Flight cancelled - next in 24 hours

[Wtafis]

Hi,

our flight was cancelled at tbe gate last night.

we were eventually brought to a hotel and have spent the night here.

wenhave to check out by 12 but we don’t need to be at the airport for check in until 6.

what on Earth do we do for the time in between? I have DS2 and DD6 with me. I’d go explore but we have all our bags.

we also have no clean clothes

i think in the technical sense it wasn’t the airlines fault so we won’t be getting any compensation

Can you leave your bags at the hotel in left luggage?

which airport is it? Nearish Gatwick there are cinemas and bowling for example. Others might have mini golf or similar.

you could also find a shopping centre to pick up at least clean underwear.

really hope flight goes ok. We lost two whole days recently :(

What airline? Doesn't matter if nit the airlines fault they had an agreement to deliver you a service which they then didn't. You claim from them. It's up to them to then claim from whoever caused their service not to run.

Are they allowing early bag check in? I'd go to airport early and drop off bags and then go do something for the day. What airport are you at? Or go home if not too far? How did you get to airport.

Or leave bags at hotel, they'll keep them for you. Go out for day and go back to hotel before heading to an airport. I assume airline have made plans to get from hotel back to airport?

Where and what airline. Hotels usually have left luggage.

Depends where you are. If Gatwick it's easy to pop to the park in Horley, have some lunch and get a change of clothes if you can afford from the Tesco superstore

I presume they are abroad if they have no clean clothes.
Check the airline website regarding compensation & if that's not applicable you holiday insurance should cover any extra costs.

We’re in France - flying home at end of holiday.

currently in hotel at airport

I wish we were at Gatwick - that’s where I’m trying to get to :)

The airline's website will have a form to complete to claim compensation, if your claim is rejected (likely, as EVERYTHING is cited as "beyond their control") go on the Civil Aviation Authority website and claim through there. That's what I did, for me, 3yo and 5mo (now that was a very unpleasant 20 hours!) and eventually got £350 compensation for each of us.

Are you with dh/dp? One of you take the dc out to a local soft play or similar and the other one mind the bags somewhere vaguely comfortable?

I'd ask to keep the room a bit longer for an extra fee and then claim that back from the airline.

As PP have said, they never say it's their fault.

You can usually leave luggage at a hotel

Have you got travel delay on your holiday insurance?

For the afternoon, I'd look on Google maps to see if there's a shopping centre or large supermarket nearby to buy underwear and t shirts for example. Plus a park or similar where you can take DC for a couple of hours and might also be a cafe for lunch.

Left luggage at the hotel or the airport.

Keep receipts for everything as you should be able to claim extra costs from the airline or your travel insurance. Also have a look at your rights

https://www.caa.co.uk/passengers/resolving-travel-problems/delays-and-cancellations/cancellations/

Normally, or at least once upon a time, airlines would provide accommodation to cover the whole period of any delay, but that doesn't help you ATM...I'd certainly try and keep notes (if you haven't already) of exactly what reason was given for the delay.

If you have serious doubts about why the flight was cancelled it's sometimes possible to verify the airline's story with a bit of Google "foo" and/or apps such as those that keep historic weather data (e.g. Thunderstorms) or track aircraft such as Flight Radar.

As has been said by others keep all receipts.

Scepticism is understandable but occasionally there really a flight really cannot operate and the reason really is beyond the control of the airline.

Bit of guidance here for flights departing from an EU airport:

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm

Ask hotel for a late checkout - most will allow it
Leave luggage
Lunch + local pool, museum or gallery
Back and freshen up at hotel in room or lobby and home you go.
where in France we can google suggestions for you

Your travel insurance should pay for a delay like this. Check your T&C.

Thanks everyone

travel insurance will give us £30 each

we just sat at the airport all afternoon

super long day as the airline refused to even feed us or provide food vouchers. the airport was full of beggars, who of course I have sympathy for but the children were frightened, soldiers with machine guns, and as we had bags to drop had to stay landslide until check in opened

we did manage to switch to a slightly earlier flight home, but that meant we lost the seats that we had paid extra to have together, so we had one adult next to one kid and one across the aisle from another. Nightmare

@Wtafis

Glad you got back..obviously and AFAIK you really should be able to claim food etc back off the airline under the EU rules (because the flight originated in the EU)- you certainly shouldn't end up out of pocket.

the airport was full of beggars.

.Cripes that's not normal- can you hint what airport this was? ( though I know there's a risk of outing so OTOH maybe not).

soldiers with machine guns - Sadly a sign of the times worldwide..

Small groups of well armed troops are not an uncommon sight at many French airports these days (long standing anti-terrorist operation - Operation Sentinelle) and by way of comparison it's also not unusual to see gun toting police walking around the terminals at some airports in the UK such as Heathrow.

Charles De Gaulle

completely understand the need for security of course, it was just worse because we were there for so long. If you see them once on a trip it’s one thing but the repeated walking past heightened it

@Wtafis Take a look at this thread about Ryanair cancelling my DD's flight and the battle to get her money back (she should have asked for compensation too, but was just desperate not to be out of pocket!)

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4609026-ryanair-cancellation-refund?reply=125950548

Thabks. Going to start filling in forms today

You can leave your bags at the hotel ams go for a wander or you may be able ti check in your nags early. Contact them

The rules are pretty clear that if it is circumstances beyond the airline's control, they don't have to do anything.

I have had a flight delayed by 8 hours because the airport was closed due to a gas leak, and another cancelled because of a terrorist threat - in both cases the airline was not liable, I had to go through travel insurance.

On the other hand, when the pilot fell ill and the airline claimed it didn't owe us anything as they couldn't help it that the pilot was ill, I did win a claim under the EU rules because the airline could have provided a replacement pilot.