Putin made the comments when meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in person for the first time since the invasion at a regional summit in Uzbekistan, days after Russia suffered a series of
By Mark Minnies.
The power outage that temporarily brought operations to a halt at London’s Heathrow Airport in March is just the latest major incident to spark widespread flight disruptions.
Whether it’s a fire or a technical meltdown or a weather system that wreaks havoc on schedules, here’s some advice on what to do if your flight is delayed or canceled.
As bad as it is to find out your flight has been delayed for a long time, or worse, canceled, it’s better to find out from the comfort of home or a hotel room.
“Check your flight status before you go the airport. Most of these notifications are not happening at the last minute,” said Scott Keyes, the founder of Going.com. “Save yourself the drive to the airport.”
Other tips from Keyes:
- Sign up for airlines’ free text alerts on the status of flights when you buy your ticket. Also, download your carrier’s app.
- Put your airline and flight number directly into a Google search bar to retrieve the flight status that way.
- Check the website FlightAware for larger flight trends across the country.
- Hop on waiver offers ahead of bad weather quickly. Early birds have the best choices of the remaining seats and flights.
Sometimes, the delays and cancellations happen after you’ve arrived at the airport. Heathrow is instructing travelers to stay away from the airport, but what if you’re elsewhere in the world, hoping to get to London and now stuck in departures?
Keyes said to head as fast as you can to the airline agents’ desk. “It’s going to make a difference who arrives first. It’s first-come, first-serve. Positioning yourself close to the desk can pay off,” Keyes said.
Then you might want to call up your carrier while you’re waiting. It might be faster to get through to a call center. “Whatever happens first, great,” he said.
Other tactics you can try:
- Go to a self-serve kiosk, American Airlines and United Airlines advise.
- Use social media to your advantage, the travel advice website Travel Lens suggests. Try contacting the airline via X or other platforms when calls aren’t going through.
- Try an international call center for your carrier, Keyes suggests. Calls to US domestic numbers might have longer waits.
Attitude and research matter
Whether you’re dealing with an agent in person or over the phone, how you approach things can make a big difference.
“Honey attracts more flies than vinegar,” Keyes said. “Look at this from the airline agents’ perspective. … The agent is the one who has the most ability to help you. Asking nicely and sympathetically is far more likely to get what you want than being a jerk about it.”
He had another tip when it’s your turn to talk to an agent about making new arrangements: “Come prepared to offer your own options already. Doing your own research is absolutely helpful.”
Other considerations:
- Book directly with an airline if the price is the same. If you’ve booked through a third-party site, you’ll have to deal through them when there’s a cancellation.
- Avoid layovers when booking if possible, the consumer advocacy group US PIRG suggests. The more times you stop, the more chances for something to go wrong.
- Regarding tarmac delays, airlines must provide working bathrooms the entire time, US PIRG says. “After two hours, you must have food and water. After three hours, you must be in the air or back in the airport – or the airline faces massive fines.”
Cooperation between airlines could work in your favor.
“When flights are canceled, many airlines have the option of putting you on another carrier’s flight because they have interline agreements,” Lousson Smith, product operations specialist at Going.com, told CNN Travel.
“This means, for example, if Delta is having service interruptions but American is running a flight to your destination, you may be able to get on that flight.”
Thanks to changes in frequent flyer programs over the past several years, airlines often still have flights available with miles even when demand is high during a weather event, Julian Kheel, founder and CEO of Points Path, told QT Travel in an email.
“You’ll need to be prepared to spend a lot of miles, and you may not get the best value for them. But you could save yourself some significant cash if you’re trying to evacuate away from a storm,” Kheel said.
“Most US airlines now allow you to cancel flights booked with frequent flyer miles without any fee or penalty right up until departure time. That means you can book multiple alternate flights on different airlines using your miles in case one of them ends up delayed or canceled.
“But don’t try to book alternate flights on the same airline, as duplicates can be automatically canceled. And don’t forget to cancel the remaining flights you don’t end up using so you can get your miles back.”
What do you do if it looks like you’re not going to be able to fly out until the next day and you’re not in your home city?
This depends on the specifics of your situation — in the US, for example, airlines aren’t legally required to put you up in a hotel. US-based airlines have their own individual policies that are tracked by the FAA, here.
But UK law is different — so, if you’re being impacted by the current Heathrow cancelations, you’ll likely be automatically entitled to food and drink vouchers and accommodation. You can read all the details at the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)’s website.
Your canceled flight will be covered by UK law if was supposed to be departing from the UK, no matter who you were flying with.
And if your flight was supposed to be arriving in the UK, you’ll be covered by UK law as long as you were traveling on an EU or UK airline. This document from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority explains all the ins and outs of these rules.
Despite this, sometimes airlines can’t help everyone, as the CAA says, “this can happen when staff are stretched during major disruptions.” The CAA advice is to organize “reasonable care and assistance yourself, then claim the cost back later. If you end up paying for things yourself, keep every receipt and do not spend more than is reasonable.”
Other things to consider:
- Book your flight with a credit card, Smith said: “Many credit cards offer travel protections such as reimbursement if a flight cancellation forces you to get a hotel, meals, etc.”
- Consider hunkering down at the airport rather than going to and from a hotel if your flight is delayed but not canceled. A lot depends on your personal comfort level and the estimated wait time, Keyes said.
- Check whether there is a hotel room available within the airport.
- Try getting into an airport lounge if you can, where you can recharge your phone and rest more easily, the Points Guy advises.
- Make safety your No. 1 priority. If extreme weather is causing air travel disruption, trying to make the journey by road could be hazardous, Keyes warns.
Travel insurance and receipts
Consider buying travel insurance, advised Airport Parking Reservations in an email to QT Travel.
It said “most travel insurance policies provide additional cover for travel uncertainty. Additional [coverage] usually becomes applicable if your flight is postponed by more than 12 hours due to a strike, adverse weather or a mechanical breakdown.”
The site also advises that you keep any receipts of airport purchases. You can try to get the money back from the airline later.
Airlines in the United States are now required to give passengers cash refunds if their flight is significantly delayed or canceled, even if that person does not explicitly ask for a refund.
The Department of Transportation says the final federal rule requiring that airlines dole out refunds — not vouchers — went into effect on October 28, 2024. Find out the details here.
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Editor’s Note: (7/19/24) Following the revelation of this narrative in January 2022, Rios, Contreras, and Cisneros admitted guilt to at least one charge each of conspiracy to infringe upon the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Rios and Cisneros received sentences of 50 years in federal prison, while Contreras was handed a 35-year federal prison term, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Grisham accepted guilt for a violent offense in furtherance of racketeering and is anticipated to face sentencing in September.
Federal prosecutors have indicted three suspected gang members and one alleged associate on Thursday in the tragic shooting of off-duty Los Angeles Police Officer Fernando Arroyos during a botched robbery attempt.
Luis Alfredo De La Rosa Rios, 29, Ernesto Cisneros, 22, and Jesse Contreras, 34, are purported members of the F-13 gang, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Rios’s purported girlfriend, Haylee Marie Grisham, 18, was also charged.
The complaint states that Arroyos was house-hunting on Monday with his girlfriend when a black pickup truck approached. Rios and Cisneros brandished firearms at Arroyos and his girlfriend, seizing items from both, including chains from Arroyos’ neck.
According to the report, an exchange of gunfire ensued between Arroyos and the two suspects, after which Arroyos collapsed and the suspects fled the scene. Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded swiftly and transported Arroyos to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
The four defendants were in the vehicle and allegedly present during the robbery and shooting, the complaint indicated. They face charges of violent crime in support of racketeering, which carries a possible death penalty and a minimum sentence of life in federal prison without the possibility of parole.
QT has attempted to reach out to the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s office in order to secure legal representation for the defendants and is awaiting a reply.
Arroyos, 27, “was embarking on a very promising career,” said LAPD Chief Michel Moore on Tuesday. He had been with the department for three years, assigned to the Wilshire Division.
“He was enjoying a day off after a series of days in patrol, relishing this time with his girlfriend while searching for a home, a place to live, a place to invest in this city and the future of this area,” Moore remarked.
Arroyos is mourned by his mother and stepfather.
“He was an only child, with a bright future ahead that was brutally taken from him during a street robbery,” the chief added.
F-13 represents a “large, multi-generational street gang that has previously been the focus of federal prosecutions, including two significant racketeering cases,” noted the U.S. Attorney’s office in a press release.
The news release did not reveal any affiliation between Arroyos and the accused.
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Putin made the comments when meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in person for the first time since the invasion at a regional summit in Uzbekistan, days after Russia suffered a series of major military setbacks in Ukraine. Russian troops are retreating en mass, having lost more territory in a week than they captured in five months.
“We highly appreciate the balanced position of our Chinese friends in connection with the Ukrainian crisis. We understand your questions and concerns in this regard,” Putin said in an opening speech of the meeting. “During today’s meeting, of course, we will explain in detail our position on this issue, although we have spoken about this before.”
According to Chinese state media, Xi said China is ready to work with Russia in “extending strong support to each other on issues concerning their respective core interests,” and to deepen cooperation in “trade, agriculture and interconnectivity.” Xi also said the two countries should make greater efforts to take responsibility in a “chaotic, interweaving world.”
The two authoritarian leaders have emerged as close partners in recent years, propelled by growing conflict with the West and a strong personal bond.
China has offered tacit support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine, while Moscow has backed Beijing and criticized Washington over US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August. Beijing responded to her trip with unprecedented military drills around the self-governing democratic island, which it claims as its own territory.
In their meeting Thursday, Putin condemned the United States for what he said were “provocations” in the Taiwan Strait, and criticized what he claimed were attempts to “create a unipolar world.” Those attempts, he said, have “recently taken an ugly shape and are absolutely unacceptable to most states on the planet.”
The two are holding talks on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security-focused grouping that also includes India, Pakistan and four Central Asian nations.
In a symbolic show of force and unity, Russian and Chinese navies conducted joint patrols and exercises in the Pacific Ocean just hours before their leaders’ meeting, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
At the start of the meeting Thursday, Putin stressed the deepening economic ties between China and Russia, noting bilateral trade exceeded $140 billion last year. “I am convinced that by the end of the year we will reach new record levels, and in the near future, as agreed, we will increase our annual trade turnover to $200 billion or more,” he said.
Putin last met with Xi during a visit to the Chinese capital for its Winter Olympics in February this year. It was at that meeting that the two leaders framed their “no-limits’ partnership, and released a 5,000-word document voicing their shared opposition to the “further enlargement of NATO.”
For Xi, meanwhile, Thursday’s meeting comes as part of his first trip outside of China’s borders in more than two years, and just weeks before he seeks to secure a norm-breaking third term at a major political meeting in Beijing — a move that will cement his status as China’s most powerful leader in decades.
China has turned increasingly inward since the beginning of the pandemic, and continues to maintain a strict zero-Covid policy that limits outbound travel.
Xi’s trip to Central Asia is a return to the world stage and offers him an opportunity to show that despite growing tensions with the West, China still has friends and partners and is ready to reassert its global influence.
Before arriving at the summit, Xi visited Kazakhstan, where he unveiled in 2013 his flagship Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure project that stretches from East Asia to Europe.
In a meeting with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Wednesday, Xi said China would like to partner with Kazakhstan to “remain pioneers in Belt and Road cooperation.”
Xi also told Tokayev that “China will always support Kazakhstan in maintaining national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese state media reported.
The Chinese leader traveled to Uzbekistan on Wednesday evening and met with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. He also met the presidents of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan Thursday.
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