You are currently viewing What To Do When Your Flight Is Delayed By Winter Storms

This article by Flytrippers co-founder Andrew was first published on the Huffington Post Canada website.

Did you know that the only thing you’re entitled to get from the airline if there is a weather delay is a seat on the next available flight? It’s true (and it makes sense). Here’s what to do if your flight is delayed because of the weather.

 
 

 

 

 
 
 

 

Pay for the flight with specific credit cards

One of the things that surprises travelers the most, based on the messages we get, is that the only thing you’re entitled to get from the airline if there is a weather delay is a seat on a future flight. There is no compensation required whatsoever when a delay or cancellation is caused by the weather (no meals, no hotels, no nothing).

And that’s actually fair. How could they control the weather? How could they be held responsible for the weather? It wouldn’t make any sense.

So, to prepare for any delay, the easiest tip I can give you is one that actually precedes your actual flight: you should pay for all your plane tickets with a credit card that offers free Flight Delay Insurance. There are several cards that offer it, for free. It will automatically give you $500 to pay for meals and a hotel as soon as your flight is delayed for 4 hours, which will make any problematic situation at the airport a lot more pleasant. We will post a detailed article about this trick next week, don’t miss it. If you aren’t already subscribed, click here to get our free newsletter.

Of course, you need to pay your credit card balance in full at the end of the month to avoid all fees. If you always pay 100% on time, using credit cards is completely free by the way. Plus, many of these cards give you free travel too, it’s called Travel Hacking. We have a blog post about this, with lots more content to come. If you want to get a head start, you can check out our Top Travel Hacking Credit Cards but make sure to read the 10 Rules About Travel Hacking Credit Cards.

Here are a few suggestions of cards that come with Flight Delay Insurance included for free, which will give you $500 if your flight is delayed. The best one for someone new to Travel Hacking would be the American Express Gold Card, which has an annual fee of $150, but gives you 30,000 Aeroplan Miles. If you travel a lot, the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite is the only major card with no foreign transaction fee that has a signup bonus ($250 travel credit) and it comes with 6 free airport lounge passes. It has a $139 annual fee. Both have flight delay insurance included for free.

 

Using Airline Waivers

Paying with a credit card that has flight delay insurance will compensate you financially, but it will not get you to your destination any faster. Having taken nearly 200 flights in my life, I’ve had my fair share of delays and cancellations. Here’s what to do if it happens to you, in order to avoid a long delay.

If you see that your flight will be affected, airlines often have a simple and convenient solution for those who want to avoid going to the airport unnecessarily. It’s called a travel waiver.

An example of Delta’s recent waiver.

 

Usually flights can never be modified or refunded, but during storms, airlines often give you the option to change your booking online, easily and quickly, without any additional fees.

If your travel plans are flexible and you want to avoid the headaches, you can proactively change your flight to leave two days later and avoid delays and cancellations. Hotels too are often refundable without any charges up until a few days before the stay, but not always, so always check specific policies.

If being flexible isn’t possible, you can decide to cancel completely, and you will be refunded the total price of your ticket, as long as a waiver has been issued by your airline for your area and dates. This information will often be found directly on the home page of an airline’s website during storms, or in a section called “advisories,” “alerts” or something similar.

 

Don’t wait for help from airline employees

If you cannot change your flight in advance, or you already are at the airport and see that your flight is canceled or delayed, you have several options depending on the length of the delay.

The best advice is to take action yourself. Do not rely on employees and airlines, since have to deal with thousands of people in your situation. They are not interested in finding the best solution for you, but will simply give you the easiest one for them! They will sometimes put you on a flight 10 hours later, or even the next day.

There is almost always a better option.

Say you are in Toronto and were flying Toronto-Newark and Newark-Miami on United, but Newark airport is caught in a storm. They will give you a seat on the next Toronto-Newark flight. Instead of doing nothing, search on your own and find the next United flight, no matter where it goes. Let’s say it’s Chicago. Then, see if there are Chicago-Miami flights that take you to your destination faster. This is often the case.

If you arrive with a clear plan and specific flight numbers and you ask politely, the airline will give you this itinerary without a problem, provided there is availability. And experienced travelers will all do this trick very quickly, as soon as the flights start to be canceled.

So, if you want to have a seat, act fast. Otherwise all other flights will fill up quickly, and you will have to hang around at the airport like everyone else who did nothing!

 

Bottom Line

So here are our tips about flight delays. Don’t miss our related article that tells you more specifically how the Flight Delay Insurance works.

 

Do you have any questions? Ask them in the comments below.

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Andrew D'Amours

Andrew is the co-founder of Flytrippers. He is passionate about traveling the world but also, as a former management consultant, about the travel industry itself. He shares his experiences to help you save money on travel. As a very cost-conscious traveler, he loves finding deals and getting free travel thanks to travel rewards points... to help him visit every country in the world (current count: 71/193 Countries, 47/50 US States & 9/10 Canadian Provinces).

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