As you have probably seen in the news, winter weather is causing chaos all over parts of Europe including the UK, Germany, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. The cold snap, which has been around for around a week now is causing heavy snow and temperatures as low as -20 degrees celsius to parts of the UK and much colder further into Europe.
Most of the time, winter weather is a hazard you cannot avoid if you are traveling in the winter months through Europe – but there are some things you can do to try and help minimize any disruption for yourself or your family.
- It cannot be stressed enough, how important a good trip cancellation travel insurance plan could help you in situations where flights are cancelled, you have missed connections or there has been a long delay to your travel. Most insurance plans also include assistance services who can help rebook and arrange your travel for you if something does go wrong.
- Try to keep all your travel through one airline and join their loyalty program. Over the years that you travel with that airline, you will accumulate points and status with that airline, when things go wrong (which can happen often, even in good weather) airlines tend to treat their higher loyalty program customers first and you receive better compensation and benefits. If you are delayed or your flight is cancelled, for example, they will try their best to put you up in a hotel and make arrangements for you beyond what they would do for everyone else.
- Never get angry, frustrated or upset with airline or airport staff. It may sound like a very small thing to do, but by being nice and asking for help and assistance rather than demanding things, you will find staff will be more inclined to help you out.
- It is always good to know what your rights are when it comes to airline delay and cancellations. For example in Europe, you have the European passenger air rights that need to be followed whenever there is a delay and these will protect most consumers when flying from or within Europe.
We hope anyone that is stuck in the Travel Chaos in Europe, gets to where they need to be in time for the holidays!
