What To Do When These 3 Travel Disruptions Strike

3 Travel Disruptions and How to Deal With Them

When you book your vacation, it’s easy to start daydreaming about the perfect break away from your daily life. Mental images of weeks sipping cocktails by the pool or on the beach, or sightseeing the best culture spots are lovely to contemplate. Obviously, you don’t want to spend too much time considering the worst case scenarios or pay too much attention to everything that could go wrong. However, it is important that you give some consideration to the possibility of travel disruption, just so that should the worst happen, you’re more than ready to cope with it. Here are the most common issues that you might face, and the best ways to overcome them.

Delays

It happens to the best of us, even those who think they’ve planned out their vacation to the tee. However, you cannot plan or organize away travel delays that may impact you at the airport, train station or bus depot. All you can do is make sure you’re as comfortable as possible, and that you are given the rightful compensation that you deserve. For instance, if your flight is delayed because there are staffing issues or because there’s an overbooked flight, then you’re entitled to food, drink, accommodation as well as a new flight and/or monetary compensation. What’s more, if you’ve experienced a flight delay in the last six years, you can still make a claim. If you’re unsure on how the process works, then companies such as FairPlane are sure to look after you and your rights.

National Strikes

Although it’s often possible to know in advance about the likelihood of a worker’s strike that will impact your travel plans, they can have a significant effect on your journey. Getting caught out by a strike, whether it’s from French air traffic controllers or train engineers, can be the cause of very lengthy delays indeed, and usually with no firm idea of how long any resolutions might take. If the worst happens, contact your travel agent, airline, or tour operator to find out the next course of action. This may be rescheduling your activities or flight.  Often times another airline or transportation alternative will offer reduced rate services for effected travelers.

Lost Luggage

If there’s anything more likely to disrupt your travel plans, it’s losing your luggage. Losing all of your clothes, devices, and toiletries can have a horrific effect for the rest of your travel time, so it’s essential that you know what to do should it happen. First, you need to report the loss as quickly as possible and find out how long your luggage will take to get to you. Luckily, airports have improved their tracking methods when it comes to reuniting you with your possessions, but you may still need to make an insurance claim, so it’s worth starting the process as soon as possible.  In addition, it’s always wise to pack one change of clothes and toiletry essential in your carry-on bag.

Simply being prepared for travel disruptions will go a long way towards being able to cope with them, so make sure that you give at least a little thought to the possibility. Being prepared and knowing what to do in an emergency will go a long way to making sure that your disruptions won’t ruin your overall travel experience.