What to do when your flight gets cancelled

Introduction

I’m sure most of you experts already know what to do, but this is for my beginners.  I want to post this story since it happened to my buddy over the weekend.  He was flying from Reno to Seattle on United via San Francisco.  He checked in for his noon flight and it was delayed for about an hour and eventually cancelled due to mechanical issues.  He doesn’t fly that much so was unsure what to do.  He nonchalantly told me over IM that his flight was cancelled and that he was looking on Kayak for other flights.

He said the United counter agents weren’t rebooking anyone on a different airline/flight for today (this was the last/only United flight for day and due to a celebrity golf tournament, almost all flights out were gone.)  He then told me he was 20 people deep in line waiting at the counter.  I then pulled up flights.google.com and found a Delta flight going through SLC and told him to CALL United while waiting in line.  By the time he called, the flight was sold out and there were no other flights to Seattle that day. By the time he got to the counter, they rebooked him for 6AM the next day and gave him a hotel voucher and a $30 food voucher.

He then hung out at the Reno airport for nearly ~3 hours, waiting to see the rest of us (this luckily saved him but it made no sense – he should have just gone to the hotel.)  By the time we got to the airport at around 5PM, I pulled out my phone and the Alaska app to see what flights were available.  Lo and behold – there were 3 seats on a RNO-PDX-SEA flight at 7PM.  He immediately got on the phone with United who then told him to go to the Alaska checkin to make sure he’s booked.  Alaska couldn’t find him by his last name, but it worked by the confirmation code.  He got home to Seattle that night.  So let’s analyze what he did right and wrong and what you should do if your flight is cancelled.

Step 1 – Stay calm and figure out your options

Yelling at the gate agent won’t help matters.  Stay calm and try to figure out your options.  I told my buddy he had 3 options with United – 1. they rebook him on another airline tonight or 2. they cancel his ticket, get refunded, and he pay for another flight home or 3. they rebook him for tomorrow morning.  Of course option #1 was the best option.  We didn’t want to do option #2 since his flight was a dirt cheap $125 instead of 2X or 3X that.  Option #3 was just not convenient.

Step 2 – CALL and TWEET the OPERATING airline while waiting in line

I had booked his flight through an OTA (similar to Expedia.)  Expedia or the OTA won’t be able to help you.  The operating airline is your best bet, so call them up IMMEDIATELY.  While on the phone with them, hop onto flights.google.com and figure out your flight options.  While clueless people are waiting 20 people deep, you can resolve your issue by calling the operating airline and having the call center agent rebook you. If you wait until it’s your turn in line, all of the seats may be taken up (like it did my friend.)  Don’t just call either – tweet them.  Sometimes the social team is more responsive than being on hold.

Edit – If you have lounge access by way of status or a credit card, go to the lounge and the reps there are usually more helpful and less flustered than the gate agents.

Step 3 – Keep checking options; never give up

When we checked at 1PM, nothing was available.  When we checked at 5PM, there was 1 flight he could get on.  I told him to call up United again.  Even after United booked him on an American flight for 6AM the next morning, I was shocked that they were able to rebook him a 2nd time to a flight that night.  He was very polite on the phone saying he needed to get home that night and the agent obliged.  So if you are booked for the next day, go ahead and keep checking to see if any seats open up on the same day to get you home sooner.

Step 4 – Don’t go to the front counter if you have no bags to check

While on the 2nd call to United, my buddy just stood up and walked away from us.  We weren’t sure where he was going, but he was gone for nearly 30 minutes.  Eventually he came back and told us he went out to the front counter to get his Alaska ticket.  I asked him why he didn’t just walk to the Alaska counter at the gate IN THE TERMINAL.  He said he didn’t know he could do that.  So now you know – there’s no need to go out to the front counter.  This assumes you are not checking in bags.  If he did have bags to check, then he would have had to go to the front counter.