Houston women stuck in Barbados after flight cancelations, options for travellers
Houston tourists stuck in Barbados
Summer travel is up but it seems so are flight delays. For a group of Houston women on vacation in Barbados, their flight didn't only fail to take off on time, it was canceled twice. FOX 26's Damali Keith has more about what travel options are available for passengers.
HOUSTON - Summer travel is up, but it seems so are flight delays. For a group of Houston women on vacation in Barbados, their flight didn’t only fail to take off on time, it was canceled, twice.
So, what travel options do passengers have?
Well, for two days in a row, the ladies sat at the airport in Barbados for hours, only to find out at the end of the day Wednesday the airline canceled their flight and yesterday? It was a do-over of the day before.
Back at the Barbados airport for day three, the ladies and 32 others in their girl vacay group, five from Houston are crossing their fingers that the third time will be the charm after having their flight canceled two days straight.
"The first day we waited eight hours, and then the next day we came back. They picked us up at 10:30 and we sat there until almost 7 p.m. So that day we waited about 11, 12 hours just to be told the flight was canceled for the second time," explains two of the ladies on the trip Iashia Nelson and Shalana Henderson, and they aren’t the only travelers frustrated by cancelations and delays.
"Experts are saying this is likely to continue, unfortunately as we go through the rest of the summer," explains Joshua Zuber with AAA Texas.
So what can you do about it?
HOLIDAY TRAVEL: Holiday travel: Is now the time to book airline tickets?
If there are issues with your flight you can check for an on-time departure with a different carrier but there are no guarantees your original airline will cooperate.
"If you find a flight on another airline ask the airline if it will endorse your ticket to the new carrier, but keep in mind there’s no federal rule requiring them to do that," adds Zuber and he says if your flight is canceled you can choose not to rebook and the airline will owe you a refund, which isn’t immediate and can take weeks.
To be prepared for a cancelation you may want to, "Be sure to include all medications, snacks, and a change of clothes in a carry-on just in case your flight is canceled after you’ve already checked your baggage," Zuber says.
As for the ladies on the girl's trip. "This has been very frustrating. I cried. I’m ready to go home. It just inconvenienced everybody’s lives. It’s wrong and we should be compensated with a credit, anything. It won't bring back the time we missed from work or the things we had planned with family, but it would be something."
If you have an issue that can't be resolved with your airline you can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation on their website.
Fortunately, the women are on their way home. After a delay this morning their flight departed this afternoon.