Greetings and merry xmas to all. I took my first international flight in 2002. Hopefully I am not on a losing streak as I experienced my first canceled flight in January 2018, followed by another cancellation in May 2018. Both cancels were the no advanced notice eligible for compensation kind that you hear happen, that make people submit bad reviews based on an isolated incident
Is it just me or are there a lot of cancellations lately? I am flying next week to Spain and thinking oh....
Don't think that booking far in advance has much to do with it. I almost always book my flights 11 months in advance (usually using miles). With an 11-month count-down, I expect (and sometimes am hoping for) a schedule change - sometimes hat happens 2 or 3 times while I'm holding the reservation. I've never had a flight simply canceled without another option being offered (usually I find there are multiple options, including at least one that was better than what I originally booked).
Jazz, what kind of airlines have your cancelations been on? Super-discount carriers, old school major airlines, etc.?
Sometimes cancellations can't be foreseen or avoided. Gatwick in London has been completely shut since 9pm last night UK time (now approaching 9 hours) with all the incoming and outgoing flights cancelled or diverted because of at least two drones flown into the airspace at the airport. Probably not terrorism but much more likely just home grown idiots.
The consequences will continue for many days and affect tens of thousands of passengers....
Weather often is the reason for last-minute cancellations. While the weather it may not even affect your flight route, the plane that was supposed to take you from X to Y is grounded in J and can't get to X. Climate change? hmmmm
There are so many reasons a flight could be cancelled that it would take me hours to list them all.
It could be weather, equipment problems, crew availability, delays somewhere down the line, etc, etc, etc.
I had one instance a few years ago when the 45 minute flight I was scheduled to take was delayed and delayed and delayed. We kept hearing weather problems but the plane was sitting there and it was sunny outside. It was also sunny at our destination. However, the pilots who were supposed to fly the plane were scheduled to arrive on another flight. That flight came from Boston where there was a heavy snowstorm and everything was delayed for hours. Eventually they moved two pilots from another flight to fly my flight.
If you are flying on a non-U.S. carrier to Europe it's possible that there is no backup equipment or crew should one not be able to fly. (This includes flight attendants.). Or a plane had to be pulled for maintenance issues that can't be fixed immediately.
If you want to see something interesting, go to FlightAware.com and plug in your flight number. Do it for today. When it shows up there will be a button for "incoming flight." Press that and it will give you the incoming flight information for your flight. Then get the incoming flight information for that flight. Go back four or five flights and you will see where your aircaft has been.
On a recent flight from RDU to JFK, my flight left at 11:00 AM. Already that day, the plane and crew had flown JFK-BUF-JFK-RDU. Three flights and they arrived at RDU just after 10a. By the way, you can also use this on the day of your flight to see how bad the delays will be. I was once told my flight would be delayed 30 minutes. I checked, and my aircraft hadn't even left on it's incoming flight and that would take 90 minutes.
Airlines are supposed to tell you why the flight is delayed or cancelled but this sign is the best I've seen:
In many years of taking international flights, I have never had one canceled. Fingers crossed for my upcoming one!
My first cancel was on Wow Air at CDG and they paid out my claim almost the same cost as the tickets (probably why they are in such dire straits) the 2nd was on Lufthansa at IAD. I usually book 2 or 3 months in advance on average.
The only time I've been cancelled was a return trip from Honolulu and they put us in a hotel on Waikiki beach. If your flight is going to be cancelled, Hawaii is definitely the best place for it to happen.
If your flight is going to be cancelled, Hawaii is definitely the best place for it to happen.
I don't know, had an extra day and a half in Rome in February courtesy of British Airways. More sightseeing plus some real splurges on meals (they even covered the wine which I wasn't expecting) plus €240 compensation on top of the expenses!
Only one cancellation on the last seven years -- doubt that it was for weather since it was cancelled at least a month in advance (CDG to SFO in May) -- Air France/KLM put us on an earlier SFO flight that day and rebooked our Rome to Paris flight for 6 a.m.! No compensation since our arrival was not delayed, but when pressed they rebooked the Rome flight to a more acceptable late-afternoon flight the prior day. Best laid plans of mice and men ....
@JC yes your cancellation in Rome sounds great!
I've never had an international cancellation that I couldn't somehow work around. -knocks wood-
This sounds like a horrid frequency. Do you think it's based on your home airport? Or is it based on the airline?
This sounds like a horrid frequency. Do you think it's based on your home airport? Or is it based on the airline?
One happened to me January 2018 at Paris CDG to Chicago Wow Air (not bad stranded in Paris 2 nights at the airlines' expense)
the next happened May 2018 at IAD Washington Dulles to FRA Frankfurt on Lufthansa Air; this one I had to call Lufthansa 1-800 to re-book my own flight (the ground crew at Dulles is a contractor and does not work for Lufthansa) and find my own lodging and claim the expense with the airline.
But from 2002-2018 nada.
