What happens when you miss your flight?
 

Not that I plan to, but what actually happens if you do?

Is it as simple as showing up to the airport, and getting them to book the next flight home if they have the room? I'd have no idea what you would do.

I'll be flying to Belgium from the US, and back next week.

Usually depends whose fault it is. If it's yours, your usually SOL (although some might let you rebook for a fee, but in this scenario it may well depend on the agent you get, and I wouldn't count on it). If it's the airlines fault, they'd usually rebook you on next available flight and you might be entitled to a few percs depending on the situation.

Never happened to me.But I sat next to 2 guys (YES I had to sit in the BACK with the unwashed!!!) last week who had been too late getting to the airport and missed their flight from DFW to Ohio.American cancelled their outbound, left the return intact, and did not suspend their tickets.They rebooked for the next day, no fee.Had they been "stranded" it would have been their nickel.Last summer I had an associate scheduled to fly from Nice to Paris, on a Sunday morning.The traffic from St Tropez to the airport was awful, missed his flight Air France treated him like royalty put him on the next flight no fee.....He passed out when he got the bill for the car service from the hotel......It was a per hour charge, not a flat fee.....win some,lose some.

Expanding on above:

If it's your doing, assuming your ticket allows it (some don't), you might be able to rebook for a change fee AND the difference in fares between what you paid and what the new ticket will cost. You'd essentially be looking at buying a last-minute ticket to or from Europe which would be very expensive. Bottom line: do your best not to let that happen.

If it's the airline's doing (say, a missed connection), they'll put you on the next available flight, as dfr848 says. "Next available" is the key. With flights running near capacity these days, you may need to wait.

During this last round of AA flight cancellations, according to a friend who works AA res, "thankfully" few travellers actually knew they could ask for another airline to get them to their destination.One man was told the next flight "available" to Mexico City was 3 days later.He called his TA, and they were able to get him on the next Mexicana flight within hours.Operative word is "available".

Some of the US based airlines (perhaps all, not sure), (AA is very liberal in situation like this), have what they call, a "flat tire" rule.

If you get to the airport within 2 hours after your flight departs, they will re-book you for free on the next scheduled flight. Problem is that you will be flying standby and you will be at the bottom of the totem pole, so no guarantee.

The other option is to call if you know you are running late but your flight has not departed yet. For a small fee (~$25) you can be confirmed (as long as there are seats available) on the next flight.



Reporting from Dubai Hilton. On the way home.

My parents missed their flight last night (16 April) on Delta from Dubai and they not only rebooked w/o a fee for today, but they made sure they got business class.

I really think it was the agent in Dubai not only felt sorry for my parents, but she had left the ticket counter early and they could not check in.

The hotel had told them to be there an hour before the flight (they should have know better!) and the taxi driver took them to the wrong area.

They got to the airport really early for their flight today! I guess your never too old to learn a lesson.