This past weekend, Nick and I headed down to Southern Oregon to celebrate the Holidays with Nick’s family. For a number of reasons, we usually fly down (mostly because we can get there in 45 minutes instead of driving 5 hours). In all of our traveling, near and far, we’ve been really lucky and have only had a couple times with flights canceled but this weekend, we added another canceled flight to our list. Southern Oregon has been having really bad freezing fog and when we tried to fly home Sunday evening, our flight was delayed and then ultimately canceled as the plane coming from Portland to get us couldn’t land. In short we were rebooked on the next flight which didn’t go out until the following morning, which wasn’t a guarantee it would be able make it out either, all due to weather related circumstanses.
Long story short, delayed flights can happen because of a number of things and I’ve talked about some tips here for when your flight is delayed due to mechanical reasons. But weather is a whole different monster and the rules are different, so here’s some tips to help remedy this situation, when your flight is delayed because of weather.
If there is any time to really take advantage of MVP or premiere status on an airline, it’s when your flight has been canceled. Priority customer service phone lines as I mentioned above are amazing, yet also they get you priority on the rebooking. For instance, there weren’t a ton of open seats on the rebooked flight the following morning, but because we are MVP we got seats over non-MVP flyers. Sure, most MVP perks are nice like early boarding and free checked bags, but in these situations, that’s when your MVP status really helps.
In my previous post on when your flight gets canceled, it was due to mechanical issues which means the airlines have to put you up for the night if your flight is canceled until the following day. But with weather related delays and cancelations, that’s not the case. Because it’s a natural weather related issue not allowing the planes to land, we were liable for our own lodging that night. Although for us, it was fine since we were visiting family and could just stay with them 1 more night, but it’s something to think about if you were in a situation where you’d have to find your own accommodations.
I kept checking the status of our flight the following day (which was due to leave at 7am) because the weather hadn’t improved all that much. I use FlightTrack Pro on my iPhone, which often has up to date flight info before the airline apps do to see what it was looking like. The worst is getting to the airport and having it canceled again only to have to keep going back and forth, so if you can keep tracking it right up until you head to the airport, it will save you a lot of time if it is canceled again.
Having a backup plan is always important as well. For us, we had to get home for sure on Monday, so if our rebooked flight at 7am that morning had been canceled (and the next available flight after that wasn’t until 9pm that night!) as well we made a backup plan to rent a car and drive home. Luckily our rebooked flight went out but it’s important to know what your next steps will be.
Chelsea @ Lost in Travels says
i think that the ‘back up plan’ option is the best for me. i stress if things don’t go as planned so i always like knowing what we will do in the worst case scenario! i’m glad that everything worked out for the best! canceled flights can be such a headache! i used to live in chicago so i would fly out of o’hare which is notorious for canceled and delayed flights! i remember sitting in the airport two days before christmas and they were threatening to cancel my already 5 hr delayed flight home! which meant not getting home until AFTER christmas. ugh
Casey Martin says
Totally! I get stressed when I don’t have a backup plan, even if it never comes to fruition, it makes me feel better to have one!
Kiki says
I have been hearing about the crazy weather down in Oregon from everyone at home, hope you guys were able to make it home safely. The picture of PDX looks oh so familiar;) These are great tips and important to keep in mind when traveling. If I feel like I have no backup plan I panic when things don’t go as planned. Having a back up plan in mind and being aware of my options really helps keep the stress level down when traveling.
Casey Martin says
Yea it’s been crazy here lately! We did make it home safely, albeit later than we had hoped, but at least we made it! I like having a backup plan, even if it never comes to be needed, at least it makes me feel better! 🙂
Quyen Nguyen says
Ahh, these are great tips! I always check the flight status before leaving home too. Weather can be unexpected any time of year.
Casey Martin says
Yes, totally, you never know this time of year!
Holly C. says
A few years ago when the northwest got hit with a HUGE snowstorm close to Christmas I was stuck at SEA TAC for 4 days with thousands upon thousands of other passangers. I was flying Alaska Air over to the east coast and they cancelled every single flight for the week. Buses weren’t running to the airport and cabs wouldn’t take me across town to get home, so I slept at the airport for a few days (and missed my trip completely) until the weather let up a bit. This of course is an example of an extreme case in cancelled flights… it took a few days – but I finally got ahold of customer service & got refunded eventually 🙂
Casey Martin says
Oh wow!!! That’s horrible! I’ve never had anything quite that bad, but good to be prepared!
Jenn @ What You Make It says
This is super helpful! I’ve always been scared of this happening, because I never knew what to do.
Casey Martin says
Thank you! Hopefully it will help you out if you ever come across this in the future! 🙂
Taylor says
thrilling post! i always wondered that, because i mostly travel in the summer and never usually have to worry about snow delays and all that! this is very useful to know. you’re such a jet setting pro!
Casey Martin says
Thanks Taylor! We travel all year which is sort of nice because we definitely learn these lessons!
ifs ands Butts says
Great tips! Luckily the only time I had to deal with this, they had our new boarding passes ready for us on our new flights upon landing, so we did not even have to deal with it.
Casey Martin says
Oh that’s so nice when that happens!!!
Brittany says
For someone like me who gets freaked out when the slightest of things go wrong a back up plan is always needed. And I thought everyone checked on their flight before they left for the airport. Or at least they should. Great post!
Casey Martin says
Totally! I’m the same way… I like to be in control of my situation so when things so wrong, it can be terrible! But having a backup plan in place always helps!
Erica says
Totally off topic, but I fully support these font banner colors… yay Huskies 😉
Back to the topic, there’s nothing I hate more than hearing people complain about the airline not doing anything for them due to weather related issues- it’s a risk that you should know ahead of time and it’s always better to travel safe than risk that ice landing.
Casey Martin says
Haha, I didn’t even realize the color scheme! 🙂
Torsten Jacobi says
It’s never fun when a flight is cancelled on you. I recently posted a
guide with my experiences.
Help – my flight was cancelled! What to do when my flight got cancelled
Casey Martin says
No, it’s not fun at all!! Good guide though!