cancelled flights

First indications passengers get is when they get to the airport and look at the big indicator board that shows arrivals and departures. 'Delayed' or 'cancelled' against your flight is what you don't want to see. A regular traveller might also get flight updates sent to them by SMS.

It could happen many ways. The closest fit to what you said would be if he had to check a bag. Then he would go to the counter and the computer would face away from him. he would climb over the place you hand over the baggage which is quite low and has a weigh scale on top.

You might expect advance notice, an email, etc. But time and time again I have turned up and found the flight cancelled at the last minute and no effort made to contact me.

Re: question 4, no, TSA agents don't carry Tasers. The TSA is not a law enforcement agency; aside from federal air marshals they are not allowed to carry weapons, or subdue or arrest anyone.

Depends on which airport you're at. But, general gist for frequent hectic travellers:

Scenario 1:

• PA / Secretary checks in the traveller online.
• Prints e-ticket for traveller, or emails it to him.
• Traveller downloads on his phone.
• PA / Secretary calls to say flight cancelled.
• Traveller never gets to airport.

Scenario 2:

• Traveller gets to airport.
• Checks flight information panels / boards.
• Intended flight is marked 'cancelled'.
• Traveller checks for next flight.
• Buys ticket for next flight (if possible) at the Flight Tickets for Sale Counter.
• If successful, checks-in manually at the Check-in Counter and also gets his boarding pass there.
  • If not successful, insert argument here.
• If he has baggage, checks it in there, else no baggage check-in; only has hand luggage.
• From there, smooth sailing to his destination.

In both scenarios, at no point does the traveller actually see the monitor screen the airport staff are looking at.

Hope this helps!

You would need him to check a bag. Otherwise, as noted he would check in online and goes directly to the gate.

Although, I suppose he could have the argument there if a gate agents was present. (They usual aren't).

Or he could get to the empty gate, see the cancellation and have the argument at the airline's customer service counter. But they are chest height generally and so difficult to climb over.

Oh, and the curiosity question:

The ticket is needed -- it's a receipt of sorts and it also serves as your travel itinerary (which airport you leave from, destination airport, time of departure (local time), time of arrival (local time), stops on the journey, if any) and a contact communications document if you need to contact someone at the airline or travel agent.

The boarding pass is for the actual gate. There's a machine there that scans your pass (has a magnetic strip on the back) to verify that yes, you have claimed your flight seat.

So, you need both; neither has replaced the other.


And if you try to grab and shake the computer the staff is using, enjoy the security guard rush and subsequent detainment -- a cancelled flight is the least of your worries at that point.

Indeed. But most business travelers now have an e-ticket. Basically an alphanumeric code rather than a piece of paper. In order to board they have to turn this number into a pass by checking in (on line, via a kiosk, or at the desk). However once again this boarding pass may be electronic as a scannable graphic on your phone, or one on a piece of paper.

Agreed, Veinglory.

Both paper and e-systems are still in use right now. Some travellers prefer the paper version, but the e-system is much faster.

> The man becomes agitated and argues

This scene is bogus. Especially as it involves a businessman with some flight experience.

When a flight is cancelled, airline staff re-book passengers through other available routes. Your character goes to check-in his bags, is told the flight has been cancelled and given a new flight number. Even after bags have been checked in and the passenger is well into the terminal, there is an airline customer service desk where passengers go to re-book their flights if they get cancelled.

Airline staff are trained to have a high tolerance to bitchy customers. There is also airport security personnel around airline customer service desks to keep violent passengers in check.


If you want to mess with your character, have him spend time in a bar while he waits for his re-booked flight, only to have his boarding refused because he's tipsy. This happens a lot with business-class travelers.

-cb

I agree that a business man would be used to this. But actually it is often not that simple. Often you are cancelled and have to queue to request another flight. Which may not be until tomorrow, or later if it is weather related. They may lose your booking, your passport, and make claims that you did not arrive on time when actually you did. They may delay you for days just because they don't want to transfer you to another carrier. You may wait in the airport for 20+ hours on standby for the next 4 flights after being bumped from an overbooked flight that you reserved 6 months prior. Yes, been there, done that.

I travel a lot for work and the only reason cancellation bullshit does not make me angry is that I got directly into learned helplessness because you are basically at the mercy of staff. But I have seen people shouting and losing their cool on several occasions, especially on international flights or when the delay is causing them to miss a wedding, funeral or other big event.

> or later if it is weather related.

There is not much you can do with weather-related delays and cancellations. Everyone is on the same boat (no pun intended). What gets you ahead of the crowd is your seat class and airline membership status.


> I travel a lot for work

Not so long ago, I spent 3 weeks out of 4 travelling.


> They may lose your booking, your passport,

Huh?!? I ALWAYS keep my passport with me.


> You may wait in the airport for 20+ hours on standby for the next 4
> flights after being bumped from an overbooked flight that you
> reserved 6 months prior.

Business people - actually, their travelling agencies - are smart enough to pay the stupid $10 - $20 fee for reserved seats not to have this problem. Once a company gets enough mileage with an airline, I've seen this fee waived altogether.


> I have seen people shouting and losing their cool on several
> occasions, especially on international flights or when the delay
> is causing them to miss a wedding, funeral or other big event.

So did I. I've seen those same people being escorted away minutes later. Business people? Never. They are smart enough not to get cranky over an event they have zero control. See above about seat class and membership status.

Tipsy business people in airline lounges, otoh, that I saw a lot.

-cb

cbenoi1 said:

> They may lose your booking, your passport,

Huh?!? I ALWAYS keep my passport with me.

Click to expand...

I had an airline employer look at my passport, put it down on the surface behind the counter out of my sight, shuffle papers, look harassed and then a few minutes later ask for my passport and deny every having had it before.

Apparently you have had better luck than me. I am a business person these days. But my company flies us cargo class with no extras out of respect for our shareholders money. Every example I gave was my real experience in locations ranging from US to Australia, Egypt and beyond. And the 20 hour wait was after a reserve seat was bumped. In LAX, two days before Christmas. Ah, fun times.

> the FAA has cancelled most flights for the evening for security reasons

Better check your facts about the FAA.


> The man cannot fly until noon the next day.

I think you're better off with the airline going on a 24 hrs strike. Even better if your character gets the 'royal treatment' whereby those who issue meal / hotel vouchers are also on strike.

-cb

I had a bad air travel day earlier this year when there was a fire on a runway at Toronto Pearson Airport:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/0...-torontos-pearson-airport-due-to-fire-damage/

My first flight was at 6 am (I had two connections to get to my final destination). I got a text at 2 am saying that my second leg was cancelled (the one out of Toronto), and the computer had automatically generated me a new itinerary - that had me spending 18 hours in Edmonton. I just about lost my mind. I tried the 1-800 customer support line, but of course it was flooded, so after an hour on hold, I gave up and went to the airport.

A customer service agent there was able to tighten up my itinerary a bit - her computer was below the counter, but her flat screen monitor was mounted on a swivel post on top of the counter and she was able to turn it to show me my different options. If I was in a violent frame of mind, I probably could have tried to rip it off that post. I agree with a previous poster, though, it wouldn't have taken long for security or police to intervene. There are often local police nearby, in my experience.

When I got to Toronto, my (new) second leg was cancelled AGAIN, at the last second, while we were lining up at the gate - so the people at the front of the line were told by the agent, before the big board was changed and the SMS messages were blasted out. There was definitely some yelling going up there. I turned around and beetled back through security so I could be first in line at the check-in desks to get yet another flight booked. At that point, I did get a voucher for a meal and a hotel room so I could have a nap.

I hope some of that experience is helpful! I don't know about tasering, thankfully.

Where is your story set? I had my connecting flight cancelled in NZ because one of the flight attendants called in sick at the last minute. I didn't find out until I was pre-boarded (I had a broken foot and they had to wheel me onto the plane). I had to purchase a new plane ticket that I was never compensated for on a different airline or risk missing my flight back to the US.

I was trying to get home for a funeral, so I was pretty upset. I'm still surprised that I handled it all so calmly. I was getting special treatment, though, because of the broken foot. (It was pretty much the trip from hell, if you couldn't guess.)

I did get into angry, argumentative mode later down the road when I tried to recoup my money for the last-minute flight I had to book on my credit card. They said that they had offered me a suitable solution (booking me again the next day) and refused to do anything about it.

ETA: You might see if you can find episodes of that reality show Airline.

The FAA closed the continental US airspace on 9/11. In effect, this means no plane is allowed to enter the US airspace, those already in flight must land immediately, and planes on the ground don't get clearance to take off. The order is propagated through all the air traffic control stations across the nation - from small airport control towers to regional ARTCCs.

The FAA won't go into every little airline in the country and check their flight schedules, then close individual flights. It simply tells controllers to suspend air traffic. Planes can't take off. Airplanes already in the air can't transition from their current airspace to the next one and thus face an easy choice: land or run out of fuel (or worst, face the Gatling guns of a pair of F16s).


-cb

vigeo said:

I'll check the FAA again as soon as I log out. I thought they suspended flights after 911. In the story the FBI director gets permission from the president to suspend the flights, but it is the FAA that makes the announcement. I admit I do not know how it would work.
At the moment the businessman is in Colorado heading for Washington, DC.

Click to expand...

This is such an extreme scenario that any person who flew on a regular basis would be more concerned with finding out what in the world was going on than with trying to rebook his flight. If American airspace is closed, that's a major, major event that would imply something like terrorism or an electrical/computer failure that took down half the country or something like that. It just doesn't happen.

I agree with the person who suggested a strike by the airline workers. Or, alternatively, you could have this man's name suddenly appear on the TSA no-fly list, in which case he'd be pulled from the flight until he proved he'd been added in error.

vigeo said:

This is what I gleaned from Wikipedia, Timeline for the day of the September 11 attacks.
9:06: The FAA bans takeoffs of all flights bound to or through the airspace of New York Center from airports in that Center and the three adjacent Centers ...
9:08: The FAA bans all takeoffs nationwide for flights going to or through New York Center airspace...
9:17: The FAA closes down all New York City-area airports ...
9:26: The FAA bans takeoffs of all civilian aircraft regardless of destination ...
9:42: Ben Sliney of the FAA issues the execution order for SCATANA grounding all air traffic over the United States and diverting any incoming international traffic to alternate destinations.

Click to expand...

Not to be overly pedantic, but this occurred in the wake of an unprecedented attack on the US using commercial aircraft. That the FAA can close American airspace is not in doubt. It's the reason behind it that you need to work out to make this story believable.

I agree that unless you are writing about a terrorism attack on the scale of 9/11, the FAA is not going to suspend all U.S. air travel. 9/11 was unprecedented and it would take something of that magnitude for that response to happen again.

Now, a particular flight may be cancelled or, more likely, delayed if there's a reason to believe there might be a terrorist threat to that specific flight. That's different than what you had though.

As to the TSA, they are not law enforcement, they do not have arrest powers, and they do not carry guns, tazers OC spray or any other weapons.

If the TSA has a problem they'd call for help from one of the local cops stationed at the airport. Same goes for the ticket agent.

I also have a problem with the idea of an experienced business traveler freaking out like that in the first place. You may be able to sell it though if you can establish he's unstable, drunk, or somethign similiar.