About 9 months ago, I was dreaming about where I might travel after I finished my Peace Corps service. I have wanted to go to Nepal for nearly 20 years, and at that point, ticket prices to Kathmandu were great. So I bit the bullet, bought the ticket and waited.
Finally, March 25th arrived and I was on my way. I made it through the first leg of the journey, to New Delhi, without at hitch. However, the second flight ended up being an adventure in its own right.
My Crazy Trip to Kathmandu
The story of me getting to Kathmandu is quite the tale itself. We took off, as scheduled on the afternoon of March 26th. Once we were en route, the pilot was informed that the weather was too poor to land, so we circled until we could no longer because the fuel reserves had been used up.
We landed at the domestic airport of Lucknow, where being an international flight, we were not allowed to disembark. By the time the plane was refueled, it was too late for the pilot we had to land in Nepal, so we turned back around and landed back in New Delhi a couple hours after we were scheduled to land in Kathmandu.
For those of us who could not leave the airport, because of not having a visa, we were put up at the airport hotel and all of us were issued new boarding passes for a flight scheduled to leave the next morning.
The new flight ended up being delayed another hour and half and we were told, again in the air, that the visibility at the Kathmandu airport was at 1 km, and the legal minimum for landing is 3 km. Closer to the destination, when we would have begun to descend, we were told it had only improved to 1.5 km, that we had 50 minutes of reserve fuel and the pilot decided to circle for 45 minutes to wait for clearance.
Around 35 minutes later, we were cleared to land and upon touch down in Kathmandu the plane erupted in cheers. What was supposed to be about a 2-flight ended up being a 24-hour ordeal.
Here’s how I got through it, and what I would have done differently, had I known there were going to be issues.
How to Deal with a Cancelled Flight
Remain calm, cool and collected.
In my case, and in many plane delays and cancellations, it’s an issue with the weather. Other times it’s maintenance issues with the plane. Regardless, both situations are entirely out of the airline staff’s hands.
Raising your voice at the airline staff, getting mad at them, demanding that you must be at your destination that day is simply not going to solve anything. It’s frustrating for everyone involved, including the staff for the airline.
Take a deep breath, remind yourself that this is probably the safest course of action and then smile at your fellow travelers. They are in the exact same situation you are in, so make some friends.
Be compassionate.
As I said, this is frustrating for everyone involved, and I watched some of my fellow passengers get very upset at a man who was clearly trying to satisfy us and also follow the regulations of his company.
Each time I interacted with him, I made sure to use my best manners: apologizing for interrupting with something that was a distraction from his task at hand, offering a smile and soften voice and when all was said and done, I made sure to personally thank him for the extra work he did for us.
I’m sure he did not go into work that day expecting to be there until after midnight sorting out a cancelled flight that had already taken off, just as there were days that I did not expect to be Thai-napped until 2 in the morning.
There is no need for me to make his day worse.
Prepare with a transit visa.
Turns out, Kathmandu is a notoriously tricky landing and often runs into weather problems. I had considered getting a transit visa for India, but ultimately decided against it. As it was, because I did not have a visa for India, which does not issue visas on arrival to US citizens, I was not allowed to leave the airport.
Luckily, my airline put us up at the airport’s hotel. Passengers on another airline, whose Kathmandu flight was also canceled, were not so lucky and had to sleep in the terminal.
Had I known beforehand about the difficulties of landing in Nepal, I would have invested in getting the transit visa and gotten in touch with my friend who lives in New Delhi to stay with, instead of waiting to sort out the lodging situation with the airline, or potentially been stranded in the terminal.
Don’t be afraid to ask.
If you have a connection you need to make, if you are truly outraged at the situation and aren’t getting what you want, if you are just unclear about what is going on, don’t be afraid to ask as staff member. Just remember number 1 and number 2 when you do approach someone.
They may not have the information you are looking for or the authority to grant your request. If so, ask to speak with someone else. Asking never hurt anyone, unless it was done in an angry and threatening way.
Be prepared.
I was not prepared for this at all. Meaning, I had no change of clothes or toiletries in my carry-on. At the very least, throw in a spare change of undies, they don’t take up that much room and you’ll be glad if you end up traveling for more than 24 hours. If you don’t like smelling, toss in a fresh shirt as well.
Also, just deal with the airline restrictions about gels and liquids and pack some travel toiletries in your carry-on. Should worst come to worst, you’ll be glad you have them, and while you may not feel your best if you get stuck sleeping in an airport, at least you can be a little bit more fresh.
Smile.
Smile at your fellow travelers.
It eases everyone’s tension, opens up conversation and studies say that if you show an emotion on your face, you begin to feel that emotion. The people who are on your unfortunate flight are all in the same situation as you, so why not commiserate together.
Get to know one another. You’ll make new friends and may end up with an offer for a bed should your flight be delayed or canceled somewhere else in the world. At the very least, you’ll likely end up with some drinking partners for when you finally do arrive at your destination.
Have you ever had a flight delayed or cancelled? How did you deal with it?
