What to do if an airline cancels your flight

You bought your plane ticket for your awesome vacation you’ve been so excited about! Right before your trip, you get a notification that your flight has been canceled. What do you do? There are a few options based on the circumstances. Here’s what to do with each situation:

if your airline cancels your flight and you don’t want to rebook - get a refund. It is federal law for you to receive a refund if your flight is canceled and they do not have another option for you. If the agent you are speaking to is refusing a refund, call again and speak to a different agent. Most agents have the discretion of who receives refunds. Most will try to push for a voucher, but if you got a cheap flight, it is unlikely you’ll find that route again for that price. If they still refuse to issue you a refund, file a complaint with the Department of Transportation. Lastly, you can dispute the charge on your credit card.

if your airline cancels your flight and moves you to another flight - You can either accept the new flight, or check out your options and call the airline and ask to be moved to a flight that works better with your schedule.

if your airline makes a significant change to your itinerary - most airlines have policies that if they change your itinerary significantly, they will try to get you on the next best flight for your schedule. “Significant change” varies by airline (Delta and American is 60 minutes, United is 30). If this happens, you need to check what other flights are available from that airline. If the fare is higher, don’t worry about that, they will likely move you anyway and you won’t have to pay the difference. If there are no other flights that work for your schedule, you can request a refund, though again this varies by airline (United is 2 hours, Delta is 90 minutes, and American is 60 minutes).

if the airline cancels your flight because they are no longer operating that route - this gets a bit tricky. If it is a major airline, they will likely reroute you. For example, if you’re supposed to fly New York to Venice, they may fly you New York to Rome and then connect you on a partner airline to Venice. However, budget airlines don’t have partners like major airlines, so it may not be possible to reroute you. In this case, they may just offer you a refund. Unless you are willing to fly to a different location. For example, if your flight to Paris is canceled, you could see if they would rebook you to London and then you can get from London to Paris on your own.

If you have everything booked and your flight is canceled and you can’t get rerouted, the best option is to just book the cheapest ticket to that continent and then use a budget airline or train to get to your final destination.