Critical Thinking Makes Travel Easy!

Traveling can be stressful. Between your schedule, the airline’s schedule and other travelers it’s easy to get worked up. Murphy’s law never fails, especially when you need to be somewhere.

Last week I found myself in that very situation. My connecting flight was cancelled and I needed to get to my destination that night.

Sure –your initial reaction is find a airline agent, explain that your flight was cancelled and see what they can do for you. But when they aren’t helpful it’s important to stop and assess the situation.

Immediately, I found a place to sit. I phoned my family and told them where I was. I thought through my situation – I needed to be in San Antonio that night. To make that happen I would need to work with a representative, call the airline customer service or the travel agency that helped book the flight.

Just because one airline representative wasn’t helpful doesn’t mean they all aren’t helpful. Recognize your assumptions I found someone who wasn’t busy and asked them for some help. I found out that I was put on stand-by for another flight that night.

Let’s face it; stand by didn’t give me the reassurance I needed to know I’d be in San Antonio so I phoned the airline. I found out an entire flight of passengers was trying to get to San Antonio on the two flights out that night. Customer service expressed that I was on standby for both flights. Set emotions aside.

I called the travel agency. I explained what I knew and asked if they could give me any information about flights they could confirm a seat for me that night. There were none. I was told, though, that at some point I was confirmed for a 5:30am flight. I was also told the flight was cancelled for mechanical reasons.

I stopped to assess the situation again. I called my family to give them an update, to brainstorm (use multiple resources) with them and have them critique my plan.

A 5:30 flight would ensure I could get to my morning meeting on time but that I wouldn’t have time to change. It was a little too close for comfort. But by bringing in another set of ears – I learned that if a flight is cancelled for mechanical reasons they are supposed to put you on a satisfactory flight. Meaning, if 5:30am was not satisfactory they should, at no cost to me, find another carrier for me to fly. It’s essential to be able to draw a conclusion.

Act. I found an agent. I explained the situation and asked for a better flight. I was told that the flight was canceled for weather related reasons and that there was nothing they could do for me.

I set my emotions aside. Remaining calm, I called the airline customer service. I explained that my flight was canceled and asked why. The agent apologized and said it was due to mechanical reasons. I then asked for them to uphold their rule 240 which says that they should be able to help me get to my destination on a satisfactory flight. I restated my objective: I needed to be in San Antonio that evening.

Though not ideal, I was able to take another two flights on another airline. I arrived to San Antonio that evening. I was stressed from the racing around to make the additional flights but relatively speaking I had a successful trip.

I didn’t stop and say, “Okay Lizzie – time to use the RED Model!” But because I use the RED Model every day I was able to do it innately. My trip may not have been perfect but it was less stressful than the other stranded passengers around me who were yelling at airline agents or worried they wouldn’t get on stand by.

Critical thinking can help.

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Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Elizabeth Pauker-Silva