Regardless of the reasons behind them, airline cancellations and delays are disappointing. If you have a connecting flight, you could wind up missing your connection (here are some ways to possibly avoid that). Either way, you may get to your destination hours, if not days later than anticipated.
Having to start your vacation a day or more late, or taking a few extra hours to get home can cause frustration and anxiety. But it’s worse if you have a situation where you feel you really HAVE to be on that flight. Say, because you have a cruise booked and it’s leaving that day. Or you’re attending a wedding that evening. Or you’re on your way to an important business meeting. Or a loved one is dying.
Even during the years before the pandemic, flights got cancelled for various reasons. In fact, nearly 2% of the scheduled 2 million flights in the U.S. in 2019 were cancelled. In 2021, 1.76% were cancelled. In 2022? 2.71%. 2%, give or take, is a small amount and initially doesn’t sound like a whole lot. But if you’re flying to Boise to see your grandfather before he dies of cancer, and he passes before you get there because you were on one of those 103,000 flights that got cancelled, well… 🙁
So what CAN you do if you need to fly somewhere and your flight plans just CANNOT change?
How about buying another ticket, on another airline, as a backup?
These are some potential options:
Southwest Airlines
Southwest is the only airline in the U.S. that allows its passengers to change or even cancel tickets and get a travel credit instead. What’s more, you can change or cancel that ticket up to 10 minutes before your flight.
From Southwest’s FAQ:
Is there a time limit on changes or cancellations?
Yes. You can change or cancel your flight up until 10 minutes before your scheduled departure time. For example, if you had a flight scheduled to depart at 8 a.m., you’d have until 7:50 a.m. to make changes or cancel the flight. If for some reason you forget to change or cancel, it may result in your travel funds for that flight being forfeited.
For example, if you paid $79 for a one-way Wanna Get Away® ticket and you didn’t make the flight or cancel it, you may forfeit the $79 you paid. If you cancel before the “10 minutes before departure” mark, you will receive $79 as a reusable travel fund for future use. When you make a change extremely close-in (for example, if you were supposed to fly at 8 a.m. but then changed your flight that morning to 10 a.m.), your boarding position will change based on your new time of check-in.
Ultra Low-Cost Carriers
Spirit, Frontier, Allegiant, etc. all offer fares that are significantly lower than the legacy airlines or even the low cost ones.
Of course, there may be other costs involved, such as making a reservation from home, paying for a carry on, etc. But you can usually get away with their flights being at least a little less than other airlines.
It’s not for everyone
Obviously, buying a ticket on another airline, just as a backup plan, isn’t an option that’s for everyone. It will cost you significantly more. You’ll have to be coming from and going to somewhere that the “other” airline flies (and for the ULCCs, potentially on the day you want to fly). If you cancel a ticket on a ULCC, the money is gone.
Also keep in mind that if your flight has an issue because of weather, chances are your backup flight very well may, as well (assuming that flight is going to the same airport).
But for non-weather issues (staffing, mechanical issues, etc.) when you’re talking about a matter of life and death or making sure you get to that cruise/wedding/meeting/whatever, it might just be worth it for “just in case,” to better ensure that you’ll get to where you need to be.
Feature Photo: BotMultiChillT / Wikimedia
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.