Remain polite when grounded
Learning that the pilots who were supposed to fly your plane across the Atlantic Ocean might have been impaired is bad enough. Finding out you’ve got 24 extra hours in Scotland and will miss your daughter’s softball game back home, or your brother’s birthday, is possibly even more annoying.
Cancellations due to pilot behaviour — like what recently happened with Air Transat flight TS725 from Glasgow to Toronto — are thankfully rare, but it’s not uncommon for flights to face long delays or cancellations due to mechanical issues or weather.
I was in Northern Ireland a few years ago when the Iceland volcano erupted, forcing flights out of Europe to North America to be cancelled for days. I was supposed to fly home out of London, but I had to get there first. I figured it was going to be hard enough to get my London to Toronto flight, let alone adding a flight from Belfast to London. So my wife and I hopped in a taxi that took us to the docks of Belfast, where we caught a ferry to Scotland. From there we took a train to London, where we waited for two or three days before we finally got a flight back to Toronto.
One thing I’ve noticed savvy travellers do in these situations is hop on the phone immediately and contact the airline. Do this while you’re in line at the airport and waiting to talk with a customer service rep or gate agent and you might get relief without having to wait in a huge lineup.
Another option is social media. Airlines pay close attention to their Twitter feeds and Facebook pages, so hop on Twitter or Facebook if you can and send a note to your airline. Be polite. Use a bit of humour if you can, but make your point.
If you have to wait in line, you’ll be dealing with a very harried and likely overworked and overstressed airline employee. Shouting at them or being rude is never acceptable. So smile your best smile. Use a bit of humour. Empathize.
Being flexible also helps. If you tell the airline you don’t mind flying from Vancouver to Toronto via Calgary, instead of getting a direct flight, they’ll appreciate it.
If you tell them you can take a flight at 5 p.m. instead of insisting on the next flight at 2, they’ll be grateful you’re not being one of those demanding, A-type personalities that have been giving them a hassle over something that’s not their fault.