Flight cancellation - Madrid to jfk

[IAmKerplunk]

My dd is currently in Madrid (flew from LHR this morning for onward travel to jfk) they have just been told their flight is cancelled. Nobody is telling them anything and they say everyone is just standing around. I haven’t flown for 30yrs so no idea if I can help them from home to find anything out? Their bags were checked in at LHR and they weren’t going to see them again till they landed in JFK. I’m sure they will get info at the airport but is there anything I can do from home? Probably not but want to help if I can. They are only going for 4 days 🤦🏽‍♀️

She needs to call the airline and ask to be rebooked onto another flight. If they cant offer her anything with the same airline for a couple of days, she can insist on being booked with another airline for the same route. Tell her to not just wait at the airport for themto sort it out. The early bird gets the worm.

Sadly not sure there's much you can do remote...since it sound like a connected booking they should be offered assistance but it may take time for staff to gear up if the cancellation has just been announced..

Not that it helps much but I take it the cancelled flight is American 95?

If it helps looks like (as you would expect) there are a handful of options MAD-JFK later today so as @SeaToSki has said Id be pushing to get booked on one of those, various airlines, including Iberia.

Yes. They have been offered a flight tomorrow but no idea what they are supposed to do until then

Her airline needs to get her on another flight, even if it's with another airline. Is there anything she can do in her online account or via the AA website?

Here is a good outline of her rights

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/flight-cancellation-compensation/

Does she have a credit card or access to money if she needs to book another flight if AA is not helping her? What rights does she have from her travel insurance in addition to statutory rights? As a PP says, there will be several flights on that route each day, so she should be able to get there without too much delay.

Why was the flight cancelled, is it the airline's fault or eg bad weather?

The airline has to put them up in a hotel, so again, she needs to ask them about this and if they're not being co-operative, book it herself and reclaim. Although it's likely to be the case that they will have to wait at the airport until the airline sorts them out, which might take a while. After all, a hotel is not a need until the evening, for now, they're fine hanging around at the airport.

Connected booking - The airline should provide hotel and pay reasonable expenses.

Some airlines are proactive about it and sort it out for the passenger(s), others may say sort your own accom etc out, keep receipts, claim back off us.

I'd suggest trying to get an answer from airport customer service staff....good.luck.

Thank you all so much

It remains the airline's responsibility to get them to JFK even if it is on another carrier. They should fly on today ideally but if not she will need to reclaim the lost day's holiday cost from the airline concerned. She needs to keep all receipts and pay by credit card.

If she's going to miss checking in at their hotel in NY she will need to contact them otherwise they will probably cancel their whole booking.

Thank you all so much - although they are 20 and have been away before (travelledcround Australia for 4 months!) they haven’t dealt with a cancellation before and said the staff at Madrid are being very unhelpful and obviously there is a whole plane load of people wanting answers. So I just wanted to be able to send them some clear advice.

Appreciate all your help.

ps no idea why it has been cancelled

They’ve had to pay for new flights but got a 3pm flight. Do they need to let airline know they don’t want flight tomorrow?

If it's a connected booking the responsibility is on the airline to get them to their destination as soon as possible (even if this means putting them on another airline) or finding and paying for their overnight accommodation in Madrid. All airlines have standby agreements with local hotels for just this situation.

If they are on two separate airlines (e.g. Easyjet to Madrid, then American to JFK) or two separate bookings then they need confirmation from the Madrid-JFK airline that they are re-booked for the next flight, and if the airline cannot assist with a hotel, they should find one themselves and claim the cost back from their travel insurance.

PP ^ makes a good point about contacting the hotel in NY regarding the late arrival to ensure that they still have a room when they eventually arrive.

Be careful. If they don't fly the outbound leg (Madrid-JFK) then their return flight(s) will usually be cancelled if they are on the same booking

^^ This....

....and I'm assuming they have retrieved hold bags, othewise that will cause complications.

They are still flying MAD-JFK but have booked their own flight because of earliest AA was offering was tomorrow. Will that affect their home flights?

Yes they’ve got their hold bags

If they have booked a return ticket - MAD-JFK and JFK-MAD - on one ticket, then failure to fly the outbound leg will usually result in the return leg being cancelled. If the one booking also includes the MAD-LHR flight, then this too will usually be cancelled.

Yes, their return flights will be cancelled as they will be regarded as no shows for the original rebooked flight.

No they have their bags - they got offloaded and all passengers got them.

They flew via Madrid to save a couple hundred ££ 🤦🏽‍♀️🙈

Oh bollocks.

I'd take @Havanananana 's advice on that.

From what little I do know/remember of this if you don't show for the outbound of a return the second leg almost certainly gets cancelled.

They are going to have to tread carefully here..

Frustrating as it is, they needed to let the original airline sort things out - although you say they have already booked another flight. If they use the new ticket to JFK today (they are presumably already checked in as it's 14.00 in Spain) they face further costs and hassle with the return journey as AA will almost certainly cancel the return tickets.

Oh bloody hell. Isn’t it better that they have sourced their own flight out there? Other passengers from the cancelled flight have done the same. All this to save a few hundred pounds

Yeah they didn’t do that 🤦🏽‍♀️ they just booked and paid for the next flight they could get on.