Flight Delay ruined my holiday (well nearly)

Well it didn’t actually ruin my holiday but it definitely ruined the start of it!

With a 3 year old daughter and a 7am flight we decided to book an airport hotel, I was up at 4am, at the airport at 5am to then be told we had a 6 hour flight delay, knowing that we usually have a 6 hour window before we have a total child meltdown I could see that this was not going to be a good start to our week in Ibiza and was not going to end well!

The check in girl gave us £3 each food vouchers – that would have given us approximately 3 cups of tea, when she saw the look on my face she doubled the amount but even so this was hardly going to keep us refreshed for 6 hours ….

I booked us into the airport lounge – £75 for 3 hours – which sickened me as I could have pre booked this for half the price, luckily there were other families with the same delay and thankfully the airport had a play area to occupy the kids for a couple of hours while we spent our vouchers in the bar at 9 oclock in the morning!!

A flight delay can be a minor setback for your travel plans, but what if it ruins them entirely – especially if you are cruising??

Any long haul cruises always include a mandatory 1 night pre stay just in case of flight delays and to avoid passengers missing the cruise due to flight delays and cancellations

But do you know your rights?

If your flight is delayed for more than 5 hours you are entitled to a full refund if you no longer want to travel, if your flight is cancelled your airline MUST find you a new flight or you can have a full refund

If you are in an EU airport or an airport outside of the EU but flying with an EU airline the airline MUST look after you

You might be able to claim reasonable expenses so keep receipts for anything you buy

If you have been delayed for several hours the airline must provide you with a reasonable amount of food and drink and also offer a way for you to communicate often by refunding the cost of two phone calls

If you are delayed overnight accommodation must be provided including transport to and from the airport

You may be entitled to compensation – the amount depends how long you are delayed for and you should be given information such as leaflet about your rights and how to contact your airline to claimIf you have a complaint you can contact CAA who regulate civil aviation in the UK

If you are cruising it is always a good idea to have an extra night or two before your cruise, luckily I was only late for my Pina Coladas on the beach and didn’t miss a cruise!