Air travel has its fair share of headaches that come along with the convenience of getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible. One of these headaches is the unplanned layover.

What is an “unplanned layover”?

What I’m talking about is when a connecting flight city or airport suddenly becomes a destination for 12 hours or more because your next flight is delayed or cancelled. This can be a huge inconvenience. It can ruin your trip, or at least your day. You might even get home much later than planned. But, what if you had a backup plan to make the most out of your detour? Read on for some tips on how to survive an unplanned layover and even enjoy your detour as part of the journey!

BEFORE YOUR TRIP:

IDENTIFY YOUR LAYOVER OPTIONS & BOOK YOUR FAVORITE

Maximizing your layover enjoyment starts with this – fly through a city you wouldn’t mind getting stuck in. Or choose the lesser of all evils, if you don’t particularly like any of your options. I try to fly through NYC, Chicago and London for this reason. Reykjavik (Iceland) is also a great layover option for flights to/from Europe and the U.S. Most recently, we connected in Lisbon so that we could do a free stopover in Lisbon on the way to Austria and if we got stuck in Lisbon on our way back (which we allllllmost did), I wouldn’t be mad about it. Just sayin’.

Oh, also: book your layover for a city/country where you don’t need a visa if you want to leave the airport. New Zealand recently (on October 1, 2019) began to require a visa for most passengers who were even just passing through the airport – so check before you book!

DO YOUR RESEARCH

The first step to surviving an unplanned layover is to do your research. Of course, I’m always touting the perks of doing research in advance of a trip. This comes in super handy here.  If you have a flight that connects somewhere, do some quick research on that place even if you have no intention of ever spending more than 2-4 hours in its airport.

How? Look up some blog articles with some “Best of” itineraries, some “24 Hours in _____” itineraries (like this one on Santiago, Chile – a popular stopover en route to Mendoza, Argentina and Easter Island). Get information regarding the best places (areas) to stay. Have an idea of what type of cuisine it’s famous for, or if there’s a restaurant that you’d like to try if you had some more time there. Knowing a little bit about a place is a huge advantage if you get stuck there. You can hit the ground running when you realize that your next flight is delayed for a long time or cancelled and you’re pending rebooking, at the airline’s whim.

CHECK THE WEATHER

Traveling in any season has its fair share of weather worries. Winter brings unexpected snowstorms, including Nor’Easters in the U.S.. With global warming, weather patterns are getting whackier. Intense fog at Heathrow or SFO are common issues. High winds and sleet and ice storms can ground air traffic in certain areas. In the shoulder seasons, I worry about hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones. Thunderstorms can interrupt summer flights.

While some seasons tend to have more flight issues than others (I’m looking at you, winter), weather has a pretty high impact on whether your flight will be on time or will even be happening. Knowing in advance that a storm is brewing can give you some extra incentive to do more research (see above) about your connecting city, just in case.

Pack Your Carry-On Correctly

Don’t leave it up to the luggage gods. Make sure your carry-on has one change of clothes, a bathing suit (optional), extra underwear, etc. I did a whole post on this based on when I lost my luggage for TWO WEEKS in Barcelona a few years ago.

Keep your necessary medications with you. Don’t put things in your checked luggage that you wouldn’t need if you got stuck somewhere for a night. I’m talking makeup or face wipes, toothbrush & toothpaste, DEODORANT, your retainer if you wear one – the things that make you feel human. Don’t get stuck without any backup if your checked bag makes it to your final destination before you do.

THE DAY OF YOUR TRIP:

CHECK THE INCOMING PLANE’S STATUS

You can check whether the plane that’s supposed to take you from your connecting city to your final destination is running on time or is delayed. There are a few apps that do this, including FlightAware and TripIt. The Delta app allows you to track the inbound flight from your flight status page on certain flights:

CHECK TWITTER & YOUR AIRLINE’S WEBSITE

Are passengers on your airline complaining about cancelled flights? Has your airline issued a travel advisory? Airlines like Delta will issue a general travel advisory for travelers to and from affected areas, advising of inclement weather conditions and often allowing passengers to rebook their flights for another day or time, free of charge. This could mean the difference between spending another day on vacation on purpose, versus spending the day in the airport, trying desperately to get rebooked onto the next flight out. This doesn’t always work if you need to get back to work. But, it’s something to consider in weighing your options.

HOW TO SURVIVE AN UNPLANNED LAYOVER: A REAL LIFE APPLICATION

Our Predicament

I felt compelled to write this post because I’ve experienced this issue first-hand. On a post-New Year’s flight from Dublin to NYC, connecting through Heathrow, we were stranded overnight in LHR due to fog. Nearly all flights departing from Heathrow were cancelled. The rebooking line snaked all the way around the terminal. Things were not looking great.

After getting our bags from baggage claim, we found an airline employee and asked what our options were. She said that we could either wait in the line to get rebooked, which meant a 4-hour wait or longer, or we could find accommodation ourselves, keep our receipts, and submit our expenses for reimbursement later.

So, I whipped out my iPad in the terminal, connected to the free WiFi and launched my Hotels.com app to book us a hotel room. HotelTonight is also a great option for last-minute hotel deals, as is Priceline and Expedia.

I was lucky because I lived in London before and I knew the neighborhoods. My husband and I had also been several times, and had a few specific hotels in mind. We got a hotel – the Millennium Gloucester – right off the Piccadilly line (the Tube line that runs directly to Heathrow airport from the city center) and immediately headed to the Tube.

We asked the hotel concierge for a recommendation for dinner nearby and ended up in an Indian restaurant with a bunch of Delta pilots who were also stuck for the evening. The food was excellent and as London is known for its delicious Indian restaurants, we were really glad to have the time there after all.

I don’t recommend booking through a third party…

The one snag in the layover is that I booked our flights through a third party, CheapOair. There was a lot of finger-pointing between CheapOair, British Airways (flight operator), American Airlines (ticketing airline) and Iberia (original airline on the outbound flight) regarding who was responsible for rebooking us. This meant we were on hold for over an hour with the airlines and CheapOair. At about 5 am, we decided to just head back to the airport and speak to the airline representatives in person to see if we could have any better luck.

We arrived to another massive queue BUT we were delighted when airline reps walked through the line calling out destinations – and ours (JFK) was one of the first. They quickly brought us to the front desks and rebooked us on the next available flight out. It was kind of painless other than the annoying phone call merry-go-round I was on during the early morning hours.

Submitting my receipts was an easy process and was done by scanning them and submitting through the British Airways website. I received a reimbursement of $307 directly to my bank account within 30 days. British Airways covered our Tube fare, hotel, dinner and phone charges calling the airlines and CheapOair.

The take-away

I was lucky that I knew London as well as I did and that I had internet access at the airport. But with a little planning, we can all be prepared to survive an unplanned layover, wherever our travels may take us.

Have you ever had an unplanned layover or gotten stuck somewhere for way too long? How’d you cope with it? Leave a comment and let me know!

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