Pro Travel Tips: When Airlines Hand You Lemons, Make Lemonade

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People are constantly asking on the DansDeals Facebook Group and DansDeals Forums about what they should do when an airline messes up.

If it’s for something that happens on a flight that was already flown, then the correct answer is to:

  1. Contact the airline and let them know how you expect them to make it right. If it involved a flight delay or cancellation from a region with consumer protection laws like Europe or Israel, be sure to know your rights when you ask for a specific compensation amount.
    • I’ve gone down this road when an airline forgets our confirmed kosher meals or lost a bag and have always been happy with the outcome.
  2. If the airline won’t resolve it, file an informal complaint with the DOT.
  3. If an informal DOT complaint doesn’t produce results to solve the issue, file a formal complaint with the DOT.
    • Many DansDeals readers have received cash refunds for cancelled flights when airlines were ignoring their requests by filing a formal complaint.
  4. Take an airline to small claims court. Many times an airline may even fail to show up, leading to a default judgment in your favor.

 

But what about when things happen before your flight?

DDF member Ysturmwind was booked to fly on United from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale this morning. He noticed last night that the seats he previously selected in the middle of the plane for his family of 5 were removed and they were now scattered among several rows in the back of the plane. With 3 kids under the age of 6, was there anything for him to do?

I noted that things like that can happen when there are plane swaps. Airlines have multiple configurations of the same plane variant and as you get closer to a flight, the airline may have to swap in another plane due to scheduling issues. When that happens, you may lose your seat assignment, and even if the airline goes back to your original plane configuration, you won’t get your old seats back.

Unfortunately his flight and other flights from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale were nearly completely booked up, so there wasn’t much United could offer.

Seat assignments are also not guaranteed, but in a situation like this you can usually push for a refund.

But I asked Ysturmwind if a flight from Chicago to Miami or West Palm Beach might work. He had a prepaid rental with Chase at Fort Lauderdale, but upon looking closer he was able to get a full refund for it up to 6 hours before pickup time. Plus the rental from Miami turned out to be $100 cheaper!

While the Miami flight didn’t have empty sears in Economy Minus, it had plenty of space in Economy Plus. I suggested that he call United and say that due to having young children and United losing their seats that were reserved together, would the agent be able to switch them to the Miami flight and book them into Economy Plus seats without any additional cost.

And sure enough, United did just that! The family got upgraded seats at no charge and saved money on the car rental. That’s some decent lemonade indeed!

The trick is always having other options in your back pocket. Airlines aren’t going to proactively solve your problems, but if you offer a reasonable solution, most agents (though you may need to ask for manager) will be willing to make things right.

Another common problem is when an airline cancels or changes the schedule on your upcoming flight. Airlines sometimes rebook you on another flight or just leave your ticket as cancelled with you needing to call in. People often get nervous and call the airline to make a rash rebooking decision and then ask for advice. By then it’s too late!

In fact, a schedule change or cancellation is like winning the airline ticket lottery! Often times an airline won’t even let you know about a change, you just have to notice it on their site and compare it to your original email confirmation.

When an airline changes your flight schedule by roughly 2+ hours or cancels your flight, you are entitled to make free changes to flights on nearby dates without paying the difference in fare or you can get a cash refund. It’s even better than purchasing a refundable ticket as you won’t pay the difference in fare for a more expensive flight. You can also change your routing, change to nearby airports, and suggest other creative solutions that will work for you.

However once you make a change, you are locked into the new flight. Therefore, the best practice is to just let it sit until you are closer in to the time of your flight. In the meantime, you may decide not to travel or that you want to travel on another date or flight. Just make sure to watch the flight you want to switch to in order to ensure that it doesn’t sell out in the meantime.

Have airlines handed you lemons? Share your stories about you you made lemonade in the comments!

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70 Comments On "Pro Travel Tips: When Airlines Hand You Lemons, Make Lemonade"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

Mike

Yes – just flew ewr-lax. United has a 7am and 8:30am. They definitely are aware of the 2 hour plus/minus rule and definitely keep this in mind but very often when flight isn’t full they cancel 7am and push to 8:30am. Happened to us and 8:30am was delayed an hour and a half. We missed a very important meeting and was really disappointing.

Thirsty

Where’s the lemonade?

Mike

Extended the trip

I\'mbored

He didn’t have to sit thru the meeting!

Baruch

Yusss

Mordechai

What sort of comp do we ask for forgetting Confirmed kosher meal in business or Econ?

Yehoshua

Yes! What should we be asking for here? Would love to hear the experience of Dan or others – including which airline.

M M

are you in brazil?

Shmerel

I got $75 for me and $75 for my wife, we flew from Las to Ewr.

Brian G

I just had this happen last week on AA. My wife and daughter were booked (via 100,000 Chase points on the Chase Sapphire Preferred portal) from Florida to Colorado. We made the decision that they weren’t going to actually go on this trip. I called Chase Travel to see what the options were. The only real option (prior to the travel date) was to cancel and get a travel credit for up to a year BUT under my wife and daughter’s name (which didn’t quite work as we normally fly SWA as a family as we have the companion pass). I also confirmed that AA’s policy as @Dan mentioned is that if they change or cancel your flight, then you can get a full refund of the ticket. Long story short, I waited and waited to cancel and low and behold I got an email from AA canceling the second leg of their flights. If they were going to actually take those flights then I would have been pretty upset. Instead, I was overjoyed because now I can get my 100,000 points back and not have to worry about a travel bank filled with credits. I called Chase Travel (not American) and they fully refunded my points back into my account, which were originally utilized months earlier. So it became a win-win type of situation as I was patient and didn’t jump to cancel my flight two weeks early.

Yochai

Since COVID, almost every flight I booked had schedule changes which were to my benefit.
Had a ticket booked for a friend on United J to Israel before we knew if they’d reopen. They canceled the return afternoon flight 85, and automatically rebooked him on the night flight 91, which was much more expensive at time of booking. At the time it was uncertain if Israel would reopen so I was really happy I had the option to cancel for a full refund, OR take the night flight.

On the other hand, I had a ticket to Israel for sukkos on from MIA (a 5 hour drive from home) on Air Canada (booked through United), I noticed AC changed the departure time that wouldn’t allow me to make my connection. I called United, who rebooked me on United from a much closer airport to my house (JAX). A few weeks later, I saw AC restored the original flight time. Had I waited to make the change, I wouldn’t have had the flexibility anymore.

Joseph

If el al moved my reservation with eight hours are they required to give me a refund? What if I booked with a voucher?

Eli

I recently was scheduled for a flight and I received a text a few hours before that my flight was cancelled and I was rescheduled for a flight the following day (after when I was to have been back home already). I cancelled the flight online because the other options would not work out for me. It said that a refund was being issued to my credit card (I booked with the new Venture X), but I never received the refund…
Any ideas? It’s been 2 1/2 weeks already…

Cypus

What to do it your flight gets delayed an hour and then you miss you connection and have to sleep overnight in Switzerland. And because of the flight change you can’t get a kosher meal since it was rebooted within 24 hours. Am I entitled to any compensation?

Moe

This story happened just a month ago. https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=127565.0
Booked from TA to JFK through Heathrow for Pesach and British pushed off our first flight making us going to miss the second flight. When i first called they told me that we would have to get an earlier flight and have a stopover for 12 hours. With 8 kids. I told them i would get back to them after they sorta promised to pay for a hotel.
When i called back a week later i got a representative who was really helpful. After telling him that we really were not aiming for NY but for Philly (really an extra $200 a ticket) he got us El-Al to the UK (thus cutting out the 12 hour stopover) and then a flight directly to Philly cutting out an annoying, pricy, extra trip by car. And the same back to Israel!

The only cute thing (which i already sorted out with El-Al) is that he said that El-Al unfortunately doesn’t serve Kosher meals.

Y.

@Dan wow thanks for this post.

Do you think i can still file a claim with the DOT or with small claims court against ElAL for a flight back in March 2018??

Thanks!

Y.

Links for Informal and Formal complaints are the same?

Leads to the same place.

Moses

What about if I booked through a travel agent like Priceline when I call the airline they say sorry we can’t help you speak to your travel agent?

Eli

I have a flight booked from TLV to DTW with a stopover in MIA on AA on March 28. What was a short layover was recently modified to a 8 hour layover. As per Dan’s advice I did not yet change the itinerary; I am going to wait till I know for sure where I want to stopover instead and what dates I want to rebook for.
At the moment my options are to stopover in London (partner with BA), however, I have been there before and would like to stop over somewhere more exciting.
Any ideas or suggestions where I could try to layover for free on a partner airline?
Also, does anyone know if the flight that I want to change to needs to be a flight that is available on AA.com or can I just piece together any itinerary I want using partner airlines (as long as I start off in TLV and end up in DTW)?
Thanks Dan!

RT

Hey Dan would love some advice. We had flights booked to Israel on air Canada through Toronto for august 2020. They gave us a voucher since we weren’t allowed into Israel at that time. Since then the grandmother we wanted to visit in Toronto has passed away and we cannot get into Canada or Israel since we have young children who aren’t vaccinated. We filed a DOT complaint about 2 weeks ago and haven’t heard anything back yet. It was booked through an online travel agent so nobody is taking responsibility for the flight and compensation. Any recommendations on how to move forward? The flight vouchers are expiring soon. Thanks!

Leah

Great post, Thanks!!
Also what is the time limit to request compensation from the airline for a flight delay?

U

A was on a flight from Canada to the usa a few years ago, it was a delay of several hours, is there any refund I can get?
Thank you

Bk

Booked a $80 delta ticket and my seat was back row, one of the restroom stalls wouldn’t close which made the 2 hour flight a bit uncomfortable because had to let everyone coming my way know or the door would just swing open.

Messaged delta my experience (in a very polite manner), got an instant 35,000 delta skylines for the inconvenience.

LEMONADE!!

Avi

Do you know of any way to get a refund on Delta basic economy fares without cancelation fees? Any current COVID waivers?

Air Serbia

I bought 2 years ago that air Serbia deal and we kept pushing it out the reservation now they officially don’t fly to ey anymore could I file dot compaint?

J

I have an award flight on United that was scheduled for a Sunday at 8:30am which they now moved to 10:30am. I won’t arrive in time for my destination so I will likely cancel. They have no flights that leave after Shabbos and no nearby airports with better times. Am I likely to get compensation if I complain. If so, should I write them or call, and do it before I cancel or after? Thanks!

Yoel1

I have a JB flight Jan 29 and I am still waiting on my mosaic spend 15k promo to post so I can bring a carry-on, what the best way to expedite the process?

Aron

Booked Jal through Alaska award Del-Hnd, Hnd-sfo but they changed it to Del-Hnd, Nrt-sfo.
Is it possible to shuttle through Hnd to Nrt, I am guessing not. How can they do it? Any way to make lemonade?
I am still flexible to move date to get Del-hnd, hnd-nrt but afraid they might change again without my knowledge and then me ending up paying high dollars at last moment.

Eli

Hey Dan! Thanks for the post. Quick question…
I have a flight booked from TLV to DTW with a stopover in MIA on AA on March 28. What was a short layover was recently modified to a 8 hour layover. As per Dan’s advice I did not yet change the itinerary; I am going to wait till I know for sure where I want to stopover instead and what dates I want to rebook for.
At the moment my options are to stopover in London (partner with BA), however, I have been there before and would like to stop over somewhere more exciting.
Any ideas or suggestions where I could try to layover for free on a partner airline?
Also, does anyone know if the flight that I want to change to needs to be a flight that is available on AA.com or can I just piece together any itinerary I want using partner airlines (as long as I start off in TLV and end up in DTW)?
Any suggestions Dan?
Thanks!!

Ed A

Recently a friend had a early morning Spirit award reservation from BWI-Armenia, Colombia. He checked in and was bumped off the flight. He was given food/hotel vouchers and a ticket to Miami on Spirit and and next day ticket on Avianca to Armenia. Spirit refused any compensation pointing to his alternative ticket. Was he not entitled to some additional compensation for being bumped and delayed some 24 hours?

Yossi k

Just had a flight from Miami to weschester with a stop in DCA on American. Got canceled and rebooked multiple times because of the weather. The last time they rebooked me my flight out of Miami was showing up canceled. Went to the airport at 5am and got a flight to lga ((Direct!) on the earlier at flight. Saved 8 hours of travel and waiting time

SG

Had a direct flight from Burbank to JFK on JetBlue, was a return flight after a week in LA for Hanukkah this year. As we were all sitting at the gate waiting to board in Burbank the lady announces we will be stopping in Albuquerque for fuel, waiting 45 min, then continuing to JFK & we won’t have to get off the plane. We were all outraged of course since no compensation was offered and this was a red eye so we had all hoped to sleep.
What was weird is the lady later angrily announced after lots of people complained, that if 10 people voluntarily got off the flight with no compensation package we could go straight to JFK. But something about the amount of people and fuel meant we would have to stop in Albuquerque. So that’s what we did. It was super annoying. They also tried before we left to fill the plane with fuel while we waited on the plane, then announced had overfilled and had to take some out so waited some more..not really sure what happened bh eventually took off.
The lemonade is we had a safe flight thank G-d, and our kids slept through the landing/wait/take off in Albuquerque which was a huge miracle. Unfortunately someone fainted while we sat and waited in Albuquerque, they must have been fine and come-to since I didn’t see anything major happen other than flight attendants rushing to help the person. Later I asked the flight attendant and they said the person had been claustrophobic.
@Dan is it worth emailing and asking for some sort of JetBlue credit for this extra flight stop that was unplanned? Thanks hope everyone stays safe 🙂

Eliwise

I flew round trip on JetBlue and both flights my screen didn’t work. Are u able to get compensation? If so how much should I ask for?

Bob

Five years ago, my wife and I flew Delta jfk -> tlv, and they forgot our kosher meals. It was Tzom G so it didn’t matter much anyhow. Nevertheless, we were each compensated a $250 Amazon GC.

Q: Now I have an ElAl trip in July that’s been rescheduled many hours from original booking. I’d be happy to have the trip canceled, however, the tickets were a great deal, and would rather see them rebooked for a trip in May.

If I complained to ElAl about their take-off/landing rescheduling of my July trip, would they accommodate me by rescheduling it for a May trip?

Spears82

Hi Delta delayed and then cancelled our sat night flight from JFK to TLV due to “staffing issues” (believe one of the crew had covid) . They rescheduled the entire flight for Sunday at 11 am (which also didnt depart on time). They emailed us a $100 voucher. What are out options? Could we ask for more? or a refund or something. Got to TLV more than 12 hours after we were scheduled to

Bob

I have an ElAl trip in July that’s been rescheduled many hours from original booking. I’d be happy to have the trip canceled, however, the tickets were a great deal, and would rather see them rebooked for a trip in May.

If I complained to ElAl about their take-off/landing rescheduling of my July trip, would they accommodate me by rescheduling it for a May trip?

FlyingBlue

AA’s 9:59 MIA to CLE flight today didn’t leave yet either

Postoffice

UA 1793 (LGA-ORD) delayed today likely means missing UA 5393 (ORD-FAR booked on the same ticket). Being that there are no later flights to FAR (that I could find), might they provide a hotel at ORD? Are there other options I am not considering?

Londoner

I live in England flew with BA to NYC Suitcase got damaged, No kosher meals on either way, had exemption for mask but staff woke me up, sent complaint but loads of excuses, can i file with DOT or only if you live in USA?

Leah

The link to complain to elal, after clicking ‘other’ takes me to a hebrew page. Any English version? or how do i select the English version? thanks!!

Ly

I booked delta 1 BOS to TLV for 105k skypesos with a 5500 comfort+ LGA to BOS on a Sunday. had the flight schedule change to shabbos and got it swapped to a direct JFK to TLV for the 105k

IT

Flying back from NY to Montreal on a Thursday evening. Flight was cancelled and the only options they gave me were Friday afternoon too close to shabbos. I didn’t know about the right to refuse their alternate flights. Since I needed to get back to my kids before shabbos, I decided to rent a car and drive back to Canada, though it was super expensive to return the car in a diff country. Later that night, after I rented and paid for the car, travel agent told me he rebooked me onto a Friday early morning flight. I didn’t end up using that flight since I already paid for the car and didn’t want to risk further flight delays. I wish someone had advised me (such as the travel agent throughout these deliberations) that I could refuse their suggested alternatives and just get money to offset the car. Is there anything I can do now to get money back for the flight cancellation, or because I was rebooked there is nothing to do?

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