Sometimes people ask me if I like to travel and then they think about how I am lucky. They are true and I really love to travel, but there is always a negative side to the medals. The hours spent in airports and on planes. It is possible to enjoy it but traveling often gives a risk: flight delay. How to deal with it? This is the question I want to answer today. Once I had four hours delay at the departure and the duration of the flight was a bit more than one hour. We were going up and down from the plane without taking off.
It happens and especially if you travel for work reasons it is a huge problem. I learned in the years to not fix any meetings on the traveling days. You can easily imagine why. Well, everything is normal, because of the number of travelers. The traffic is increasing and this means that the risk to be a victim of a flight delay is higher each time. The first rule is no panic. Never will change if you fight with the staff. Most of the time they even don’t know exactly what is going on. Second rules: follow my tips.
Causes of a flight delay
Many reasons cause a flight delay. Sometimes it is a technical problem for the plane, other times is a plane missing or too many flights landing and taking off at the same hour. Then it can happen an overbooking. Airlines, not all of them luckily, accept more reservations than available seats, so if all the travelers arrive at the airport some of them don’t find space on the flight. This also causes a delay.
Once I was on a plane ready to take off. A passenger started to give an outburst. The captain called the police and we had a huge flight delay. Another time I was flying for half an hour and the captain said that an engine stopped to work and we needed to go back. In the end, the airline company hosted us in a hotel and we started again the journey the day after. What to do in all these cases?
Flight delay: the airlines’ proposals
Generally, the airlines for a flight delay try to do the minimum they can. For example, when I had 4 hours delay at the departure I was in Rome and they gave us a voucher for a sandwich and a soft drink at the airport bar. When I was in Paris and we went back the airline paid for one night in the hotel, meanwhile I lost the money for the first night to my destination. It is always a bit tricky to deal with the compensations.
Anyway, there are some laws and rules, so if you follow the right step you can receive money from the airline company. Of course, it happens if the delay is huge. I had also overbooking situations, but luckily I left with the plane. Usually, they ask people if they want to wait for the next flight in exchange for a certain amount of money. Sometimes, if you are not in a hurry, it can be not bad the compensation offered. But don’t forget that maybe you have expenses for the hotel reservation and so on… To deal with a flight delay you need to be prepared.
What to do in case of a flight delay?
I mentioned the main causes and also briefly what the airline does. You have your rights and you need to know them if you want the correct compensation. When you have a flight delay check exactly the reasons and especially the hours of the delay. So you will have the elements to verify if you have the right for compensation and also its amount. Keep in mind also that if the airline does overbooking you are not obligated to accept their offer to wait for the next flight.
If you are traveling from the EU to protect you there is a rule settled by the European Commission. So, according to the conditions you are living with your flight delay, you have different rights. If the delay is huge or the flight is canceled you expect compensation. The airline has to reimburse you up to $700. Before asking for money verify exactly your position. How? Simply using AirHelp. It isn’t made only for the EU.
How AirHelp work?
Ar you at the airport and you just get informed about a flight delay? Don’t worry, download the App of AirHelp and fill the form with some details about your flight. You will know immediately what are your rights. Then you can contact the AirHelp staff to receive support. They will give you assistance to apply and ask for compensation from the airline company.
The App is free and the staff answers very quickly to all your requests. You can find here all the steps you need to follow, listed for easy use. Maybe you will discover that you have no right to a refund, but it is always better to check. They are the best in their work, so in case you are eligible for compensation, you will have it. Meanwhile, if you need to book a flight, check out my guide to save time and money.