There’s nothing more depressing than finding out that your flight has been delayed or, worse, has been canceled. While these situations are totally out of traveler’s control, luckily there are ways to protect ourselves and to make the experience less frustrating.

Prior to booking your flights

Preparing for a possible delay or cancellation starts at the same time you start researching your trip. I would go as far as saying that it starts when you decide what travel insurance to purchase.

If you are traveling quite a bit, chances are you already considering buying insurance once a year and not worry about purchasing one before each trip. That’s my case and I know that it does include these instances.

If you are the type of traveler who gets insurance at the time of booking their flights, that’s also fine. Just make sure it includes protection for delay and cancellation.

Additionally, if you are EU citizen flying from an EU airport or arriving into an EU airport or from Iceland, Norway or Switzerland, you qualify for getting reimbursement for your delayed or canceled flight. All the information you need is here.

At the time of booking your flights

Budget permitting, you may want to look into the airline which has the best ratings when it comes to not having flights canceled or delayed.

Enjoy the live data

Do your research and talk to people. For example, we’ve been flying WizzAir for years now and we’ve been delayed four times: once out of Budapest (15 min delayed), once out of Bari (5 min delay), once out of Rome (45 min delay on the tarmac), and , in winter time, out of Bari (45 min delay).

Friends of ours were not as lucky with WizzAir and every single flight they took was delayed.

Of course, we need to remember that weather, terrorism and political events cannot be predicted and those always lead to delays – in the best case – and cancellation – in almost all cases.

If you book independently, sign up for alerts directly with the airline. Install their mobile app (if they have any) and make sure your account with them includes your contact information.

If you prefer to go through a travel agency – online or brick and mortar – ask how they deal with involuntary schedule changes. Do they have a system in place to notify travelers (if / when they are notified by the airline)? How do they do that? E-mail you? Call you? At the same time, once you have the booking details, go on the airline’s site and make sure to manage/check your reservation and /or sign up for alerts.

A week to 2 or 3 days before your flight

Even if you have already checked in online and have the airline’s app on your smartphone or have signed up for alerts, make a point to check the flight status on the airline’s website at least 2-3 days before departure. Personally I check a week before the flight and again 48 hours before the flight.

Always believe the live, updated information on the airline website. Your itinerary – whether from an agency or what you printed when booking – was valid at that time and may have suffered changes, whether you were told about them or not.

Should you find out there have been changes, what you do next depends on how you booked your tickets.

If you booked independently, see if you can accept/decline the changes – if they are large – directly on the airline website. As a rule of thumb, changes up to 1 hour are in the “suck it up“ category. You can only moan about them and that’s it. If you cannot do anything on the website, call the airline.

If you booked via a travel agency, you can still figure this out directly with the airline but you did pay that agency to help you. So call or email them and have them help you. The same rule applies though: up to 1-hour change, you can yell and scream and nothing will happen.

Big changes – pretty much anything over an hour – can influence negatively your itinerary so you can start to ask for stuff. For free, the airline has to offer a similar connection which brings you to the destination so that you don’t miss what you had to do. Some airlines are really not caring much so it may be quite a battle to snatch a better option for free.

If the flight was canceled you have two options: either the airline puts you on a similar flight a day prior, the same day as your original flight or a day later; or they give you a full refund of the original ticket. Negotiation skills come into place here and for your own sake, you don’t want to start yelling at the airline. Or an agent.

The day of the flight

Before you head to the airport, do yourself the pleasure of checking the flight status. You know, a volcano might have erupted or a dictator may have been overthrown.

At this point, it’s pretty futile to reach out to your travel agent and it’s a lot easier to talk directly to the airline. Of course, yelling won’t get you too far away. Asking to talk to a supervisor may.

The airline has to help you. If the flight has been canceled, ask to be put on the same flight the next day or a similar flight the same day. If there’s no option, ask for the money to be refunded. If you booked through an agent, the airline may send you to the agency. That’s because they are lazy since any airline has access to its own bookings and they have to help you.

At the airport

Even if you checked before coming to the airport, changes and cancellations may still occur. The small ones – 5 or 15 min – are really not important. It’s merely spending a bit more time taking photos of the planes, really.

If things start to get worse and you are delayed more than an hour or the flight has been canceled, reach out to the airline. If you have not yet passed the security check, then you can plant yourself at the check-in desk and at the same time, call the airline. You may have better luck on the phone provided the office you call knows the on-ground situation.

If you have passed the security check, you cannot go back to the check-in counter. So you can either hunt for an airline representative – chances are there aren’t many around at times of crisis – or call their support center. You can even try their airport phone number.

Again, it’s futile to call the agency you booked through since they likely don’t even know what’s going on. But you can still try. Just make sure to know that they need your written or verbal consent to make any changes to your tickets.

Keep the receipts for absolutely everything you buy during the delay. You will need these as proof for your insurance company when you submit a claim.

Also, if you were booked on a European flight, make sure to submit a claim to be compensated for the delay or cancellation.

Natural disasters, terror attacks and political unrest

When it comes to these unpredictable events, it’s usually hard for travelers to figure out what they have to do.

First of all, keep calm. You cannot think if you are agitated.

Secondly, asses the current situation. Is it better if I wait it out or do I need to rush out of the airport/city? When you decide to rush out, you are on your own as the airlines will take their time to reschedule flights and help travelers. Keep all receipts to use for your insurance claim.

If you need to get out of the situation fast, your travel agent may be able to help. And yes, you’ll pay for it. If you booked on your own, you can just look for another option to get out there, whether it’s by plane or by land.

Always read the advisory from your embassy. Different countries have different ways of helping their citizens, so make sure you know how they can help.

What about a pandemic?

2020 and 2021 taught us that a virus can create a lot of chaos.

Force Majeure will make most insurance policies redundant – with the exception of “cancel for any reason” policies – but if the travel level warning is increased and flights are stopped, causing your flight to be canceled, the airline will have to reimburse you.

And with new laws coming into effect to deal with the pandemic, it might be slightly easier to get your money back, especially if you have travel insurance.

However, canceling the ticket before that happens will most likely result in you losing the money!

Have questions? Drop me a line! With previous experience as a travel support specialist, I can help you with tips and ideas!

Note: this article includes links that may qualify as affiliate links. If you book through them, I may earn a small commission.