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Cancelled Flight Due to a Strike in Rome! – Backpacking Europe
Leaving Menorca for the Spanish Mainland
With the time spent in Menorca finally at an end, it was off to Barcelona to finish out the stay in Spain. Upon landing and navigating to the Airbnb, the first thing to do was get on the WiFi. Only a couple moments later, the alert sounds started coming in. Scrolling through some messages and more email… what was this I see? Well, well – who doesn’t like a cancelled flight that has the ability to derail most of your pre-made plans?
Apparently, Rome (FCO) air traffic control personnel did not feel like working, which meant very few flights in or out of Rome. With the rental car and hostel already lined up in Rome, the news was slightly concerning. Not to fear, though. The Airbnb hostess, Maria, had the room equipped with plenty of coffee. There was only one logical thing to do: coffee chugs and start making some phone calls.
Airbnb Filtering
Don't underestimate Airbnb amenities when browsing places to stay! They can come in quite clutch in moments like this.
How to Deal with a Cancelled Flight
First, let me paint the picture. I was sitting on the living room couch of this smaller apartment on the 3rd floor. Wifi was pretty spotty, and I only had my phone to work with. There were a few empty cups already on the coffee table, and this scrappy cat was just staring at me from the adjacent chair. It was clearly time to get to work.
Now these cancelled flight situations are never ideal, especially when it occurs only 2 days before departure. In hindsight, things could have definitely been worse. Nevertheless, I feel it’s informative to share the struggle of dealing with budget airlines so if you ever run into this situation, you’ll hopefully be somewhat prepared.
Book a Flight ASAP
I re-read the cancelled flight email to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. Basically, there were a few options to consider.
Alternative Flight First
Airline Refund or Claims
Credit Card Charge Dispute
When there are only a few days before departure and future plans are depending on a set schedule, my focus was only on getting a new flight. Naturally, the first logical thing to do is get a hold of the airline. Unfortunately, it proved more difficult than I expected. The phone line would not work for English customers (“Rest of the World”), and the online customer support was outside of operating hours.
Alright, it was time for the backup plan. Frantically searching Google Flights, I found another airline with reasonable tickets for the same day of departure. It was pretty much an instant-book as tickets were being purchased ridiculously fast from all the customers who had the same cancelled flight.
Use Those Credit Card Benefits
Immediately after purchasing the flight, I called up my credit card customer service number. The discussion took a little longer than I expected with a few dropped WiFi calls, but in the end, I was able to initiate the “dispute charge” for the cost of the cancelled flight. Additionally, it gave me some piece of mind knowing that I could have the charge handled through my credit provider on my behalf.
Credit Card Travel Insurance
If you have a credit card offering travel insurance benefits, take the time to read through it. They probably cover more than you'd expect and can save you some money from doubling up on various insurance fees for flight, rentals, etc.
With the new flight booked and the charge being disputed, there was only one more thing to do. Because of the cancelled flight being unforeseeable, there no doubt had to be some sort of refund or claim process for the airline. I’ll just mention this briefly. By no means do I enjoy a lot of reading, but going through the terms and conditions of the airline’s policies gave me the ammunition I needed to draft up a refund form. Time-wise, it took no more than 15 minutes.
The Takeaway
Overall, the entire process took about 3 hours mainly due to dropped calls. However, I'm happy to report all refunds went through with no problem.
Ending the Night on a Good Note!
Even with all the cancelled flight chaos during the day, it was not going to put a damper on getting out into Barcelona at night. Without hesitation (maybe some slight cursing and vigorously finishing another coffee), it was time to head out. All things considered, the end of the night turned out really well!
The night started and ended at only one place, because it was THAT good. The bar was called Craft Barcelona and it had good beer. Period. Furthermore, if you walked down the lower level, it basically became a local jam session. People from the crowd could get up on stage, pick up an instrument of their choice and play some music with the rest of this makeshift band.
After finding out about this, I couldn’t resist. With some liquid courage engaged, I made my way up onto the stage. All it took was agreeing amongst the band to play some blues in the key of G, and we were off. It was simply an incredible impromptu experience. The Blues melted away all that pain and suffering of a cancelled flight as we played into the night.
Michael Lakus
IT professional, athlete, musician, ponderer of many things... Born and raised in Florida, I began traveling internationally after college. I created this site primarily to remind myself of where I've been and to share my experiences on traveling with a quirky, stress-free, travel attitude.
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