What to do when your intra-Europe flight gets delayed?
 

Hello -

Husband and I will be on an 18-day European Trip and due to our tight itinerary, we can't afford to have flight delays.

Have you ever been in a short Intra-Europe flight that got delayed? Did you get vouchers or any compensation for the delay?

How will vouchers or whatever help you?

If you are ticketed through on the same airline or airline alliance, they have to take care of you in case of problems.

If you have completely separate tickets, you often lose all travel possibilities until you pay for a new ticket.

I would just make sure that you have adequate times between flight legs - perhaps up to 3 hours to cover any delay. Also, airlines in Europe tend to strike - case in point, the recent air france situation. I've gotten to the point that delays are inevitable so just cover the bases, sit back and enjoy.

I don't understand the question. Please explain exactly what it is you're concerned about. Missing your next flight? A place to stay if your flight is delayed? Lunch?

You say you "can't afford" delays and the answer for that is generally to not have a tight itinerary with no wiggle room for delays. Like the old joke, "Doc, it hurts when I do that. Well don't do that".

As already noted, you should always try to leave wiggle room for possible delays when flying in the EU or anywhere else. Delays happen all the time, mostly because of the weather. You typically know about strikes well in advance, like the Air France Pilots strike and the upcoming Lufthansa strike, but the weather is unpredictable for the most part. Just plan for the seasonal variations as much as possible, summer lighting storms and winter snow storms are two that come to mind. Then there's always the occasional erupting volcano to worry about.

I'm also curious where the concern is coming from? This is just a vacation trip, right? So maybe you will be "late" getting to your next city by a few hours or even a day if there is a flight delay.

Have backup plan if you are so concerned. Can you take trains between France, Netherlands or Portugal? Know the flights of other airlines. Know when the next flight out is.
Keep 800 numbers of all airlines involved and those you may need to use. etc, etc, etc.

I know from another post from this person, that they got these at incredibly cheap flight ticket prices. So I wonder if there is some reason for concern?

After reviewing the itinerary, I'd suggest ditching Greece - its out of the way and appears to be added in only because it was on a wish list. Without Greece, you can probably take trains between your cities which tend to run like clockwork. Start in Portugal as that is how the trip is booked and then get out a map and draw a route that connects your preferred cities on the continent - look at raileurope's website and see what a multi-country rail pass will cost - probably less than your inter-europe flights. Look at overnight trains which will allow you to travel when you wouldn't be sightseeing and also gives you a rolling hotel room. Even with 2+ weeks, we've stayed either in one country and 2-3 cities in that country or with 2 countries and 1 city in each. Savor the experience....don't rush through it and only remember the airport lounges, passport control and stress.

Low cost airlines try to fly in exact timetable as much as possible, as their economic model is based on intensive use of airplanes. Sometimes they won't even load the luggage to be sure to leave in time - they are the ones that really cannot afford to be delayed; and the customer care in these case is often scarce. You get what you pay for.

Unfortunately, occasional delays, strikes, etc. are often part of the travel experience. There is not much you can do except for trying to allow some "wiggle room" in your itinerary, keeping back up plans in mind and having some emergency funds that you hope not to need to use.

I don't want to pile on, but you are asking for disappointment by scheduling yourself so tightly that you can't afford delays.

Maybe you didn't really mean that, maybe you know that traveling from City A to City B is going to take half a day, minimum from hotel to hotel.

Airlines in Europe fly in weather that would mean cancelled flights in the US, but even they have their limits. The airline may fly but the train or bus to the airport may be delayed by a wildcat strike. -- we almost never have these in the US, but they are common in Europe -- or there may be an accident on the highway. I'll skip the personal examples here.

But you could have a really miserable time on thus trip if your whole schedule is like this. On business trips, you have to travel like this, but yours is a vacation!

There's more chance of cancellations and delays in winter, I don't know when you are traveling. If you take a low cost flight from A to B and it is delayed, making you miss your connection, then you're on your own if you booked the flights separately, with different airlines.
They will give you vouchers for food if you have a long delay, but that's about it.

February

Thanks everyone for all the tips and suggestions.

What I meant when I said we can't afford any delay, is that we don't want to lose 1 day that could be spent on more sight seeing. For example, if our flight to Athens from Rome gets delayed... then We will literally only have a day in Athens before we need to go London.

I think any difficulty here is not realizing that all trips must be flexible, as others have said, to the extent that there are things we cannot control. We make our arrangements with best case in mind and everyone, no matter how experienced, must revert to plan B, or come up with a plan B, on occasion. Maybe the difference experience makes is knowing that's the case.

The year of the Great Ash Cloud gave me the opportunity of taking a train all the way across Europe in a sleeping compartment to myself on the overnight segment. I hadn't planned on the expense but it made what would have been an ordinary flight, from Budapest to London, a memorable occasion. I can't afford for that to happen too often but once in a while can be a treat. The occasional surprise need not be a bad thing.

Then I would cancel Athens and stay in Rome and relax and stop fretting over missed flights. I would not stay the day in an airport waiting for another flight. It is a vacation and you are young. Just go with the flow and enjoy.

ms worthy, in the states if it is weather then it is an act of God which means they owe you nada. If it is mechanical then they will compensate you normally.