What To Do When Your Flight is Canceled Because of Weather

I am currently stuck in New York City, trying hard to make my way home to Montana from Florida. (Yes. Yes. I know that’s not a geographically-efficient routing, but that’s air travel! What can you do?)

Last night, a giant snow and ice storm paralyzed all of the New York airports and as I watched the activity at my gate, it struck me that most of the people I was observing had no idea what to do. One little old lady even came up to me, shaking with anger and fear (fearful people often present as angry people), and asked if I was on the Cincinnati flight—a flight that had been canceled over two hours ago (!). Our conversation made me so sad for her!

I said, “No, M’am. I wasn’t supposed to be on that flight—but m’am? That flight was canceled hours ago. I’m sure they’ve already re-booked you on a flight for tomorrow.”

“Yes, yes,” she said, shaking and with tears,”But it’s not until 2PM! How can that be?! What will I do?! I’m trying to rally enough people who were on that flight and force the airline to FIX IT.”

I was super, super gentle in saying, “M’am? I’m so sorry that your flight was canceled, but (gesturing to the completely white-with-snow, ice-covered runways outside of the window), this is caused by weather. No one at the airline is trying to hurt you. And there is nothing that can be done. The only question now is whether you will be sleeping at a hotel or here in an airport chair/on the floor. If you act immediately, you may be able to get a hotel room—let me give you the number for the Hilton that I am booked at just in case my flight is canceled too—when I spoke to them five minutes ago, they still had TWO ROOMS available.”

She looked at me dazed, tears streaming down her face, and said in the most confused and scared voice, “Really? This is what I’m supposed to do? I don’t know what to do.”

I said: “Call this number. Get a hotel room. Come back in the morning. Everything is going to be OK.”

And so she did.

But I can’t stop thinking about her and the other thousands of people who were affected by flight cancellations who didn’t know what to do. Every million-miler frequent-flyer, I am sure, did exactly what I did and it was inconvenient, but not scary.

Here is what to do when your flight is canceled:

BEFORE YOUR FLIGHT IS CANCELED

1. If you are flying through snow-prone states in the winter, buy travel insurance. It is cheap and it takes SO much of the stress off of travel delays. (I primarily fly Delta, so I use Allianz. I have never had a problem getting reimbursed by them.)
2. When you check-in online at the 24-hour mark prior to your flight, also check the weather for all of your connecting airports and your final destination. If there is any chance of flight-disturbing weather, stay on top of it proactively. (For me, this meant sticking JAX, LGA, MSP, and BIL into my WeatherUnderground App. I saw that there was a high chance of a problem with snow and I planned accordingly.)
3. Watch the official FAA website for airport delays and closures. Track your exact flights in FlightAware. Knowledge is power. The more you know, the wiser your response can be.
4. The moment you are wheels-down in the airport that is going to have the problem, book a hotel. Don’t wait until you are at the gate. Don’t wait until you know for sure what is going to happen. Weather is tricky—and you can’t control it. So make a reservation that can be canceled if it’s not needed, but get a room BEFORE the flights start dropping like flies (metaphorically). Ideally, your airport will have a hotel right there onsite (TPA, DTW, PHL are some of my favorites. I never mind misconneecting there!) Because if you can avoid riding in a hotel shuttle in white-out snow/ice conditions, do it! But those rooms go fast, so you have to move quickly. And if the storm is really bad and thousands of flights are canceled? There will be NO rooms anywhere near the airport if you wait.
5. The very next call you should make is to your airline. Again, don’t wait until you are at the gate. Don’t get in one of those ridiculously long lines that only have two gate agents available. Get on the phone and get in the queue for the hundreds of agents they bring in to staff the phone lines during weather-related flight disruptions. (Last night? Even the elite line for Delta had a one hour+ wait time–I have never experienced that before! But I still called and put myself into the phone queue. It is worth it when 1,000+ flights are disrupted.) If you have internet access, you can also start searching for new routing options yourself—but try to get through to a live person if you can.

 

6. If the airline has issued a weather bulletin, either you should be able to rebook yourself online or the agents should be able to help you right away. In this situation, there will be a LOT of leeway for rebooking you, right then and there, for no additional cost. But you need to be flexible. Look at different routings/different connecting cities. Be sure to keep in mind the TIME needed for de-icing. (I was able to sweet talk my way into new seats last night hours before I technically had a legal misconnect simply because I noted that the 30 minute connection time was just not reasonable given the fact that we would have to de-ice. The agent said, “You’re absolutely right.” And rebooked me right then and there. I was grateful!) Think through the size of the airplane when you are thinking about creative new itineraries. Sometimes, the larger, heavier planes can get out in weather that is just too hard for the smaller regional jets. (If you don’t fly enough to know your airplanes, SeatGuru can be a big help here.)
7. Also? Be nice. If you tend to get angry when you are scared, overcome your propensity and be kind. No one likes to be yelled at our mistreated–and it is not the gate agent or airline agent on the phone’s fault that a blizzard has stopped air traffic. They have a lot of discretion and they can make things happen—but if you are rude? Don’t be surprised if they are less creative in helping you.
8. Sometimes the airline will protect seats for you on the next flights that work for you—if so, great. But even if they won’t, write down the options. Keep the times and flight numbers handy because once your flight is killed off? You need to move IMMEDIATELY to rebook in order to get the first seats out.

ONCE YOUR FLIGHT IS OFFICIALLY CANCELED

1. OK. Your flight is officially off the board. Don’t follow the lead of our sweet little old lady who just kept circling the gate area, trying to rally people to “force the airline to fix it.” No. No fixing is going to happen. But that’s OK! Because a) you have a hotel (yay!) & b) you know your options for alternate flights. So now it’s time to officially get rebooked.
2. Do not leave the airport until you are officially rebooked. I know it’s a hassle, but it’s just a part of the dance of flight cancellations. You can do this online if you have internet access or over the phone or in-person at the airport. (Note: you do not have to stay at your exact gate. The gate agents at “your” gate have no magical secret powers. They can’t do anything more than any other airline rep can do.) Just figure out the fastest way to an agent—sometimes I’ll stay in the phone queue while I wait in a physical line and then just go with whichever one is faster. Be polite but efficient. Let them know immediately if seats have been held for you on another flight OR let them know the routing options you’ve already figured out. The faster they can type that information into their trusty ol’ computers and grab those seats for you, the higher the likelihood that you will get home with one one overnight in an airport hotel rather than two. (And if you leave the airport pre-emptively—i.e., without officially being released and rebooked—and your flight goes out? Even seven or eight hours later or whenever? You are in BIG trouble financially. You will be personally responsible for getting yourself home and it’ll be EXTREMELY expensive. Don’t risk it. Stay at the airport until you are rebooked.)
3. Do not try to get your checked luggage back. It’s never going to happen. Hopefully, if you were watching the weather at the 24-hour mark, you kept every necessity with you so you’ll be OK for the night. But either way, your checked bags are gone. They will route to your destination as quickly as possible—maybe on your actual flights, but probably not. More than likely, when you will arrive at your destination (whenever that is), you will need to go to “luggage services” to retrieve your bag. (I also felt SO sorry last night for the people who were in looooong lines at baggage services with pleading stories of how much they NEEDED their checked luggage. Seriously, people. The little warnings the airlines give when you check bags about your necessary medicines, keys, etc. needing to NOT be in your checked luggage are FOR REAL. Do not check anything you can’t risk being without.)
4. DO go to luggage services for an AMENITIES kit. Every airline will give you some sort of little package with probably a t-shirt to sleep in, a toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant, shaving cream/razor, etc. Or you can get most of those things from your hotel if you are in a standard corporate-level or higher hotel. (But not the t-shirt.) BTW—did you know that you can get DIAPERS from luggage services too? Thankfully, that season of my life is over—but we did have a terrible misconnect overnight when my firstborn was a little baby—and I was AMAZED to see all of the sizes and brands available to help us. So don’t be afraid to ask for baby care items if you really need them in a pinch.
5. Do not look for compensation or financial help with your meals or lodging, etc. etc. That is just another thing that is never going to happen. Airlines may give you vouchers for mechanical delays / crew delays / or if you take a voluntary bump. But they do not give out money for weather delays. It’s not their fault. You’re on your own $$$-wise. (But hopefully you followed point #1 above and you have travel insurance so it’s not going to be a big financial hit for you.)
6. Get out of the airport! Check into your room. Order some nice room service and climb into your comfy Airline T-shirt and have a little rest. (Well, unless you have young children like I do—if that’s the case, then FIRST figure out your CHILDCARE PLAN for the next day and THEN have a rest.) You’ve earned it. You survived a weather-related air-travel cancellation hassle. Good job!

Oh. And one last thing you may want to consider …

Try to keep this all in perspective. I know air travel can be scary if you don’t do it very much and delays and cancellations can be stressful. But if you have clean water and a warm room to sleep in? Well. Life could be a whole lot worse, couldn’t it?

Sorry your flight was canceled. I hope you get home soon.

Sincerely yours,
Tara B.