That "HS students" stranded thread got me thinking.... (cruise, cost)

[southkakkatlantan]

I learn something new on every trip yet 'still' something always seems to happen that I don't plan for; usually I handle it well I think but sometimes, since I'm not perfect, I realize after the fact I've made a mistake in how to manage a situation.

Anywho, that thread about the stranded HS students just got me thinking about the last trip I took out of the country. I was flying from Atlanta to D.C. on Southwest at night. Then, the next morning, I was flying out of D.C. on an early flight to Dubai.

I was on the last flight out of Atl the next night and guess what...it was cancelled. I was just about to go to bed that night when I got the text from Southwest. So, I went from having the next day to work and finish packing, to frantically finish up packing for a 2-week trip out of the country. I ended up (at midnight) booking a Delta flight out at 6 something the next morning; so basically I had a handful of hours to stay up and wrap up my packing...then left for the airport around 4 something am.

It worked out and I made it to D.C. I ended up working from home in the D.C. hotel room instead of working from 'home' home in Atlanta that entire day. However...what really sucked is that my SWA flight was booked with maybe the equivalent of $120 or so in miles; that last minute Delta flight was booked with ~$600 worth of miles. Now...either way, I didn't pay out of pocket for either flight so I feel VERY fortunate I was able to handle this and still make it to D.C in time. But it actually still stung QUITE a bit to use those ~40,000 Delta miles as opposed to like 10,000 SWA miles to get out of that bind.

The things I am thinking about now are: What would I have done if I didn't have all those miles with Delta saved up? I was on the verge of getting a rental and driving myself up to D.C. overnight because I took a risk by even using Delta (SWA and a few other airlines were cancelling flights due to weather so on one hand I lucked out that Delta even kept all their flights on). I would have had no choice I think but to pay almost $600 to get to D.C. in a matter of hours. In hindsight, I didn't even think until literally today about checking the card I had used to book the SWA flight to see if I had any kind of trip insurance; I was in such a frenzy to get out of ATL it didn't even cross my mind I guess. Looking back there is no way I should have taken the last flight out for such a tight timeline to make another flight that was going on such a big trip out of the country. That other thread along with my experience above is a testament of how you simply must plan smartly and have backup plans for when flights get cancelled; it happens all too often. Would love to hear stories of how others planned smartly and how it paid off for them. I've also been fortunate to have never been out of a room/housing or needed to leave accommodations for any reason/s but that is also something to consider having a backup plan for when traveling.

[athena53]

I buy travel insurance when a connection is mission-critical. I haven't had to file a claim but at least I know it's there. Also, because I'm retired and don't have any responsibilities to anyone at home (animal or human), I frequently schedule long layovers, sometimes overnight, and I try to avoid the last flight of the evening when going to a connecting city. When I flew to Reykjavik from Boston, for example, it was an evening flight but I flew into Boston from my home airport early in the afternoon before. I also stayed overnight in London when I went to India.

Last month, American Airlines changed its schedule and my flight home from Cabo San Lucas was now leaving earlier and the cruise line said they couldn't guarantee that they could get me to the airport in time to meet the new schedule- so I called AA. They were perfectly happy to put me on a later flight but that left me only 1 hour and 45 minutes to go through Customs and Immigration and then go through the TSA line again to get my flight home. I asked if I could fly out the next AM instead. Well, I could, but that would be a "voluntary" change and would cost extra. Never mind.

The cruise line ended up getting us to the airport in plenty of time for the earlier flight. I was able to get on it and was darn glad; the later flight landed half an hour late and, given the time it had taken me to connect in DFW, I would have missed my flight home. I've used that tactic before: get on an earlier flight to your connecting airport if you possibly can.