How to Rebook Your Flight

In the summer months when severe weather (thunder storms, hail, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc) is rampant, the likelihood that your flight is delayed and/or canceled, unfortunately increases.  So in our pursuit to keep you "in the know," we went in search of some of the best flight rebooking tips we could find.  Our search landed us on this insightful "how to" article from Frommer's and from it we extrapolated the following section on how to expediently rebook your canceled flight. 

Airlines will always recommend calling their toll-free reservations number, even if wait times can be excruciatingly long and their systems risk shutting down under high call volumes. If this is the case, the best way to go is the airline's website, according to Kate Hanni, executive director of the consumer protection organization FlyersRights.org.  "You can see if you've been automatically rebooked (now a standard practice), reschedule a flight, or cancel your reservation altogether," Hanni says.

If you want face-to-face customer service, the gate or ticket agent is the traditional option. "It's a good idea to become your own information pub, says Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com.  "Sometimes the airline personnel don't know any more than you do. Get on your smartphones, laptops, or iPads, and look at airport status updates, weather reports, and flight schedules. If you help them help you, then you can get through the line faster."

A good resource for those without Internet at their fingertips is the FlyersRights.org hotline (tel. 877/359-3776). Phone operators offer travel advice in all forms: they'll look up flight availability, interpret contracts of carriage, and locate ground transportation.

Other wait-reducing tips: "Make a beeline for airport club lounges -- they have dedicated ticket agents, usually two of them," suggests travel guru and million-mile flier John DiScala of JohnnyJet.com.  Elite-status fliers can call the priority number on the back of their membership card.

Travel agents -- many with 24-hour concierge lines -- can also ease the hassle of rebooking, though not without a fee. "Agents have all the same flight information as the carriers but no line of frustrated passengers," says Jacque Salentine Busby, president of the Milwaukee-based Luxe Travel Deals. "Plus we can more readily rebook you on another carrier if necessary."

Which airlines have you had the best success in rebooking flights quickly?  What tips can you offer for rebooking that aren't addressed in this post?