Flight Delays and Cancellations.
Is there a way to avoid Flight Delays or Cancellations ?
Unfortunately there is no way to avoid flight delays and cancellations and no Airlines can guarantee their time schedules and you as passenger should know this when planning your journey ahead of time. Most of the cancelation reasons are weather, traffic delays and mechanical problems in the aircraft.
My flight is delayed, now what?
Right, so now your flight is delayed. What now ? The best course of action is to find how long it will be the delay, but bearing in mind that it is very difficult for companies to estimate the delay, specially at early stages.
Weather can change in a matter of hours and mechanical problems can be much complex than initially thought. If the issue is local weather or local traffic control, all flights will be late and there is not much that you or the company can do to accelerate your departure.
When the problem lies on the mechanical side, I believe that it will be better for you to try and find another flight, as long as you don’t pay for the cancellation penalty or a much higher fare for changing your reservations.
When a airline cancel a flight for any reason, they will try to rebook you on theirs next flight to your destination, if space is available, and, should cost you no additional charge, however if the rebook involves a huge delay try to find out if another airline has available space and request the first airline to endorse your plane-ticket.
The rules in Europe
Each individual airline has different cancellation and delay policies but according to European Commission Regulation 261/2004 and Turkish Regulation On Air Passenger Rights, if your flight is delayed, you are eligible for Compensation for flight delay or cancellation. The flight must satisfy the necessary conditions.
The condition is that one of the following happened to you:
- Your flight is delayed for more than 3 hours
- Your flight is cancelled
- Your flight is delayed for less than 3 hours, but you miss a connection flight and arrive to your final destination more than 3 hours late
- You were denied boarding because of lack of vacant seats (overbooking)
Other conditions:
- The flight must not be delayed due to weather or other extraordinary conditions.
- The flight must have been commenced no later than 6 years ago;
Compensation for flight delay or cancellation
Check In
Resuming, delays and cancellations are not unusual and you should have a plan B when time is your most important asset. At the time of booking, remember that the early hours departure is probably less likely to be hit by delays, that’s what we call “The Ripple” effect.
Remember that if by any chance an early flight gets is cancelled or delayed your rerouting options are bigger. However if choose the last flight and unlucky for your it is canceled, you can stuck at the airport overnight.
Keep in mind when booking your reservation to always check the time between the flights and ask yourself what could happen if the 1st is delayed and if you do not like the answer, choose other flight or request the airline to “build” a new connection that allows more time.
