boboqui

I got stranded last Sunday for 8 hours at MIA until the wee hours of the morning waiting for flight UA1974 to NY, until the gate agents sort of gave up and started issuing hotel vouchers and re-booked us on a flight on Monday. I had used my Amex plat to pay for the tickets, and did not buy travel protection, so no travel insurance... I found out the next day that the flight eventually left at 2:28AM, almost 8 1/2 hours late.

Earlier, I tried changing to another flight on Sunday night but there was no availability on Sunday, only on Monday morning.

In hindsight, I wish had changed the flight to Monday morning right away, instead of wasting all that time waiting in vain at the airport and feeling miserable the next day, even though I would have paid for two hotel rooms for the night.

Any suggestions on what should I have done? I am looking for a set of guidelines on what to do in case of mx delay?

arollins

Call immediately and try to get yourself accommodated on the next flight available, even try to stand by on other flights. Every MX flight will have at least 150 passengers that need to be accommodated, some are elites and are already contacting the CS. the early you do this, the higher chance you have on getting out on another flight. Your CC might have travelers insurance added on as part of your benefits. 8hrs is far too long to wait to see if the flight will make it or not, particularly when this is UA, and you are in MIA, not an UA hub, the chances of using another aircraft are very minimal.

Yoshi212

It's easy to Monday morning quarterback situations.
-Having travel insurance is a good idea of you travel often. Especailly out of smaller outstations which to UA MIA is not a focus city.
-Search for routings on your own and present them to the agent for rerouting.
-Look at availability out of FLL & PBI and grab a rental car quickly.
-After 3 hour delays I often offer to be put up in a hotel and leave the next day. This isn't always accepted but sometimes the staff just want to get people settled to reduce the stress that will eventually hit them.

Efrem

It may be too late to do this now, but this is one of the big advantages of using a travel agent. I got caught in Delta's August computer meltdown coming back to the States from Australia. The wait on the Gold Medallion (second-tier elite) line was an hour and a half. I got into their callback queue and called my travel agent. She snagged me the last seat on the next plane to leave LAX for Boston within two minutes. No way would it have been there when the callback folks finally got back to me. I got home ten hours late, but that's a darn sight better than many other people in exactly the same situation. That was worth way more than her $35 fee. In fact, it was worth way more than all the $35 fees I've paid her over the (not all that long) time I've done business with her.