Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Flight Canceled? How to Get a Refund, Rebook, or Even Travel for Free
Wed, 19 Feb 2025
Learn what to do if your flight is delayed or canceled, how to get compensated, and tips to avoid travel disruptions. What should you do if your flight is delayed or canceled? How can you get compensated for travel disruptions? Hosts Meghan Coyle and Sally French discuss how to handle unexpected flight changes and what you can do to maximize your chances of getting some form of compensation for various travel interruptions. The episode kicks off with a discussion of airline policies, and Meghan and Sally break down when you're entitled to refunds, rebookings, and even hotel stays. Plus, they share tips on checking rebooking options in an airline's app, using credit card travel insurance, and how to find out which airlines offer the best compensation for delays and cancelations. Then, Meghan and Sally discuss proactive steps you can take to reduce the risk of travel disruptions. They cover the benefits of booking direct flights, choosing layovers in mild-weather cities, and selecting airlines with multiple daily flights to your destination. They also highlight how loyalty programs, credit card perks, and smart scheduling can help travelers avoid headaches. Plus, Sally shares her recent experience with multiple canceled flights, detailing how she turned travel chaos into a free trip and some unexpected Starbucks rewards. Resources discussed in this episode: 7 Best All-Inclusives You Can Book With Points 10 Credit Cards That Provide Travel Insurance Flight Delay and Cancellation Compensation: What to Know How to Get Into AmEx Centurion Lounges: Credit Cards That Grant Access Best Credit Cards for Airport Lounge Access of March 2025 In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: flight cancellation compensation, what to do if my flight is canceled, airline refund policy, airline delay compensation, best travel credit cards for flight delays, flight delay rights, travel insurance for flight cancellations, best airlines for rebooking, how to get airline vouchers for delays, how to rebook a canceled flight, last-minute flight cancellation refund, flight delay refund process, best time to book flights to avoid delays, should you buy travel insurance for flights, how to find cheap flights after a cancellation, best airport lounges for delayed flights, and airline hotel vouchers for cancellations.
Chapter 1: What should you do if your flight is delayed or canceled?
Today, we're diving into what to do if your flight gets delayed or canceled so you can get to your destination faster and maybe even get compensated for the inconvenience, hopefully.
And you know, Megan, this episode is fun because I actually lived this, hopefully, so you listeners out there don't have to. But first, before we dive into our main segment, let's take a look at some of the news and travel this week.
And just a heads up, in this episode, we're going to talk about a few credit card companies that are nerd wallet partners, but I just want to let you know this does not influence how we discuss them.
Everyone who likes staying at all-inclusive resorts, there's some good news for you because Hyatt just announced a deal to acquire Playa Hotels and Resorts. This is a brand of luxury all-inclusives with properties in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica.
Now, some of you out there might already be Hyatt fans. You might already know of the Hyatt Ziva, the Hyatt Zalara Resorts. You've actually already stayed at some of Playa's work if you've stayed at any of these two resorts. That's because Playa owns and operates these brands and they've actually already long been part of the World of Hyatt program.
And the World of Hyatt program is really great for all-inclusives, particularly because they have an award chart and they have some really, really reasonable awards prices for stays at these all-inclusives. So now there's going to be a bunch of more options for all-inclusives in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica.
you know, more options to earn and redeem points. That's something I know we're always looking for.
And as far as the timeline goes on this, the deal is expected to close later this year. So we'll let you know when we start seeing some of these new properties available to book with Hyatt points. Until then, check out some of our favorite all-inclusives to book on points on the NerdWallet website. There's actually a ton of options.
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Chapter 2: How can credit card perks help travelers with cancellations?
There's a new credit card offer that could get you a Southwest Airlines companion pass fairly easily. Yes, and we do see this offer once a year, and I'm so glad it's back.
You know, Megan, actually last year I took advantage of a very similar offer. Okay, tell people what it's about then. So there are two cards, the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus credit card and then the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority credit card.
Both have a limited time offer where you can earn 30,000 bonus points and Southwest Companion Pass after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. Okay.
The companion pass is good through February 28th, 2026. And so this offer to get this companion pass with the signup bonus ends on March 31st this year. So you've got about six weeks to decide if this offer might be right for you, but the sooner the better. So you actually have more time to use the companion pass once you earn it.
And of course, if you're listening to this episode after March 31st, the signup bonus probably changed. So make sure to go to NerdWallet to see the current offer and benefits.
Hopefully you're listening to this sooner rather than later, so you can jump on this offer. As you said, the longer you have it, the more you can take advantage of it. And we have talked about the companion pass a lot already in this very short life of the show thus far.
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Chapter 3: What are the latest credit card offers for travelers?
Just a quick debrief for those of you who don't know the companion pass, it's basically a buy one, get one free offer on flights. You designate someone as your companion and then they can join you on the flight that you're already on for only the cost of taxes and fees.
And the usual way to earn it is actually pretty difficult. You have to fly 100 qualifying one-way flights or earn 135,000 rapid rewards qualifying points each. in a calendar year.
Both super tough to hit purely by flying spending alone, but this should make it a lot easier.
Yeah, you just have to meet the terms of the credit card's intro offer, which I should note includes paying that annual fee.
And the annual fee is something that you do need a budget for. On the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus card, it's $69. And on the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority credit card, it's $149.
So the latter, the more expensive one, has more benefits, but we'll link to NerdWallet's roundup of Southwest cards in the show notes so the listeners can dig deeper if they want to find out which Southwest card is right for them.
And speaking of cheap airfares, we got some really interesting inflation data last week.
That's right. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks prices for all sorts of goods and services across the U.S. and puts out new data every month. And I know that, Sally, you've been tracking that and writing about it for years now.
So this month was super interesting. Across all items, U.S. inflation rose to 3% in January. That's up 0.5% since December. Travel prices are also up 4% year over year based on NerdWallet's own travel price index. That's just a calculation that we put together. We use BLS statistics to put kind of a single figure on how travel prices are changing.
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Chapter 4: What is the impact of inflation on airfare?
So it is important to note that it's kind of brutal with travel prices being up 4%, especially when average prices are 3%. That means that travel is outpacing the average rate of inflation over the past year, but flight prices are actually up 7% year over year. And I know a lot of people say, Oh my gosh, this is brutal. Yes. My vacation is more expensive this year.
But when you compare airfares over the past 10 years, Megan, get this airfares are down 6.3% over the past 10 years.
So I'm actually like spending less on flights now.
Yes. The inflation rate over the past 10 years across all items is up 35.9%. So to see airfares down is absolutely bonkers.
Okay. But inflation is still bad for the egg eaters among us. Looking at you, Sally.
I know. The egg shortage is all due to me. I'm sorry. I'm guilty. I think there's another limited time offer that we need to talk about. That's exactly right. This is on the Virgin Red Rewards MasterCard. This credit card has a $99 annual fee.
If you're listening to this episode today, the day it's airing, then this is super timely because the offer just launched yesterday.
I'll give you the deal. Customers who apply for the card between February 18th and March 31st, 2025 will earn 60,000 virgin points. That's instead of the usual 40,000 point offer. You get this if you spend $3,000 on the card in the first 90 days of account opening.
And you can use Virgin Points on a ton of different travel options, including flights on Virgin Atlantic or any of their other airline partners, Virgin Hotels, Virgin Cruises. They've also got like tours and activities. I actually just used some Virgin Points to fly their upper class from London to LA. It was so cool. My favorite part was the Virgin Atlantic Lounge at Heathrow Airport.
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Chapter 5: What proactive steps can you take to minimize travel disruptions?
But here are some things you can do to avoid the mess or at least make it a little more bearable.
Yes. So since I live and breathe travel, I knew what to do immediately when my flight was canceled, or shall I say flights, plural, were canceled. And today we're here to make sure everyone else knows what to do too.
Exactly. We're here to share our knowledge. So take me back to this moment your first flight was canceled. Set the scene. Where were you and where did your mind go immediately?
Okay. So I was on a flight. It was United. I was going through Denver for a layover. I was coming from Springfield, Missouri, where I was visiting my parents. The flight from Springfield, Missouri to Denver was all good. Then I boarded my second plane after a layover. And here's where the trouble starts. I am sitting there on the tarmac for nearly an hour.
Oh, no, that's terrible. Being stuck on the tarmac is worse than being stuck in the terminal. Like you don't know when the next time you'll eat. And that gives me anxiety.
And then I'm like sitting there and I have to go to the bathroom. I'm stressed. So at least on the food note, I had two dinners at two different lounges in the Denver airport. The classic second dinner at the lounge. Yes. So it's important listeners know I have access to both the Centurion Lounge and the Capital One Lounge. through two different credit cards.
Side note, you can find out which cards can get you into those lounges on NerdWallet's website. The flight had us sitting on the tarmac for so long. Finally, the pilots made us get back off the plane. They told us there was a hydraulic issue and, you know, I like my brakes working, so all good.
United told us they would get us a new airplane, though actually at that point in time, it was pretty late. They had offered us a chance to either rebook or at that point get a refund.
I think people don't realize that if your flight gets canceled or significantly delayed and you don't choose to accept the alternative, like them rebooking you on another flight, airlines are actually required to provide a full refund to your original payment method. So like cold hard cash, it's a federal rule.
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Chapter 6: How can you get a refund or compensation for a canceled flight?
Right, sometimes that happens, especially with these smaller budget airlines. If you're desperate to get to your destination, you might have to bite the bullet and just book with an airline that gets you there sooner. So in that case, it does make sense to take the refund from your initial airfare, then pay on your own dime to fly with another airline.
So what did you end up doing about food in your overnight hotel stay? Did you end up staying with your cousin?
Yeah, this is where it gets really interesting. So United was pretty good about, they sent me a text message pretty much as soon as that second flight was canceled saying they would pay for my hotel. And in that text message, they sent me a link to a website that had three different airport hotels I could choose from.
And then there was like basically a coupon code unique to me that I could use to book that hotel. Wow, that actually seems pretty easy. Yeah, you know, it was.
My cousin's house is like an hour drive, so I just stuck with the Silo Hotel from Ramada by Wyndham, which is not necessarily a hotel I would recommend, but it had a free heater, it had free coffee, so that's pretty much all I wanted at 3 a.m. Did you get any food?
Well, Megan, I'm glad you asked, because through the course of this whole journey, United just kept sending me more and more $15 food vouchers, also same textile, to my phone. Ha ha ha! But you couldn't use them, right? Wasn't everything at the airport already closed? Yeah. And then also we mentioned the two lounge dinners. So I was pretty stuffed anyway.
And then also the Capital One Lounge gives you to-go bags. So I had actually swooped a couple of sandwiches and this big bag of chocolate covered raisins.
Oh, perfect. You are a master at free stuff, but I was still concerned about what kind of food you were going to be eating on this delay.
Right. So at this point, I have three vouchers that only work at airport concession stands, and I didn't really want to use them after my double dinner. So I was like, maybe I'll just buy some See's candies, give them as a gift to someone back at home. home. But then I was like, huh, what if I buy Starbucks gift cards with this? And it actually turned out that works.
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