You know when you hear those horror stories about passengers stranded at the airport because their flight got canceled? Well, that was me this week.
We were literally about to take off on Friday when Gatwick Airport closed the airspace following a new drone sighting. I personally fail to understand how a drone can shut down Britain’s second largest airport but that’s my problem.
Our flight was already delayed for at least two hours. The additional 45-min delay caused by the airspace closure meant that the cabin crew could no longer continue working without breaching their flight time limitations. Therefore, the airline – Aer Lingus – canceled our flight.
Needless to say that this proved to be incredibly frustrating when we realized that the airspace had just reopened and that the other planes were starting to take off again.
The crew disembarked the plane and here we were left with figuring out how to make it to our final destination in time for Christmas.
I want to first give you a brief summary of your legal rights. More importantly, I want to give you tips on how to avoid long queues and improve your overall rebooking experience.
Flight cancelled: what are my rights?
Your basic rights: rebooking a flight and assistance
If the airline canceled your flight at very short notice, the airline has a responsibility to ensure that you arrive home or to your final destination. Therefore, you have the following options: hop on the next flight available, get a refund or return to your original point of departure (which would be home for most of us).
Passengers have a right to assistance. This includes meals and refreshments, hotel accommodation and transportation to the hotel.
Am I entitled to additional compensation?
If your flight is canceled at very short notice, you are entitled to additional cash compensation.
- €250 for flights of 1,500 kilometers or less;
- €400 for flights between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometers;
- €600 for all other flights.
The additional compensation comes with strings attached. Mainly, if the airline proves that the cause of the cancelation or delay was “an extraordinary circumstance”, then the airline does not have to compensate you. Nonetheless, you are still entitled to be rebooked on the next available flight with meals and refreshments (or hotel accommodation if applicable).
If you need more information about your legal rights, you can find my comprehensive post here. It covers delayed and canceled flights. There is also good advice from Citizens Advice, especially if you are getting nowhere with the airline.
Tips and tricks to beat the queues and get rebooked on the earliest flight
As soon as the airline officially announces that your flight is canceled, you need think quick. There are at least 200 other frustrated passengers who want the same thing as you: get on the next flight as soon as possible. There are no chances that the airline will be in a position to accommodate the same request for all passengers. The number of available seats will be limited. You should be competitive as this is a race.
Tip #1: Call the airline’s reservation center ASAP
The first task is to book a seat on the earliest flight. If you are lucky, there might be another flight later that same day.
There are two ways of doing this: go to the airline counter or call the reservation center. If this is a short-notice cancellation, you are probably past security and maybe already in the plane. Calling is likely to be the easiest option.
If you have already boarded the plane, you need to disembark first. I often find that poor cell reception and loud passengers make it difficult to hold calls. Also, as soon as people realize that you are rebooking flights, they will mimic you and do the same.
If you are in the terminal, check out quickly if the airline has a help desk. If there is one, start queuing as you are unlikely to be alone. While in the queue, start calling the reservation center.
The airline’s customer care team is likely to be incredibly busy. Do not drop the line. I waited over half an hour to get someone on the phone with Aer Lingus. At some point, I spoke with a representative and asked to be rebooked on the next flight. During the call, these are the details that you need:
- Flight number;
- Departure time of the flight;
- The last four digits of your ticket number;
- Oh and obviously, your name!
Name and flight number will be sufficient details in most cases but you never know. Time is precious at this stage and the airline’s representative should not be wasting time finding your booking.
I was quick enough to get the first flight out at 8:35 am the following day from Gatwick. Not quick enough, however, to get the last flight leaving around 9:30 pm on that same day.
One final note: do not purchase new flights. The airline will find you another flight, even if this means scheduling a new flight. You are unlikely to get the airline to reimburse you the cost of the ticket you just purchased.
Tip #2: Queue only if you have no other choice
It is highly likely that you will have spoken with a customer care representative from the airline before reaching the front of the queue. By then, you should have been able to rebook your flight.
I had already rebooked my flight with Aer Lingus when I managed to get my suitcase and headed back to the main terminal. There, I started queuing and, trust me, things were not moving at all. There were only two Aer Lingus representatives behind the counter for over 300 passengers.
I wondered if I should continue queuing. I had rebooked my flight but I was curious to see if I could get an even earlier one. Most importantly, I could not check in online for tomorrow’s flight and could not download my boarding pass.
In light of the ongoing chaos, I was not going to take any chances. I wanted to confirm my new booking and get my boarding pass. As a bonus, I thought having the boarding pass might speed things up in the morning. Finally, I would require accommodation and I thought that the airline might help. For those reasons, I decided to queue.
What will the airline’s representatives tell you at the counter
Let me save you some time: if you have your boarding pass for your new booking, don’t stick around. It’s great to know your rights and get a free bottle of water but that’s about it. Once I arrived at the counter – after a three-hour wait – the representative (i) told me that no earlier flight was available, (ii) printed my boarding pass, (iii) gave me three meal-vouchers valid for only 24 hours and (iv) told me that I had to find (and pay) a hotel and a taxi by myself. I could then claim compensation for “reasonable” expenses and hope that the process would be completed within the next two months. Reassuring…
If I didn’t have that issue with my boarding pass, I would have left the terminal. Skipping a three-hour queue would have allowed me to find a hotel quicker. Most hotels were fully booked and I only found a room with a bit of luck.
Tip #3: Keep all your receipts
It goes without saying that all claims must be backed up. To do so, you will need to justify your expenses and provide a copy of the receipts.
The airline will only reimburse reasonable expenses. What’s reasonable is up for debate. I suggest that you do things as you were going to pay yourself. There were only two rooms at the Sofitel in Terminal Nord. It was close but expensive. At almost midnight, I did not have a lot of choices so I just paid up and will claim the full amount.
It’s also worth calling the hotels directly. Most hotels – including the Sofitel – appeared fully booked online. I called a few and they were indeed fully booked. But the Sofitel had those two rooms and yet, they appeared fully booked online. As the Sofitel was next to the North terminal, I saved money on transportation expenses and time in light of the long taxi queue.
Tip #4: Claim by mail
Airlines will sometimes provide the option to claim compensation online. If such an option exists, then great, you should use it.
This does not prevent you from also writing a nice letter, which will explain the background and will include a copy of the receipts.
The advantage of doing so is to send the letter by registered post. The airline cannot claim that it has not received the letter. This also gives you proof of when you sent the letter. The clock starts ticking and the airline will probably want to compensate you as quickly as possible to avoid further issues.
It’s also easier to submit a copy of the letter to the regulator if you do not make progress with the airlines. With online submissions, it’s always more difficult, even with a screenshot.
Tip #5: claim for everything, even if in doubt
Don’t be generous with the airline! They are the ones that canceled the flight and they should sort out the mess.
As a bare minimum, claim for all expenses in relation to accommodation, transportation and meals/drinks. Even if you obtained meals vouchers, claim for the difference if you went above the allowance.
If your relatives incurred expenses such as staying at a hotel close to the airport while waiting for you, you can try to claim for those expenses. However, I would warn you that you are unlikely to be successful in this instance.
Now on financial compensation: this can get tricky. The airline may try to claim that extraordinary circumstances caused the cancelation or the delay.
The recent drone sightings that caused disruptions at Gatwick Airport were deemed to be an extraordinary circumstance by the Civil Aviation Authority. Therefore, passengers affected by the drone sightings cannot claim financial compensation.
In my case, it was the crew’s flight time limitations that resulted into the cancellation of our flight. Therefore, I will still try to claim for financial compensation. Sure, the drone sightings contributed to the delay, but that was not the official cause of the cancelation.
A canceled flight sucks. It’s an inconvenience at best, especially a few days before Christmas. With quick thinking and basic reflexes, you can mitigate the damage and beat other passengers in rebooking an earlier flight.
And yes, I really hope they catch the operator of those drones…
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