What to do if your flight is cancelled or delayed.

What to do if your flight is cancelled or delayed.

Airlines don’t guarantee their schedules, and you should realize this when planning your trip. There are many things that can-and often do-make it impossible for flights to arrive on time. Some of these problems, like bad weather, air traffic delays, and mechanical repairs, are hard to predict and beyond the airlines’ control.

If your flight is delayed, try to find out how late it will be. But keep in mind that it is sometimes difficult for airlines to estimate the total duration of a delay during its early stages. In so- called “creeping delays,” developments occur which were not anticipated when the carrier made its initial estimate of the length of the delay. Weather that had been forecast to improve can instead deteriorate, or a mechanical problem can turn out to be more complex than initially determined.

If the problem is with local weather or air traffic control, all flights will probably be late and there’s not much you or the airline can do to speed up your departure. If there’s a mechanical problem with the plane for your particular flight or if the crew is...