Whether you’re travelling to Vietnam or Germany, flight cancellations are something that can happen to everyone. You can have your entire itinerary planned down to the last detail, have woken up early in order to get to the airport in time, even packed a lunch to eat on the plane of your budget flight so you don’t have to pay exorbitant prices for airline food, but all the planning in the world can’t account for a flight cancellation. It can be a brutal feeling, know that you have to spend the foreseeable future wilting away in an airport terminal while you watching dozens of planes leaving on time… but it doesn’t mean you’re powerless. Far from it! There are actually a number of different courses of action you can take in the event that your flight gets cancelled. Read on below.
Source: Kalinga TV
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Know Your Rights
Did you know as an air passenger you actually have quite a few inherent rights? Many people don’t, but if your flight is severely delayed or cancelled altogether, you might be eligible for quite a large sum of monetary compensation from the airline in question, especially if you’re flying into Europe. It’s called Flight Compensation Regulation 261/2004 and covers everything from cancelled flights to lost or delayed luggage. In the event that either of those events occurs, you can either contact the airline yourself and negotiate with them, or get in contact with a company like AirHelp who will do all the heavy lifting for you.
Take it Easy
Don’t stress! In the event that your flight is severely delayed or cancelled altogether, you likely don’t have much to worry about (as long as it was the fault of the airline’s). If you have a fear of sleeping on the terminal floor as you wait for your next flight to roll by, don’t sweat it. Airlines are obliged to put you up in a hotel room and provide you with meals and refreshments while you wait, so you may as well live it up to whatever extent you can while you the airline is paying for it. Check it, kick back and enjoy a meal and a beer or two while you wait for your next flight.
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Keep An Eye On your Connecting Flights
Missing flights usually have a knock-on effect, especially if you have a connecting flight waiting for you. If you booked your connecting flight in a single package with your initial flight, you’ll have absolutely nothing to worry about as the airline will take care of everything for you. If you booked the two flights separately, however, you’ll have to take it up with the airline in order to ensure that you make your next flight. Unless you have insurance, you might actually have to cough up for a new flight altogether.
Go For A Walk
You’re delayed and now you’ve got some time to kill, why not go for a walk? You won’t be able to leave the airport (or if you can it probably won’t be worth the long journey into town), but airports have a lot of interesting things to keep travelers busy, so why not check it out? Between bars, restaurants, shops and massage parlors, there’s definitely something to keep you entertained.
