You’ve booked your flights and hotel weeks ago, the out of office email is on and you’re on your way to the airport. However, when you get there you discover that your flight is delayed and you’re going to be spending another 5 hours at the airport before you even get the chance for the sun to kiss your skin.
Flight delays can be a pain and extremely stressful. You almost feel lost and stranded as you’re awaiting the instructions of what you need to do next. Luckily, there are ways that you can make a flight delay bearable. Here are 6 things to do if you come across a flight delay situation.
Download the airline app
Not all airline apps are the same and sometimes there can be chaos in the airport when flight delays happen with airlines. To save yourself the time of discussing the matter with the staff or lining up in long call queues, download the airline’s app. It’s more likely quicker to get up to date information and message alerts through it rather than by more traditional methods that might cause you more stress.
Keep your phone battery high
When you look up most blogs to do with important stuff to pack before a holiday or travelling, they’ll always mention packing a portable charger for when you’re out and about. In this case, though, you might just need a traditional one considering you’re still in the airport. Just find yourself a plug socket and make sure your phone’s fully charged. If you don’t have that luxury, then consider battery saving mode or closing those apps that drain your battery.
Print your boarding pass
Considering the stress that you’ve already gone through the last thing you need are little annoyances to send you over the edge. Although digital boarding passes can be a great convenience, they can also be a great inconvenience when they don’t work or open. To save the embarrassment of holding up the queue even further, print your boarding pass so you can sail past the boarding process.
Check your important documents
Since you’ve got a bit of spare time, there couldn’t be a better time to check that you have everything with you including your important documents and items. Do you have your passport? Is your sunscreen packed? Did you need to take your Visa with you? Ensure you have all these just in case, even if it is extremely last minute! You might still have time to get it fetched for depending on the delay of your flight.
Purchase snacks
Being tired and hungry truly is a recipe for disaster. It might not be a full meal but any form of snacks that you can keep on you will help to pass the time a bit better. It’ll save you sitting there with a rumbling stomach whilst you wait for the next update on your delayed flight.
Call your card company
Depending on the travel or card company you booked the flight with, you could be covered for compensation for delayed flights. It’s not compulsory, however, for companies to compensate for a flight that’s been delayed unless it’s an extreme circumstance. Nevertheless, it would have caused you inconvenience which means you have every right to call the airline up and make your claim for some sort of compensation.
