Dealing With A Last Minute Flight Cancellation

This is my travelogue that never was! I had planned to give you a constant stream of consciousness type article for my experience on the world's longest flight. That would be the flight from New York (JFK) to Singapore (SIN) on Singapore Airlines. Somehow that route is a few miles longer than the Newark (EWR) to Singapore flight. I am sure it has something to do with the rotation of the Earth or some science crap like that, but I don't care. The plan was to be flying the longest flight in the world, and to share my dread of it with all of you. Yes, I am a miles and points weirdo that just wants to get where they are going and doesn't really care about flying products, checking off fifth freedom flights or any of that bookworm type stuff. This was going to be a chance to give you a different perspective of a flight that has been blogged, vlogged, tweeted, snapped or gram'd about numerous times. That was until Singapore sent me up the creek without a paddle and left me dealing with a last minute flight cancellation. Well, more like half a paddle. This took a super tight 5 day trip to Asia down to an almost unbearable 4 days.

Spoiler alert: I'll probably still do a travelogue type post from this trip, as I have another shot at that Singapore flight on the way home.

Singapore Airlines Cancellation Throws A Wrench In Things

On Saturday (12/28) I was grabbing the last of my stuff and getting ready to head to the airport for my 2:30 flight from Detroit (DTW) to LaGuardia (LGA). It was the best I could do as a positioning flight for this somewhat ratty itinerary. It gave me plenty of time to get to JFK before my 10PM flight on Singapore Airlines. I bought the ticket at the airport to save some money, and then rolled that into a Big Front Seat upgrade. All in it came out about $100 cheaper than flying other non-stop economy flights from Detroit to New York. That is with a first class seat, free WiFi, snacks, alcohol and baggage included. Not too shabby.

As I was about to head out the door I received a text from Singapore saying I had been rebooked. Uh, what? We were still 10 hours away from the flight, what the heck is going on here? I figured it might have been a product swap and maybe I got rebooked and was given a new seat etc. I had gotten lucky with the bulkhead seat on this booking too, for the extra legroom, and wasn't too excited about possibly losing that.

However, when I opened my email it was a whole lot worse. The flight was cancelled for technical reasons and they had rebooked me on Cathay Pacific through Hong Kong the following day. Outside of giving me heart palpitations, which is just great for my high blood pressure, it presented several other issues.

My Final Destination Was Actually Bangkok

I was flying to Singapore as a positioning flight essentially. After that flight I had a flight booked on Thai Airways to go from Singapore to Bangkok (BKK). The first problem was that I wasn't going to make that flight, which meant I needed a new flight from Singapore to Bangkok if I followed this Cathay Pacific booking all the way through. I was supposed to get to Singapore at 6AM on the 30th of December and this had me getting in the wee hours of December 31st. Getting into Singapore 18 hours later than intended AND still needing a flight to Bangkok sounded like a horrible way to roll into a New Years Eve party.

That wasn't even the biggest problem of this portion of dealing with a last minute flight cancellation. No, the biggest problem was that my laziness got in the way and I stupidly booked the Thai flight as a round trip flight. A big fat no-no. That meant that my flight from Bangkok back to Singapore was now pretty much toast, since it would get cancelled once I missed the outbound flight.

Dealing With A Last Minute Flight Cancellation: I Am Now Stranded In New York For Night

Another issue I had was that I now needed an overnight in New York City if I was going to accept this new itinerary. Not ideal to have to add another hotel night in one of the most expensive cities for hotels in the world. I could try to book it with my Business Venture X (what I used to pay the taxes and fees for the Singapore Airlines booking) and submit a claim and hope it all gets paid timely. I was also set up to have dinner with some friends during my long layover, so I had to somewhat stay in a certain area to make that all work.

What About My Bangkok Hotel Reservation?

The last worry I had to consider was my hotel reservation in Bangkok. If I get in really late, or a day late, will they cancel my entire stay? Should I add my buddy to the room and have him just check in for me, if they would allow it? Should I reach out and have Hyatt cancel one of the nights before it is too late? I decided to put a pin in this one until we figured everything else out.

Scrambling For Other Options

At this point I dropped all of my luggage and pulled my laptop out to get to work. I wanted to see if I could get something else out to Bangkok on my own. My first focus was out of Detroit that same evening. I could skip my flight to JFK and still get out on Saturday night if I went through Europe instead. The Detroit (DTW) to Frankfurt (FRA) route on Lufthansa is usually pretty good about last minute awards. What about hours before the flight last minute though? No surprise that I struck out there, and on everything else I searched for that evening out of Detroit. That would have been a good option, and I could have just asked for a refund from Singapore for the cancelled flight, but it wasn't meant to be.

Next, I tried to find something out of the NYC area that Singapore could rebook me into on Saturday night. No surprise, I struck out there as well. I did find a couple potential options, but with the long layovers it wouldn't get me there that much quicker. Some of them would have likely had to book myself and cancel the Singapore Airlines flight. Going that route would have left orphaned Singapore Airlines miles in my account, which was not ideal. After about 30 minutes of frantically searching I decided my best bet was to hit the road to airport and fly to New York. I could continue trying to figure things out at the airport and while on the flight.

Dealing With A Last Minute Flight Cancellation: How I Maneuvered These Issues

Let's go through these issues one by one and how I handled them.

Skiplagging My Flight In Hong Kong

After some panicked searching for flights I realized that the rebooked flight on Cathay would likely be my best bet. That is when I switched up things and decided to go on offense a bit with Singapore Airlines. While at DTW I called in to see if I could change the connecting flight in Hong Kong from Singapore to Bangkok. The flights were about the same amount of time so there was no reason to fly to Singapore and then book another flight to Bangkok from there. With the flight times I would have lost another half day doing this from layovers etc. too.

After a few calls, and disconnects, I finally got with an agent that was working on it. After some time she came back and said it was not possible to change the final destination. I am not sure if this was just company policy or if it was in fact a problem with the system since they booked me on Cathay. I was running out of time to get on my flight to New York so I accepted defeat and moved on. While on my flight I took a shot with Cathay via chat (thanks free Spirit WiFi), but as expected – they told me to contact Singapore Airlines.

One thing I had going for me is I did book the two Singapore Airlines flights as one ways. That meant that if I didn't complete my first flight it shouldn't cause any harm with my flight home. The fact that it was booked on Cathay Pacific, and not Singapore themselves, probably helped me there too. Because of this I decided to just try to find a flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok so I could hop off my route there. I would forgo the Hong Kong to Singapore portion of my Cathay Pacific flight and fly a different airline to Bangkok. I eliminated Cathay as an option, even though they had some solid choices, because I figured the double booking would mess things up.

Resolution:

I ended up booking a flight on Emirates for 7,500 miles (transferred from Capital One) and around $50 in taxes and fees. The cash price was for $200, so going the award flight right was a decent value for my points.

Goodbye To Thai

The other flight situation I needed to deal with was my Thai flight to and from Bangkok. I didn't really care about the flight to Bangkok, but I needed that flight out back to Singapore. Since I would be missing the first flight of the booking the entire itinerary would be toast.

After spot checking the flight situation for the day I needed, I was not a happy camper. There was no award space, and the low cost carriers were up around $300 for the short flight. This is normally a flight that can be had for under $100. The last minute nature of the booking, and it being a holiday week, was working against me. My goal now was to get lifemiles to hopefully drop the first part of the flight and turn it into a one way.

Lifemiles Was Of No Help

After several long holds, they came back to tell me that wasn't possible. I asked to just cancel the entire flight instead so that I could recoup my Avianca lifemiles. They quoted a $100 cancellation fee, but told me I couldn't cancel the flight now since it was within 24 hours of the flight. I would instead need to call back 24 hours after the missed flight to perform the cancellation. Yes, lifemiles lets you cancel things after the fact and get your miles back. I mentioned the change in the second flight's time from 11:30 AM to 2:30PM and inquired if that would get the fee waived. He listed off a whole bunch of crap we would have to go through to do it. Needless to say, I just paid the $100 when I called back to cancel since I was over all of this.

Dealing With A Last Minute Flight Cancellation: My Final Booking Out Of Bangkok

I waited a few days while in Bangkok to see if any last minute awards appeared. No luck there! I decided to go with a Singapore Airlines economy flight for $400 (ouch) since the the low cost carriers were a little over $300 before seat and baggage fees. I used my Capital One miles to erase the charge thanks to my Venture X Business card.

Resolution:

Canceled the Thai Airways booking with Avianca lifemiles after I got home for a refund of my miles. I booked a flight out of Bangkok for $400 cash on Singapore Airlines. All in all, my stupidity of booking a roundtrip award cost me $500 in new flight costs and cancellation fees. Had I booked two one ways I would have likely just eaten the miles from the one missed flight.

Making The Best Out Of New York

I was still able to meet up with my friends for dinner and drinks, but all of this was in the back of my mind for sure. Even though I had an idea of what I was going to do, I had not finalized much yet. The one thing I had handled was booking a hotel to stay at in New York.

I had been wanting to stay at The Graduate Roosevelt Island since it opened, but had never had a chance. It wasn't bookable with points either, until Hilton recently purchased the brand. While the location has its issues if visiting Manhattan, it worked perfectly for my needs. I am also a weirdo and a big fan of Roosevelt Island, so I jumped at the chance. I could have booked it for cash, and tried to use travel protections from my Venture Business X, but the prices were right up near the $500 cap. The last thing I wanted was for something to go wrong there and me be stuck with the bill. This also allowed me to attempt to use the coverage for food, drinks and transportation instead.

The fact that there was a newly minted free night certificate sitting in my Hilton account didn't hurt either. The Hilton Honors points cost was 80,000 for the night. I was able to get this booked via sending Hilton Honors a direct message on X with all of the details while on my Spirit flight. Thanks again to the include WiFi with the Big Front Seat! The hotel reservation was all set by the time I landed.

Resolution:

Booked a one night stay at The Graduate Roosevelt Island with a Hilton Honors free night certificate.

Bangkok Hotel Reservation Stays Intact

This one was the easiest of the fixes. Since I was able to find a flight to get me into Bangkok on the original date of arrival, although 13 hours later, I was able to keep the hotel reservation as is. That is thanks to the hidden city ticketing route I am taking with Emirates.

I did email the hotel and let them know that I would likely be showing up a little after midnight and to notate the reservation. The worst thing is when you show up late and they cancel the reservation as a no show. They confirmed the email and said I should be good to go.

Dealing With A Last Minute Flight Cancellation: ToP Thoughts

To say I was emotional drained, and physically exhausted, before even starting this journey would be an understatement. That was even before getting on a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong too! To be honest, I had thought about scrapping the entire trip more than once. I probably would have if there weren't people there already that I was meeting up with. Either that, or I would have did a few days in Hong Kong or just the entire trip in Singapore instead. You lose a bit of flexibility when you are meeting people traveling from all different places though.

Hopefully you never have to deal with a last minute flight cancellation like this, especially for international travel. If you do, then hopefully you got some ideas of how to handle it from my perspective. The one thing you should take from this, if nothing else, is learn to book one way flights! If I would have done that for the Thai booking my life would have been 35% less crazy over the last day or so. That is what laziness gets you I guess.

Let me know any of your dealing with a last minute flight cancellation stories over in the ToP Facebook Group.