Web: www.thetravelstrategist.com -- E-Mail: fish@flyingwithfish.com
25-July-2008 - Getting Rebooked From A Cancelled Flight : A Simple Way To Reduce Stress & Increase Results
With the airline industry sudden reduction in flights, and a recent escalation in cancelled flights, I'd like to revisit on old topic.........the topic of beating your fellow passengers to a rebooked seat.
Whenever a flight is significantly delayed, or cancelled, there is always a frenzied rush to the podium to get seats rebooked. With 150+ passengers trying to get rebooked by two (maybe four) agents this process is slow and frustrating. The process is not only frustrating for the passengers, but also for the airline gate agents as well. Passengers are angry and the gate agents only have the information in front of them to help passengers get rebooked.
How do you avoid standing in line for two hours, getting angry and going face with an agent who is frustrated because they have to tell you "I'm sorry there are no seats on the flight connection that will get you from Chicago to Bakersfield tonight"?
When you travel make sure you have some important basic information with you
1) Potential alternate routes with your airline and the partner airlines of your carrier
2) The phone number of the airline you are traveling with
3) Your 'current' travel information, including not only your intended flight information, but also your 'Record Locator/PNR' as well. This information on your booking documents, even when you book through sites such as Expedia and Orbitz.
With this information, as everyone lines up fuming you can find a quiet place to sit down, call the airline (get put on hold), re-read your info and have the airlines phone agents rebook you. Agents on the phone do not have a line of people yelling at them. Agents on the phone also have more latitude to find alternate routes to get you to your destination. If you are a frequent flyer, you can also request a few 'compensation miles' for your troubles.
This information is extremely handy if you are traveling during peak times, such as during a holiday vacation period. Flight cancellations during these periods bring out the worst in people. When rebooking a cancelled flight you want an airline representative who is in a relatively good mood to help you out, not one who has just gone toe-to-toe with 100 other angry passengers.
Happy Flying!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Great blog and good advice. But phoning the airline doesn't always work. Recently, we had a flight from Kuwait to London on British Airways which got cancelled while already boarded as they could not resolve a mechanical problem. The departure was scheduled for 8:30 am and we didn't get off the plane until about 11:00 am.
And being the weekend, the local Kuwait BA office wasn't open so the only phone call we could do was phone the UK from Kuwait at our expense. So we waited and it took until 4:00 pm in the afternoon until we reached the agent and rescheduled. Note that there was not an actual BA agent in sight. A local company which does the airport services for many airlines in Kuwait). Lesson learned, well, that travelling can be a pain sometimes.
Ful story at: http://misterian.com/2008/06/british-airways-flight-kuwait-to-london-canceled-on-14-june/
Post a Comment