What to Do if Bad Weather Cancels Your Flight

Miserable winter weather left holiday travelers delayed or stranded at airports from coast to coast. Although the holidays are now just about over, bad weather probably isn't. So for travel in the next few months, the question again arises: Just what are your rights when your flight is canceled or delayed? And the answer, regrettably, is very few.

In the event of a major disruption, the airlines owe you only what is specified in the "contract of carriage," the actual legal agreement you are presumed to sign with an airline when you buy a ticket. And in the event of flight disruptions due to weather, those give you only limited choices: either wait for your airline's next available seat to your destination, re-ticket your entire trip, or ask for a refund of the unused portion of your ticket.

In a weather disruption, an airline contractually promises you nothing more: no meal voucher, overnight accommodations, mini overnight kit, phone call home, or transfer to another airline. An airline may offer one or more of those options—especially to a very high-ranking frequent flyer—but neither government regulation nor contract requires it do so.

If you're caught in a bad delay or cancellation, your first priority is probably to get where you're going as quickly as possible. Your first decision is whether to wait out the delay or try for a major change. It probably depends on where the bad weather exists—at your origin or destination airport—and the weather outlook there. If you conclude that the choice the airline offers is acceptable, you just have to wait out the problem. At best, if you need to stay overnight, you can ask an airport-area hotel for a discounted "distressed passenger" rate.

However, you can sometimes take some positive actions to improve your odds.

• If your disruption is due to a problem at your destination airport, you can try to find a seat to a different airport that isn't having the same trouble. Airport switches are virtually automatic among the multiple airports that serve a single large metro area, such as Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington. Although not so automatic, you can also ask to switch to an airport in a different nearby metro area: a Washington-area airport if Philadelphia is closed, for example, or Chicago if Milwaukee isn't operating.
• Similarly, if the disruption is due to a problem at your originating airport, you can ask about switching to an available flight from a different airport—but you'll probably have to arrange and pay for the ground transfer.
• Whatever you decide, try to come up with your own reasonable solution to the problem: Call your airline's reservation office, check the airline's website, or call your travel agent. Then, when you get to an airline agent, present a solution instead of asking what the airline is prepared to do.

If the weather outlook remains grim or the airline's promises are dim, you have to consider switching your means of transport. In these days of high load factors, the waiting time for a replacement flight may be measured in days, not hours. However, doing something creative will probably cost some money. These days, there aren't many trips where you can easily catch a train. But you can drive—either your own car or a rental, depending on circumstances. Press coverage about the recent storms reported numerous cases where travelers banded together to rent a car or minivan to get them to their destination, an open airport, or a place where they could catch Amtrak. One caution: If you decide to fill in a multi-stop round-trip by driving or taking a train, inform the airline, or else it treats you as a no-show and cancels the remainder of your ticket.

And if a disruption occurs at your home airport—and your schedule is sufficiently flexible—seriously consider getting a refund or a new ticket and starting over in a week or two. It often takes that long for the system to recover from a really bad situation.