What to do if your return flight gets cancelled when you're abroad?

[Mortimer Mouse]

With all the last minute flight cancellations and possible BA strike action, I wondered what happens if your return home flight gets cancelled and what you should expect the airline to do?

I'm abit of a worrier and find it helpful to work out a plan in advance of what to do and when, so if anyone has any advice or tips of what to do if your flight gets cancelled either

1) before you get to the airport or
2) while you're at the airport

[Claudette]

I’d expect the airline to rebook me on another flight. I would then find somewhere suitable for myself to stay whilst I await my rebooked flight. I would look to see if I can claim this back later, but I would not sit on the airport floor for twelve hours because nobody at the airline booked the hotel for me.

I don’t think my plan would be any different whether I found out before or after I arrived at the airport.

[EssexSue]

I have always fancied staying a night in the Hyatt at MCO, so I would drop that in the equation.

[Homer'sWife]

Originally Posted by EssexSue

I have always fancied staying a night in the Hyatt at MCO, so I would drop that in the equation.

See more...

Yes, we did stay at the Hyatt when our flight home was cancelled due to thunderstorms (connecting to Atlanta). It is a beautiful hotel, one of the best we have stayed in!

I forget which airline we were with but once we had the announcement we were told to use the phones to call the provider and rearrange another flight. This was a fairly straightforward process. The hard part was arranging transport back from London to Devon as we had National Express pre booked.

[Sue]

Depending on the delay, I agree with finding a hotel and claiming back from the airline later. We had an almost 24 hour delay at Newark once (only one flight a day to MAN). There had been atrocious weather which had delayed our and many other flights meaning missed connections galore. The queue at the airline desk to be allocated a hotel was massive - we rang a few hotels from the free phones at the airport only to be told full, full, full. Only the Hilton had rooms but it was “first here gets the rooms” - we got in a taxi and headed there, as we were waiting at the lifts room key in hand, the shuttle bus turned up with 20-30 people on it. Phew!
Oh and the airline paid up once we were home, for the hotel.

[derenstar]

In 2019, BA cancelled our flight home due to Hurricane Dorian. We found out the morning of our last day just as we were preparing to check out. They rebooked us onto a flight the next day. They told us not to go the airport. We were at the Portofino and we asked to extend our stay and they were really helpful, we just had move rooms. Kids were due back at school and DH & I were due back at work so we fired off emails letting various people know. DH boss gave him a bit of grief but it was what it was. We also had to ring and pay extra for our car parking at Gatwick. We were able to claim all our expenses back via our travel insurance with Nationwide and also got a payout from BA. It was inconvenient but perfectly manageable.

A few years ago, we got stuck in Crete when our plane developed a fault on the tarmac. Thomas Cook bussed us to the nearest hotel and left us to our devices. Hotel was absolutely filthy. We ended up ringing around and eventually found somewhere else that suited us. We were there for 2 days waiting on TC to rebook us. In the end we booked ourselves another flight home and claimed back off our travel insurance.

I have other such examples (including getting stuck in Atlanta on September 11 as we were waiting to board our connecting flight home). Delays and cancellations are an inherent risk when travelling. My advice is not to stress about it, just make sure you have sufficient funds to see you through any unexpected issues and have good insurance. The rest is outside of your control.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

This is why I cringe when I read posts on here from people who go to America without a Credit Card or even a pre paid Card. Very risky.

Sufficient funds to sort out issues are essential.

[ERICSMUM]

Originally Posted by Mortimer Mouse

With all the last minute flight cancellations and possible BA strike action, I wondered what happens if your return home flight gets cancelled and what you should expect the airline to do?

I'm abit of a worrier and find it helpful to work out a plan in advance of what to do and when, so if anyone has any advice or tips of what to do if your flight gets cancelled either

1) before you get to the airport or
2) while you're at the airport

See more...

Sorry, a long winded reply as usual - Brevity is not my strength 😂

It’s a good point, you’re right in wanting to be prepared. I like a list to tick off !

A couple of things :

1) Keep contact numbers & e mail addresses in your phone and written down for everyone to call if you’re delayed :

-Airport car park + booking reference
-Transport from airport to home, if you’ve booked a taxi or arranged for family to pick you up
-Kennels/cattery etc (if you have a pet !)
-Work
-School
-neighbour (if they’ve been keeping an eye on your house)
-any appointments that you would miss (medical etc)

2) If the airline isn’t rushing to book you on the next available flight, do some research and make a list of suitable alternatives, including to different UK airports if convenient. Ask the airline to put you on one of those. You might be lucky !


Also money - make sure you have enough limit on your credit card to pay for the unplanned hotel, meals etc until the airline refunds your expenses.

Good luck, be prepared and you’ll worry less 🤞

[Vanillapod]

We tend to try and book flights along with a couple of nights accommodation (we tend to have multi centre holidays) that way you’re covered as it’s classed as a package.
We had our flight cancelled once when MCO closed due to a hurricane. They rebooked for 5 days later and paid for our hotel extension.
I had to pay I initially, they reimbursed me a few weeks later

[Princesses 3]

I’m sure it will depend on the reason for the cancellation. BA cancelled our flight due to a strike in 2019 but we got rebooked on an alternative for the same day so minimal disruption really. I think if they can sort an alternative they will, often just means flights can be very full