What to do About Airport Transportation When Flights are Cancelled or Delayed

The airline industry recently underwent back-to-back travel meltdowns with the massive disruption at a popular low-cost carrier followed by temporary grounding of all flights nationwide due to an FAA system failure, creating airport chaos and stranding passengers everywhere.

With no guarantees these could not happen again, it would behoove travelers to plan ahead for potential disruptions to vacation plans and business trips. While it may be an afterthought behind rescheduled flights and hotels, ground transportation should be part of that planning.

“While there are federal laws and regulations regarding passenger rights and what they are owed due to cancellations or delays, no such rules exist for ground transportation providers,” says John McCarthy, president of The GO Group, parent company of GOwithUs.com (formerly GO Airport Shuttle).

GOwithUs.com, an international airport ground transportation provider, offers these tips to aid in rescheduling, whether traveling with GO or another operator to and/or from the airport.

• Keep information handy: Having confirmation numbers and other relevant information ready will enable the provider to make changes faster and more accurately.
• Policies vary per provider: If you have a vehicle reserved, be sure to contact your ground transportation provider as soon as possible to reduce the chance of being charged change or cancellation fees. These costs, and when they are and are not charged, vary per operator.
• Going to the airport: It is the passenger’s responsibility to reschedule pick up from a residence, hotel, business or any other location. Changes made within one hour of flight cancelling or delays will not incur any change fees with GO, but this may not be the case with other providers.
• At at the airport: Know your options.  Most airports offer numerous types of reserved and non-reserved transportation providers, including taxis, ride-share operators, airport shuttles and private cars services.

GO operators monitor arrivals through services like FlightAware and adjustments are automatically made to accommodate delays and cancellations.  No change fees are charged.

“One of the reasons we ask for flight information from customers when they book with GO is so we can track arrivals, delays and cancellations to help ensure we will have a vehicle ready for them when they need one,” says McCarthy.