Be Helpful in Preventing Problems From Escalating During a Delayed Flight

Tensions could run high when a flight suddenly gets canceled or delayed especially if it involves several hours. Worse, there is not even a clear explanation regarding the cancelation. If you are one of the people affected by the problem, you might also start feeling pissed off. However, you cannot do anything about it. You are not an airline staff.

In most cases, you have options to rebook or reroute depending on the terms and conditions of the ticket you purchased. However, if the reason is bad weather, you have no choice but to wait for the storm to be over and the airlines give a signal that the flight can push through. Even if you try other airlines, they will most likely tell you the same thing.

If you understood what happened and you start to feel less anxious, you might want to do something about the other people in the room. You might already feel okay, but not everyone else does. They will still battle it out with the airline staff even when things are also beyond their control. You can help de-escalate the tension through these tips.

Provide translation

One reason why some passengers could not understand what was going on is that they do not know the announcements and explanations. There are no announcements given in a language understood by all the passengers. If you can speak another language, you can help the airport and airline staff to provide an explanation to some of the people who are yet to grasp what happened.

Tell the people around you to not join the fight

Your friends might also be tempted to complain about the situation. Let them know that everything is already being done, but if the problem is the aircraft or a terrible weather condition, no one can do anything about it. The only thing left to do is wait. You can start by talking with the people you know and make them understand the situation. You can ask them to complain later when the tension has subsided.

Appreciate the effort of the ground personnel

Sometimes, the people on the ground are the first ones to receive the wrath of the passengers even if they have nothing to do about the situation. When you speak with them and you receive a reasonable explanation, you can say thank you. Let them know that you understand what is going on. They also need to calm down and the nice words coming from one of the passengers would help them. Again, these people are always on the line of fire even when they have done nothing wrong, and they cannot do anything to change the situation.

You need to stay calm and do not let the stressful situation prevent you from thinking rationally. Besides, this is one of the instances when you cannot change anything even if you scream. You just have to accept the problem and wait until things start clearing up.

Photo Attribution:

Featured and 1^st image from https://traveltriangle.com/blog/airlines-may-now-give-full-refund-for-delayed-or-cancelled-flights/

2^nd image from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/08/11/airlines-complex-aging-systems-lead-to-flight-delaying-computer-glitches/88539190/