What I Learned

San Francisco Bay

Have you ever taken a flight that has been canceled? I am sure many of us have. Well, this happened to me in September of 2022 and I learned something on this trip that I am going to share with you. First, spoiler alert, I got cash for my troubles! The bad news is that I did not know the rules, and the same thing happened to me in 2019 and I did not get any reimbursement. 

In 2022, I flew from the US to Amsterdam, had a long layover in Amsterdam and then had a flight scheduled from there to Vienna. I was flying Austrian Airlines, and when I went back to the airport to catch my flight to Vienna, we sat for a while before finally getting on the plane, and then once on the plane, sat again, and then finally they deboarded us and sent us on our way. It was very confusing for me, as in the US, when this happens, we normally get in a long line at the airline counter to rebook our flight. 

In Europe, there are a few different rules about flights. First of all, instead of going to stand in a line to rebook once our flight cancellation was announced, they send you an email with your new flight details. Although this saved us waiting in line, it was a little bit of a pain to not have any control over the new flight and my new flight was scheduled for 6 am the next day AND had a layover in Dusseldorf, so would not get me to Vienna until later in the day (and I still had to get from Vienna to Maribor, Slovenia after that, but that is a story for another day). 

The second thing that they did was they automatically booked us into a hotel, so once we figured out what the heck was happening, we took a bus to the Sofitel near the airport, where many of my other flight mates were staying. When we got there, we just told the hotel our name and voila, we had a room. I did not get checked in until about 1:00 am however, as the bus to the hotel had taken a while to get to us. So 4:00 am the next day came fast! 

Long story short, I got to where I needed to go. However, once I got home, I emailed Austrian and told them that I would like to have my ticket refunded and also get reimbursed for the hotel that I had booked in Vienna and never used. They actually came back to me pretty quickly and asked for more info, which I sent them, and then they said it would take a couple of months to process. They kept following up with me when the couple of months had passed, but I did finally get a credit of €250.00 in the end, which I was happy enough with. 

I thought I was just really good at negotiating, but I found out afterwards that there is a rule in Europe (EU261). You can read all about it here, but basically if your flight is canceled, depending on how many kilometers/miles it was, you are entitled to compensation. FYI, they usually will NOT advertise this, and you have to request it! So if I had not emailed them, they probably would have never said anything! Here is the breakdown: 

Up to 1,500 km (930 miles) --> €250.00 

1,500 km to 3,500 (2,170 miles ) --> €400.00 

more than 3,500 km -->  €600.00 

You have three years in most cases to claim this under rule EU261, so think back and if you have a flight that was going to, from or within Europe, you may be owed money. Just as a side note, in the US, it may be worth emailing them too if your flight ever gets canceled, as I have gotten some money back by doing this too (as well as a hotel room and a meal usually). It does not hurt to ask!

Have you ever had a flight canceled? If so, what did you do? Have you heard about this rule? 

If you haven't already, you can fill out this form with any questions you want answered for my upcoming ask me anything post!!

This post is part of NaBloPoMo. You can find the rest of my posts for this challenge here. You can find the list of participants and their information here. 

Mayhem in The Airport

Instead of grabbing a beer (inspired by Kim) and checking out my week, I am going to interrupt this regularly scheduled program with a little something different. You may know already that I spend a lot of time in airports. This week was an especially airport / airplane filled one! So, instead of looking what I did this week, we are going to do List Sunday, where I let you in on a few of my Travelers Peeves, Airport Style.

Air Force One - in SFO on Tuesday!

- People in the waiting area who sit in one seat, have a bag in another and their feet (or purse or food or...) in another. Especially when the airport is really busy. There is no need to take up more than one seat. The ones who lie down on the seats are equally as annoying. Common courtesy people!

- That guy who talks back to the flight attendant when she tells him that he cannot have three carry-on bags.

- People who have three carry on bags. Or people who, since you can only have two, have two of the biggest bags ever. And when the bags don't fit into the overhead, the people try over and over and over (while holding up the whole plane) to stuff the too big bag into the bin.

- People who take up a whole bin to themselves, whether or not they have three bags. They put their coat, their hat, their purse, shopping bag, suitcase and travel pillow into the bin so that it fills up the entire thing. Or they put their roller-board sideways, even though the attendants keep telling them, "wheels facing out!"

- That guy (and there always is one) at security who forgets to take his laptop out of the case (a no-no), who puts his case on top of the laptop (a no-no), who forgets to take his change out of his pockets, forgets to take his watch off, forgets that he has to take his coat and shoes off (annoying). I ALWAYS get behind that guy. Is this his first time flying? If it is, I forgive him. If it's not, get with the program. We are all trying to go someplace. Literally.

- The people in zone 4 who stand up right in front of the podium as soon as the flight crew says, "we are going to begin by boarding people with small children..." and then continue to stand there throughout the boarding process, even though they are NOT people with small children, nor are they in Zone 1, 2 or 3.

- The people who are in Zone 4 who get IN LINE when Zone 1 is called. Then when the attendant says, "sir, we are only boarding zone 1 now", he looks at her stupidly, and stands there for a while before finally getting out of line (and then getting back in once Zone 2 is called).

- The lady behind me when boarding who keeps touching (pushing) me / my back, as if by doing that, the ENTIRE LINE will move faster.

- The guy who keeps talking on the phone after the flight attendants say to turn the phones off. And then once they ask him again to please get off the phone, he looks at them disgustingly and keeps talking. (I love the campy gay attendants who give them attitude and say - Get Off The Phone, "SIR"!)

- People who stand two abreast on the moving walkway. "WALK-way" people! One of you needs to walk or both of you need to stand aside.

- People who are sitting behind me who put their feet on my armrest. It has happened!

- People sitting beside me who are kind of oozing over into my seat. I even had one guy snuggle up to me with his back towards me and his butt over the line. Too close for comfort.

- People who try to talk to you when you clearly (earphones, book, flat black stare) don't feel like talking.

- People at baggage claim who stand right up next to the conveyor, so then I can't see my bag and when I do see it at the last minute I have to lunge in and try to get it. I admit to "accidentally" knocking my bag into these people if they are inconveniently in the way of my bag extraction. (I like the places where they put the yellow line around the conveyor and you have to stand behind it and then you can step in and get your bag once you see it heading your way.)

- People who make out on the plane. Right next to me. Really? Are we 12?

Well, that was fun. I am sure there are many more, and maybe next time I should stop being so negative and make a list of things I LIKE about airports and airplanes. But this is more fun.

What are your airport and airplane pet peeves? If you don't travel a lot, what are your "crowded places" pet peeves (bar / restaurant / train station / elevator)??