With flight delays and cancellations on the rise worldwide, travellers are being advised to prepare in advance for possible schedule disruptions. According to specialist monitoring services, around 2% of flights are currently being cancelled, while delays affect roughly one in four departures during peak travel periods.
Experts recommend not waiting for an official announcement from the airline, but instead tracking information about your flight yourself. You can use websites and apps such as FlightAware or Flighty, as well as the airline’s official apps, which often provide the most up-to-date data on the aircraft’s location and any possible changes to the departure time. It is also useful to sign up for notifications from the airline.
Even if the app shows a delay, experts advise arriving at the airport according to the original schedule, as the departure time may change again, including to an earlier one. The exception may be cases where the airline has officially confirmed a significant delay or rescheduling of the flight, and the aircraft that is to operate the service has not yet departed from the previous airport.
It is also recommended to keep an eye on the weather forecast for the days you are travelling. If severe storms, blizzards or other difficult conditions are expected, it is worth checking in advance whether the airline has issued a special advisory. Such notices often allow you to change the date or time of departure without penalties, even for low-cost, usually “non-flexible” tickets.
It is important to know your rights as an air passenger. If a flight is cancelled or the route or arrival time is significantly changed, a passenger who decides not to travel and does not accept the alternatives offered is entitled to a refund for the ticket. In some cases, especially when the delay or cancellation is due to reasons within the airline’s control, expenses for meals, transfers and hotel accommodation may be reimbursed. It is advisable to check up-to-date information on the guarantees provided by carriers on the official information resources of air transport regulators.
If a flight has already been delayed or cancelled, the first step should be to try to rebook it yourself via the airline’s mobile app. Many carriers allow you to choose another flight this way, sometimes even from an alternative departure or arrival airport. If there are no suitable options, it then makes sense to contact the airline’s check-in desk or service centre at the airport.
During periods of widespread disruption, phone lines are overloaded, so specialists advise using other communication channels in parallel: international call-centre numbers, online chats and messages via the airline’s social media accounts. Sometimes this is the quickest way to get the help you need to reissue your ticket.
Having access to airport lounges can also be useful. In airline-branded lounges there are usually experienced agents who can help rearrange your journey, and the lounges themselves provide a more comfortable place to wait out a delay. If there are no suitable flight options at all, passengers sometimes have to buy a ticket on another carrier’s flight themselves and then claim a refund for the cancelled itinerary.
In the case of long delays and an enforced overnight stay near the airport, it is worth booking a hotel in advance, as on peak days available rooms disappear quickly and prices rise. Some of the costs of accommodation, meals and transfers in such situations may be covered by travel insurance programmes or by the built-in insurance protection of certain bank cards used to pay for the flight.
Experts also advise travellers who already know about a likely cancellation or significant delay to arrive at the airport earlier and try to get on the standby list for an earlier departure. This is particularly relevant if subsequent flights are almost full. Passengers with elite status in a loyalty programme have a higher priority on such lists, and some airlines charge a fee to put regular customers on standby.
Overall, specialists advise travellers to monitor information about flights, weather and airline advisories closely, and to act promptly: the quicker a passenger looks for alternatives, the more likely they are to find a convenient flight or hotel arrangement while there is still availability.