What to Do If Your Flight is Cancelled
Flight cancellations upend travel plans for millions of Americans each year, with tons of flight disruptions caused by staffing shortages and winter weather. This post covers how to avoid being impacted, what to do to improve your chances of a successful rebooking when your flight is canceled, and how to minimize headaches. (Updated December 26, 2022.)
According to flight-tracking platform FlightAware, over 17,000 flights throughout the United States have been cancelled thus far during the Christmas travel week. This is mainly due to severe winter weather across much of the United States, which brought snow, ice, high winds and bitter cold around the country, grounding flights from coast to coast.
While winter storms have hit airlines hard over the holiday travel period, that hasn’t been the only issue. Unexpected fog on the West Coast and staffing shortages, in addition to the winter weather, had a ripple effect on flights around the country. From Wednesday through Christmas Eve, approximately one-quarter of Southwest’s flights were canceled and two-thirds were delayed, making it one of the most negatively impacted airlines.
On Monday (December 26, 2022), more than 1,700 flights were canceled and 2,200 more were delayed, down from nearly 3,200 canceled flights and 7,700 delayed U.S. flights on Christmas. Every airline has been impacted–Delta, American, United, JetBlue, Alaska, and Southwest all reported significantly more cancellations than normal. Meanwhile, it was just an ordinary week for Spirit and Frontier, which aimed to maintain their customary 50% delay or cancellation rate.
Joking aside, it hasn’t helped that the worst of the weather and cancellations came on some of the busiest travel days of the year; this was compounded by carriers planning lighter schedules for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. That has made it more difficult for the airlines to rebook travelers on other flights, as there wasn’t much spare bandwidth or empty seats–many flights over the weekend and through this coming week leading up to New Year’s Eve are already fully booked.
With this in mind, here’s our advice for minimizing the impact of delays and cancellations–and improving your odds of a speedy recovery…
We have flown numerous times in the last several months–and have had several flights cancelled during that time. In our years of traveling, we’ve faced (and defeated!) a number of flight disruptions, including a few hours before a flight to Japan and while connecting the day before a Disney Cruise Line voyage out of Copenhagen that had us reenacting Planes, Trains and Automobiles (minus the automobiles).
With these staffing shortages and flight disruptions unlikely to abate anytime soon (a couple of our cancellations were during the offseason at times when supply/demand shouldn’t have been an issue), we thought it would be helpful to put together some tips of what we’ve learned from our past experiences. Obviously, not all of this is going to be immediately helpful–especially if you’re currently stranded at the airport–but it’s potentially useful knowledge to have for future bookings, too.
On that note, let’s begin with the booking process. For starters, book nonstop flights whenever possible. The reason here should be self-evident; fewer flights equals fewer potential disruptions.
That won’t be an option for some of you, as there are not nonstop routes between your city of origin and the destination. However, you might have more choices if you’re willing to drive a bit farther to a larger airport. For example, when traveling to and from Southern California, we often choose LAX over SNA even though the former is farther away. It’s also more of a “pain” on the ground, but usually fewer problems where it matters–in the air.
If you have no choice but to book a flight with a connection, try to do so in a hub city. (If you’re unfamiliar with which airports are hubs for each airline, Google your carrier of choice + hub cities.) In the event that your connection does get cancelled, you’ll be better off stuck in a city with a higher flight volume.
Conversely, try to avoid cities where inclement weather is more likely to cause a disruption. Atlanta makes for a better layover in December than Chicago. You might also want to build in a bit of a buffer with your layover–that shorter flight duration might be attractive, but 40 minutes is cutting it close when there’s even a minor delay.
Next, book with the airline directly. This isn’t an issue for those of you who fly Southwest, but it can be a problem with other airlines.
On occasion, it’s possible to find a deal on flights via Expedia or other booking engines on flights. There are discounted packages that include some combination of airfare, accommodations, and ground transportation. We would strongly discourage you from booking these, unless they offer tremendous savings that you simply cannot pass up.
The problem with these packages is dealing with a third party when attempting to rebook a flight. You’re going to have two problems. First, long telephone wait times (measured in hours, not minutes), as those booking engines are almost universally understaffed. Second, you’re going to get the runaround. The booking site will try to pass the buck to the airline, and vice-versa. There’s a <10% chance you’ll get the issue resolved with one phone call.
If you know us, you know we’re incredibly frugal and are huge deal hounds. However, we also know the value of our time and cost of inconvenience. To that end, there is no monetary savings that would convince me to roll the dice and book a flight via Expedia or another booking engine. None.
To each their own, but I’ve heard and witnessed enough horror stories to make the same mistake myself. As much as I love saving money, I love not pulling my hair out in frustration more. I simply don’t have enough hair left to sacrifice any more of it! If there’s a bundle discount, you can be certain there’s another way to save money–opt for that alternative.
Speaking of deals, I recently could’ve saved $60 by flying from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Orlando via Frontier. Unfortunately, the flight had a layover in Denver (yes, Colorado) and Frontier didn’t operate any flights out of GRR the following day. Suffice to say, that felt like playing with fire, so I paid the $60 extra for a nonstop flight. For me, that was worth the extra $60 for an entirely uneventful (and much shorter) flight.
Generally speaking, this is also one of several reasons why I’m averse to low-cost carriers. It’s not because I enjoy wasting money. Rather, since those low-cost carriers typically fly fewer routes, don’t have reciprocal relationships with other airlines, and are less responsive when issues arise since they compete on price and not customer service.
Fast-forward to post-booking, roughly 24 hours before departure. We’d recommend starting to periodically check out the status of your flight and the flights before your flight starting at that time. Many airlines have a “where is my plane coming from?” link right in their dashboard.
Failing that, FlightAware has a feature for tracing back your flight along with an interactive “Misery Map,” both of which can help anticipate disruptions before they are posted to your flight status.
Now, you shouldn’t freak out and call the airline to rebook if there’s a 20 minute delay nearly a day in advance of your flight, but if inclement weather or something else is clearly going to be an issue before your flight status is updated, it might behoove you to proactively call and attempt making an adjustment.
Many airlines will accommodate, especially once it’s obvious to them there will be systemic delays or cancellations; moving forward your flight essentially amounts to reduced future burden for them.
On the day of your flight, be sure you have the airline’s official app and are signed up for text message and push notifications about your flight status. In addition to the redundant alerts, having the app can be helpful for quickly rebooking if your flight status is officially changed to delayed or cancelled. In such a scenario, you’re essentially competing with other impacted customers; fast action in that capacity-constrained environment gives you an advantage.
Beyond that, customer service phone lines are notoriously short-staffed right now. By the time you’re able to get through, it might be too late or your options will be far more limited. (If there’s no button to rebook in your airline’s app, try contacting them on social media before calling.)
If none of that works, or if you’re already at the airport, head to a self-service kiosk or speak with a booking agent. Ideally, attempt to do both.
A self-service kiosk might be faster, but a human agent will usually have more options, including potentially rebooking you on another airline. (For the latter approach, it’s incredibly helpful if you already have a flight–with availability–in mind.)
In “advice that should be obvious,” be polite when speaking to a customer service representative. For one, it’s the right thing to do. For another, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. In other words, if you’re asking for an accommodation over which the agent has a degree of discretion, your odds of success are significantly higher if you’re nice.
If you’re traveling with multiple adults, know your strengths and play to them–this is why I head to the self-service kiosk while Sarah talks to an agent! People tend to like her more, whereas computers lack the sentience (for now) to dislike me.
This has been our approach over the years, and it has almost always worked out. The only times we’ve gotten stranded were scenarios when that was our best course of action and it didn’t really matter to us.
There are also other ‘advanced level’ things we are able do by virtue of credit cards and/or traveling frequently, such as having status with certain airlines and access to club lounges where lines are nonexistent and agents often go above and beyond. That’s more long-term strategy (useful for a variety of reasons) than near-term advice, though.
With that said, sometimes none of this advice will prove fruitful. There’s literally no way to salvage the situation–a point at which further efforts become a headache-inducing waste of time. I’d hazard a guess that right now is one of those times throughout much of the United States, as the volume of cancellations is so high, as is the degree of demand.
There simply aren’t a ton of good alternatives that haven’t already been booked. On top of that, customer service reps have likely taken abuse from people who didn’t read the “advice that should be obvious” above, and are less likely to go out of their way to help–even if you’re the most polite person ever.
That’s just the way it goes sometimes, in which case you can either keep trying to swim upstream in the hopes of getting lucky, or cut your losses and rebook another flight out of pocket (if available) or head off to a hotel. In this scenario, one final recommendation is to read the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Consumer Guide to Air Travel. If you’re traveling within or from another country, do a quick Google search for country name + travel bill of rights (or something like that). Many countries have imposed certain minimum airline requirements for compensation and addressing delays or cancellations.
More than anything else, the advice we’d offer is to minimize the odds of your flight being delayed or cancelled, prepare in advance for it anyway, and develop a plan for what to do when it happens. This will enable you to be decisive in the moment, implementing your strategy as quickly as possible to (hopefully) achieve the best outcome.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you experienced any flight cancellations or noteworthy delays while traveling during the spring break season or when there’s inclement weather? What’s your strategy to reduce the likelihood of travel disruptions? Any other tips or anecdotal advice/experiences for addressing and overcoming cancellations that might arise? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
There is no excuse for the disaster at Southwest this holiday week. Complete and utter infrastructure failure. I hope heads roll and management sees some major overhauls. They obviously did not learn anything from their last debacle. I feel bad for the customer service folks that have to cover for their leadership’s lack of effort in fixing the problems at Southwest.
Got an email last week that the DLR Southern California ticket deal was going to begin on January 2 instead of the 9th-I’m thinking this had something to do with it.
Mostly good advice, but I would add that the rebooking on another airline is only going to happen on the big 3 and possibly JetBlue. If you are on Southwest/Spirit/Frontier/Allegiant, they won’t rebook you on another airline because they don’t have those deals in place.
Second, if you really need to avoid big delays, try to avoid the ultra low cost carriers like Spirit/Frontier/Allegiant, especially if you aren’t flying to Orlando from a major city. They tend to operate routes with less frequency (think once per day or even once every other day). If things go pear-shaped, there aren’t going to be a ton of options to get you home and you could be stranded for days on end. Larger airlines tend to operate more frequencies per day and also with their hub and spoke model you can get out of Orlando where there might not be as many flights to your destination to a hub city where there are more.
Also if you know that there might be bad weather/flight issues before you leave, consider carrying-on bags instead of checking them. When there are major systemwide issues caused by weather, being able to move quickly is key. Things are changing constantly in these situations and sometimes you might be able to be rebooked on a flight departing immediately. If you have a checked bag, you can only get rebooked on flights where there is enough time to get your luggage from your original flight and load it on your new flight.
This one is less useful for some and depends on the airline (only Delta, American, or United, domestically), the airport you are using,and your party composition, but if you know in advance there are going to be issues or if they occur at the airport, it can sometimes be advantageous to book a one day pass to an airline lounge. The main reason for this is lounges typically have staff member(s) there to help lounge guests deal with issues. Not only do they tend to be smarter and more flexible than gate agents, but they often also have more power to get what you want. Most importantly, there is usually a shorter wait to get their help. Not to mention that while someone is dealing with the flight situation the rest of your party can find a place to sit and grab a snack/drink where it is slightly less chaotic. Lounge access typically ranges from $50-$75 and allow for a guest and often 1-2 kids access with one pass. If you can swing it and you are in an airport that has a lounge run by the airline you are flying (Orlando Airport has all three US airlines that operate lounges), it can be worth the spend, especially in those times when air travel operations are a mess.
Finally, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, knowledge is power and can help you take control of a bad situation. Before you fly, make a note of the hub airports for the airlines you are flying and also other destinations that same airline flies nonstop from your home airport and Orlando (this is easily done by going to each airport’s Wikipedia page and scrolling to destinations, which are usually accurate). This can help you move quickly should things change with your travel plans while traveling. In addition, use that knowledge to get a sense of your options before you go try to get help from the airline either by trying to buy tickets home for your party on the website and seeing what’s available without actually booking them or even looking at other flights on the airline leaving from the airport and seeing if you can get home from there.
If you go to an airline and ask what they can give you, they usually will offer whatever their reservation management offer spits out, even if that is hours or days away/through an airport likely to also be affected by weather. Going to the agent with at least some knowledge can allow you to specify routings that might best limit problems, and if you can go to them armed with a specific flight numbers with enough seats FOR SALE (the seating chart sometimes leads you to think more seats are avail than not) for your party, you are more likely to get what you want. The agents generally want to help you, but they can’t spend all day trying to find the best flight home for your party, especially when they to deal with an entire plane of people in the same situation. Agents usually have the ability to search flights by flight number or connecting airport and are happy to use that capability if you do a little of the legwork on your own. Being flexible, and arming yourself with knowledge can make the difference between getting home the day you planned or days later.
We are not converted to carry on. It makes everything so much easier. I don’t mind doing laundry in our villa at all (or even while sitting at the pool for a couple of hours) and my kids are old enough to pull their own rolling bag now. We recently flew from BUF-LAX for Disneyland with a layover in Midway. What a nightmare! We were lucky our flight was only delayed about 30 min and also our connection but the airport was packed at almost 11 pm with people waiting for delayed flights. It’s very reassuring that I don’t have to worry about our luggage during a quick turnaround time. We even took carryon in Feb to Calgary Alberta complete with winter boots , hats , mitts and jackets. It can be done!
I think your simple way of explaining how to avoid what happens at MCO on April 2nd is offensive. We booked directly with the airline, we had a direct flight, we were constantly checking the flight status, we waited in the 4+ hour line to talk to an agent at the airport (we arrived 4 hours early for our flight because we saw what was happening). I feel confident that we did everything we could to avoid the major inconvenience we encountered, and yet we were stranded at the Orlando airport until all hours without any information or help on how to get home. We were one of the fortunate travelers that, after 8 hours of waiting in line, were able to get a rental car to drive 17+ hours home. This is no thanks to southwest, and so far, southwest has not been cooperative in making any of this right. They only respond with a lame excuse about the weather (even though it was their technical problems that started the whole problem).
From the article: “With that said, sometimes none of this advice will prove fruitful. There’s literally no way to salvage the situation–a point at which further efforts become a headache-inducing waste of time. I’d hazard a guess that right now is one of those times throughout much of the United States, as the volume of cancellations is so high, as is the degree of demand.
There simply aren’t a ton of good alternatives that haven’t already been booked. On top of that, customer service reps have likely taken abuse from people who didn’t read the “advice that should be obvious” above, and are less likely to go out of their way to help–even if you’re the most polite person ever.”
I booked Frontier airlines leaving mco to Trenton Mercer Nj . What a nightmare our flight was April 1st , 12:30 pm departure or so we thought. No pilot for our flight. What a Joke how do you announce a flight with no pilot. Delayed 4 times by the time they found a pilot the flight crew walked off .flight cancelled after 8 pm . We had to sleep on the airport floor. Mco look like a homeless encampment Frontier offered $150 voucher to be use in the next 90 days are you kidding me .$300 credit if you booked another airline or car rental . Where are you getting a car rental from Florida to Trenton NJ for $300. Checked other airlines prices were over $400 – $500 one way if you could find one . I could go on but I think you get the idea .
My daughter and I flew out of MCO on Saturday 4/2, she to DC area (Dulles on United) and me to Boston (JetBlue). We both had gotten texts from the airlines that our flights had been delayed. The Mears Connect guy warned us before we got on the bus that the airport was currently closed to arrivals and departures due to weather. (It had rained a lot with some lightning about an hour earlier, but no lightning and rain had tapered off by this time.) By the time we got to the airport, we saw planes taking off and landing. The area by the baggage claim and rental car counters was a complete zoo, with people and luggage all over the place. The flight board was filled with red “delayed” and “cancelled.” The TSA lines were the shortest I have EVER seen them. The Dulles flight went off about 90 minutes late. I felt fortunate that my 7:30 PM flight finally left around midnight; the guy sitting next to me on the plane told me his 10:30 AM flight had sat on the taxiway for two hours due to weather, turned back because some members of the crew timed out, and by the time they got a new crew, the airport was in shutdown and the flight cancelled. He said that they told him the soonest he could get out was Tuesday, but he managed (complicated story) to get on my flight. I felt really sorry for the stranded families. Currently I think you need contingency plans (and perhaps travel insurance if you can get it) especially if traveling with your family. Be prepared that you might have to spend another 3 nights in a hotel, buy food, miss work, etc. It’s not pretty out there.
We were affected by the SouthWest technical issues. We were to leave at 5:30am on April 3rd. We saw all of the cancellations on April 2nd but up until 11pm our flight was still on-time. Went to bed and woke up at 2am with a cancelled status! Luckily we found a flight just one hour difference on a different airline/airport. We paid a lot more out of pocket money and will need to deal with the cancelled flight when we return. Everything after that worked out perfectly – we got our early check at the resort hotel and had a magical day at our reserved park!! Hopefully our return SouthWest flight will be uneventful!! Good luck to everyone else affected by the delays/cancellations.
When we came down in February our flight was postponed, Southwest, due to the snowstorm we had up here in Connecticut. It’s upsetting and we lost a whole day due to it. So I get the frustration, but also understand reasons. We still had an amazing trip even with the flight going from nonstop to layover in Chicago.
March 19th I get to MCO knowing my flight was 25 min delay before leaving the resort. No biggie. And yet when I arrived, little did I expect to be three hour delay because the baggage carousel in the whole airport was down, leaving me with creative packing decisions and bringing on a couple extra carryon pieces. Since it was to Toronto apparently there is a rule about not leaving without bags, or 50% of them, because it’s an international flight. And then we waited an other hour on the plane because the manifest was a person off the total (under or over I don’t know). Finally left at 10 p.m. when that’s the time I should have been arriving at my front door. My first question to the flight crew when the disembarked at MCO to use the facilities was about their shift because the last thing we need is to call it quits because they’re past their shift allowance.