urgent- need flight, no seats

[Saltedcaramel78]

Posting for traffic.

I urgently need to fly home (working abroad) but there are no bookable seats until next weekend. There's a couple of business class spots available but I definitely can't afford them.

Has anyone been in this situation? Whenever I fly there always seems to be free seats (I'm guessing from people not turning up), is there a reliable way to check availability? Can I go and wait around at the airport? I need to carry on working via my laptop, so don't want to go unless there's a reasonable chance I can get a flight. Very emotional so might be missing something obvious!

Thank you so much for any help

You can go to the airport and ask to be wait listed. Alternatively, are there any other cities you can fly into and then get train/coach home?

Do you have to fly direct? Could you look at some connecting flights? Eg fly into a hub (Amsterdam, Heathrow etc) and connect?

Can you get train//bus/ferry to another country/airport?

If you ring the airline they might be able to put you on standby.
You might need to wait for a few flights and only have handluggage though.
I hope you manage to sort it.

Some popular routes do get fully booked and there is obviously no guarantee that someone won’t turn up. You may need to travel on an indirect route.

Where are you and where do you need to be? In case you're missing an obvious alternative?

If you are working abroad won’t work pay for your flights?

Alternatively try and get somewhere closer if it’s an absolute emergency. As pp have suggested depending on where you are forget looking at flights to London (if that’s where you’re heading) can you get to Paris and then look at a train?

Where are you, and where do you need to be? There is always a way, but we need to know where you are to help
Hope you are ok

If you say where you are and where you need to get to people might be able to offer suggestions
If you go to the airport you should still be able to find a spot to work in ( depending on your type of work)

If you have a genuine family emergency, the airline can offer special tickets if you call them and explain.

And also your employer has a duty of care, plus if this for compassionate reasons, then your work travel insurance should potentially. cover the cost

Are there other airports you could get to either to fly from or fly to? (Asking as this was something both I and several family members didn’t think of in a similar situation).

I hope you manage to get home

You can go to the airport and ask to be wait listed.

Not necessarily. Depends on the airport and if the airline have a sales desk- lots dont and so no airport presence other than check in

Where do you need to get to/from

Do try the airline direct if there are compassionate reasons to need to travel (family illness etc). They can often find a seat which isn’t commercially available.

Have you tried using a website like Opodo or Skyscanner? They will often show you indirect flights via a hub somewhere, sometimes with more than 1 change but will probably still get you where you want to go quicker than waiting for a seat on a direct flight.

I agree with PPs, consider an indirect route. Depending on the airline, if they have a desk at the airport, then I'd go there. I've gone to the desk in the airport before and staff helped me work out an alternate route to my destination. It added lots of hours to my travel time and odd stop-offs but I did get there in the end.
Alternatively, can you not ask a friend or relative to loan you the funds for business class?

As others have said, you need to think a bit more out of the box aboutconnecting flights or going to a destination where you can then get a train from.

Or is it the problem that you're somewhere with very few flights out going anywhere, and there are literally no flights/available seats going anywhere you could then get a connecting flight to? In which case, could you get a ferry or train/bus from there to a bigger airport?

My sympathies - I've lived in another country for a long time and have had to fly back for urgent family situations many times. It sucks, but luckily I've always been able to get a flight back to the UK, although not necessarily the closest airport.

Very difficult to help unless we know where you are and where you need to get to.

I flew out yesterday and when we tried to book seats together there were none just three dotted on the plane. We sat separately however there was a full vacant tow that instantly got taken by three girls who’d been separately seated as well.

Sit at the airport, and explain to customer services why you need an urgent flight back.

Failing that, if you can't fly direct look at train/transport connections.

I hope you get home soon.

I hope you manage to get home. The airline might be willing to sell you a standard ticket but upgrade you to the business class seat that available if you explain the situation.

I once needed to get home from Milan with first flight to Scotland in four days. I got a standby seat to London by sitting at the airport for 6hrs then a train to Glasgow where my dad picked me up. I got home three days earlier than going direct.

If you’re in Europe you can look at omio which is formerly go Euro... it will include rail , bus, car share etc

A number of years ago I needed an emergency flight. I rang the airline who had nothing but business class seats left, but they suggested I went to the airport and wait for standby. When I got to the airport, a sympathetic staff member put me in the business class seat for the price of economy.