Tips on Surviving an Airport Disruption or Cancellation

With all the cancelled flights in Europe at the moment and Christmas only a couple of days away, I thought I'd write about the alternatives to survive the queues, disruptions and cancellations at airports and make it home on time this Christmas.

So your flights been cancelled, and you need to get home no matter what. What are your options?

1) Ask at the airport if there are flights operating out of other airports close by? For example, Heathrow might have all its flights cancelled, but Gatwick may be still running flights. If you can get to another airport, you might be able to get on a flight to your final destination or at best, get a connecting flight to another airport that has a flight running to your final destination. For example if you are travelling to Australia and your at Heathrow which is not operating and Gatwick Airport is, get over to Gatwick and get a flight to say Frankfurt or Rome, which may have a connecting flight to get you to Australia. Ask at the Airport desk and get the supervisor to exhaust all options to find you an alternative route. You paid for your ticket, you have a right!

3) Can you get a train home instead? If your stuck in Paris and you need to get home to Dublin could you get the Eurostar to London, then a Virgin Train and Ferry to Dublin.

4) What about driving? Yes, home could be on the other side of the world, but its an option to start your journey home and get you on your way. You might not be able to drive all the way, but you may be able to combine any of these options into an alternative to getting home on time. Don't have a car? Most major airports have Car Hire available with car rental companies waiting for your business. Or ask a friend if you could borrow their car?

5) Can you get a taxi? Yes, this might be costly, however if you ask around, someone may be going your way and might want to share the meter.

6) What about a bus? Buses operate out of most airports and are often a cheaper alternative than hiring a car.

7) Ask around again and see what other passengers are doing? Someone might be going your way and together you may be able to find a good outcome.

8) If all else fails... hold tight! The weather or disruption may pass in time. Things change very quickly and sometimes the bad news you may have got an hour ago, could be good news in an hours time.

Good Luck!