OPTIONS???? Stuck in Lisbon

They contact United to re-route them to their final destination at the earliest opportunity under EU 261 / 2004 and pay them any necessary compensation if they will arrive late.

There is a reasonable Air Canada route via Toronto at 11:10 which will be what I guess will be offered for the morning.

Do not under any circumstances accept a refund.

Have your daughter contact United Airlines to put them on a Star Alliance partner. I have no idea what NWK is.

Google flights shows from Lisbon to Chicago:

6:10 am Lufthansa via Munich
11:20 am Air Canada via Toronto
Several TAP departures via Barcelona, Boston

Yep. First, I suggest you and they relax, do not panic. It should be only a minor inconvenience.

United has the responsibility to get them home and they will. Really, this is not a big deal. Contact United and they will find a way. There are literally hundreds of options for United to get them home from Lisbon to Chicago. Chicago is a gigantic United hub. Lisbon is a major city with flights to North America on multiple United partners.

Most likely United will put them on a partner flight (again, no big deal) from Lisbon to a major United hub in Europe (my guess would be Frankfurt, but could easily be Munich, London, or a dozen other cities). United has oodles of flights from Europe to Chicago. Add in all the United partners and you have a plethora of options. Your biggest challenge will be picking the option you want from all those that are available. So think about what would be a better flight (however you define that). Me, I like long nonstops or the fewest possible connections. But there are multiple considerations (how many connections, how long those connections are, etc.). By the way, TAP is just fine.

What I would do is to go online and look at what your options are if you wanted to buy a new ticket from United (on United or a partner or some combination) tomorrow from Lisbon to Chicago. You will find literally hundreds of ways to do this. Look for one that you want, like with just a single connection (preferably in Europe). Ignore what the price would be - there is no price, the price doesn't matter. Yes, really. Ignore what the price of a new ticket would be, it is meaningless in this case. Important: Jot down the details for those flights you want. Then call United, explain the situation, and ASK them for the specific flights you want, providing the details for the flights you picked. It doesn't matter what the flight would cost, United won't care and you don't need to either. You can actually get a BETTER flight (I do this all the time - flight cancellations can be a great opportunity!). Just be polite, ask nicely, have your act together, and know what you want to ask for. And above all, relax, this is not a big deal, it happens millions of times every day.

Good luck and do not worry!

Presumably "NWK" was an attempt to describe Newark Airport (a gigantic United hub will a gazzilion flights to/from Europe).

The correct airport code for Newark "Liberty" International Airport is EWR.

EWR is not a favorite airport of mine (for many reasons), but it should be perfectly OK in a pinch (though, the Thanksgiving peak travel nightmare cluster is coming this week...not a particularly good time to fly through anywhere, letalone Newark, but that ship sailed when they booked their trip). Personally, I'd try to skip EWR (especially a few days right before Thanksgiving). There are many, many nonstop United flights from European hubs to Chicago (oodles and oodles when you add in partners eg Air Canada).

This is not a crisis.

You've received great advice. The minute they "buy" another flight, it's all on them, and no they won't recover their loss. United must get them home. It happened to us on a flight home from Ireland, but on American. We called the airline, explained the situation and they were very helpful. (This was before apps were everything.) Last year, a problem with our Delta flight trying to get home from Amsterdam. It all popped up in our app, and gave us the option to rebook to another flight. If they use the United app, choosing another flight should be easy enough as well.

This happened to us when we were in Lisbon October 2024. Delta. We just stayed on the phone till they found an alternative flight. We flew through Casablanca on Royal Morac Air, same day just later. We flew into JFK in NY.

We also explained to the hotel the problem and they let us stay a while longer.
We did put in a claim with Delta and we did receive a few hundred dollars as compensation.

If they're at the airport or can get there without too much trouble, they might just try talking to a gate agent. I did that last year when I was in England I had a layover in Amsterdam and as the plane taxied down the runway I received a message on my Delta app that the flight had been cancelled.

As soon as I got off the plane I walked up to the gate agent who was with KLM and told her my problem. She got on the phone and about 15 to 20 minutes later had booked me on a new flight leaving AMS about six hours later. Because of that I was entitled to receive a refund as my plane was delayed over six hours due to a mechanical error involving a Delta plane. About three days later, I received a refund for over $700 from Delta. I also received a$150 reimbursement from Delta that was credited directly to my Amex card because I did not receive the Comfort Plus seat that I had booked on the original flight.

Look up EU 261, the law about extra compensation in these cases. Have them look it up, too. They should be entitled to well over $600 each for this failure. The law considers it the airlines’ responsibility to keep planes in running condition. And do as KD said: do not accept a refund. Make sure United gets them home.

Correct, I meant Newark

GREAT advice! I thank everyone for the quick replies

Have them find other flight routes home (LIS to ORD) on United and/or a Star Alliance partner and then ask United if they can put them on that flight. For example, when United canceled a family member’s flight from Madrid last year, he asked United if they could fly them via London and then back to DC from there. They put him on that flight and he also received EU261 compensation. I see flights from LIS to ORD via Frankfurt on Lufthansa/United that might be an option for them. If they don’t get help from someone at the airport, get on the phone with United customer service and work it out. United is responsible for getting them home; they should not buy another flight.

United has them on TAP Lisbon to Dublin. Then United to DC. Then United to Ord, getting in at 6:30. Each transfer is 2 hours.

Wizz and Ryan both have cheap flights to Budapest. Book one. Call and I will help salvage the trip.

I’m watching their dog and THREE cats. No way I’m suggesting anything other than “Come home!”