rebooked us on a flight the next morning. We looked around and saw that American had a flight going out sooner, so we got on the standby list for that one. (Standby means that you might get on the flight if there's room.) Unfortunately that one got cancelled too. We were lucky in this case because we had family in Dallas who were kind enough to take us in for the night, so we didn't have to sleep in the airport. Other people who weren't so lucky had to either get a hotel or sleep in the airport. The airlines, as far as I could tell, don't have to pay for your hotel or food or anything if the delay is weather-related. I heard from some people that they will provide discount coupons for hotels, but since we didn't get a hotel I don't know if that's true. Anyway, moral of the story is be sure to keep ALL allowed essentials in your carry-on. We weren't able to get our luggage back while we were delayed, so we had to buy little travel size deodorants and so on, but I had all of my prescription meds in the carry-on with me and I was very thankful for that.

Beth