One of my biggest fears when I started traveling alone was a maneuvering flight cancellations. When you’re traveling with limited time, budget and patience then any changes in your travel plans can feel like an attack. Today I’m sharing some tips on what to do when your flight is canceled so that you can seamlessly continue your travel plans. Here are my best tips on how to properly handle flight cancellations as you travel:

4 Things You Should Do When Your Flights Are Canceled

Remain calm.

The first things that I have to recommend is remaining calm. I understand that the stakes are high when you’re spending a lot of money and going through this logistical nightmare, but being rude or snippety doesn’t help the people that are trying to help you. I promise you that the front desk agent does not have a vendetta against you and they did not show up to work to personally attack you and interrupt your travel plans.

Additionally remaining calm gives you an edge over all of the other patrons that choose responding more emotionally. I’ve found that being easier to work with, makes you easier to get your solution found. Throwing in some please and thank you might take you somewhere.

Confirm with your card’s policies.

What type of cards did you use to make your ticket purchases? Depending on which programs you’re a member of you may find yourself with extra insurances that you didn’t necessarily know are there. Taking a moment to deep dive into your cardholder policies will allow you to see if there’s anything that you can do internally.

Double-check what your travel insurance includes.

Not only is it a great idea to make purchases with a card that is for travel, but also additionally purchasing travel insurance is a smart thing to do. If the card that you use doesn’t offer any additional benefits, this is the moment to see what your travel insurance policies are and what is covered. Understanding your policy will allow you to know exactly what is covered as you try to move forward with your travel plans.

Keep all documentation about the delay.

There’s a lot of misinformation that happens when you’re frustratingly waiting for a soon-to-be-canceled flight, but the most important reason is whatever ends up on paper. There are a few instances where an airline is responsible for reimbursing you and there are others where the fault somehow lands on the traveler; keeping all documentation with you will allow you to find proper reimbursement when the time comes.

At this point in your delay, I think it’s best to multitask by confirming if the airline you use has any alliances, but if they do not then I would quickly buy the next ticket possible before everyone else in line does the same. In some cases a travel delay means that you go back home, but in others this means that you might be stranded. Reassessing the situation and forming a plan from there is the best move.

Have you ever experienced a canceled flight?

I’d love to hear if you have ever experienced a canceled flight and how do you felt after overcoming this surprise in your travel plans. I find that I have the most growth when things don’t happen according to schedule, but it does not mean that the situation is stress-free while it is happening. The sooner you accept that cancellations are a possibility, the sooner you are ready to start the adventure of your travel day.

Travel Planning