These Three “Things To Do When Your Flight Is Cancelled” Misses an Important First Step

Jeanne Marie Hoffman January 25, 2017 Travel Tips 1 Comment

I was just checking out this Forbes article entitled, “The 3 Most Important Things To Do When Your Flight Is Cancelled.”

The article heavily quotes Boarding Area’s Gary Leff, but it misses one important step. The first step.

The article’s three most important steps are:

Go in with your own options
Be nice
Try more than one avenue

But I paused at the first few lines:

Flights all over the country are being delayed and yours was just cancelled. The airport is mobbed. You’ve waited on line for fifteen minutes and now you’re with the gate agent.

Yes, you should find a line to wait on, but you should also pull our your cell phone.

Otherwise, while you are in line for fifteen minutes, other people are scooping up flights via the call center. There’s only one agent in front of you, but many people who can rebook people at the call center.

There is a chance you’ll be on hold for a while, so that’s why you should find a line. Then you are “waiting” in two places at once.

But if you get rebooked, you can just step out of line.

Heck, I’ve rebooked a flight while still deplaning from a canceled flight (though I got through right away because I was top status back then, so results not typical!).

But yes, know what options you want. Do be nice. Do see a new agent if you don’t get what you want.

But definitely call.

Here’s what I did when a truck hit my airplane. (Yes, the flight was canceled).