<p>Make sure he has a credit card (in his name) that is not a debit card also. If he gets stranded and needs to check intot a hotel, they may not accept the debit/credit card combo.</p>
<p>^Same advice as above post.</p>
<p>Make sure student has a credit card, if needed in an emergency to get a hotel room. </p>
<p>And make sure the cell phone charger is in the carry on, and not packed in the luggage.</p>
<p>This is all really good advice, thanks everyone. We don’t travel much so I have some questions. </p>
<p>How do the airlines handle rebooking with nonrefundable tickets? Do you pay a fee for the change? How much does the new flight cost since it is not booked in advance?</p>
<p>Would it be possible for me to book a hotel room over the phone for my stranded student and pay with my credit card?</p>
<p>On the flight back from our spring break college tour, S and I sat with a community college student from west Texas who had been to visit her boyfriend in northwest Michigan. Given the geography, she had little choice but to book a three-legged trip with connections in Chicago and Houston. There had been a delay on the first leg and she had been bumped to a second leg that would strand her in Houston that evening. With the assistance of the gate agent, she rescheduled the Houston-home flight. She called her parents who made a hotel reservation for her and confirmed the airport shuttle. There were tears, but all things considered, it went rather well.</p>
<p>I think the essentials are a (charged) cell phone, a credit card, and a cool head.</p>
<p>Sometimes I wonder how we lived before cell phones.</p>
<p>^^Slept in the airport. I spent my entire adolescence traveling unaccompanied from the midwest to the east coast and back through O’Hare with no cell phone, no credit cards, and very little cash. But I always carried a book.</p>
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<p>Collect calls from pay phones. :)</p>
<p>Encourage your kid to (1) check in the day before their flight online, and (2) check the flight status online before they leave for the airport. If the flight is cancelled or delayed before they leave home, call the airline before leaving for the airport.</p>
<p>Sometimes the airline will call the number you give when you book the ticket and notify you that they have rebooked them on a different flight flight, and what the new flight info is before your kid can even get to the counter to talk to someone. Regarding flight fees, if the flight is cancelled or your kid is bumped, there are typically no extra fees if you let the airline rebook them (not necessarily so if you decide to switch airlines and book them on another flight home yourself).</p>
<p>It is a good idea to have your kid ask at the airport if they can get any vouchers for food or lodging due to the delay. Occasionally they will get something…</p>
<p>If they are stuck overnight, use the internet to find a hotel near the airport that has shuttle service. Call the hotel to book a room, explain the situation… they will take your credit card over the phone. Call your kid with instructions on how to find the shuttle… and tell 'em not to touch the mini-bar or pay-per-view movies :)</p>
<p>Even with non-refundable tickets, if you show up to the airport on time and the plane does not leave, they are obligated to get you to your destination. (In the case of mechanical delay, they are obligated to feed & house you, ie hotel room. In the event of weather delays, they don’t have many obligations, although many will give you meal vouchers if you ask.)</p>
<p>During big storms that impact lots of airports (think winter blizzards or huricanes), many airlines suspend their re-booking costs and if you don’t start your travel, may refund your ticket or give you full credit towards another ticket. For example, if it’s Tuesday and are schedule to fly on Friday and there’s a huge storm scheduled to hit your area Thursday night, you might be able to call the airline and rebook for a Thursday morning flight without penalties or additional charges. The airlines want to fly full planes and don’t want people lying around airports for news crews, so it’s in their best interest to get you where you want to go!</p>
<p>Our S carries a credit card (our account) and knows that if a travel crisis occurs, he should book a room in a hotel with an airport shuttle using the bank of phones that are available in every airport–unless the airline is taking care of it. He also travels only on nonstop flights, which makes it a two-hour trip.</p>
<p>My advice is to be prepared but not to over-worry. If your child isn’t familiar with air travel, run through the steps, with the possible complications and how to handle each one. We traveled about once a year as a family, so my S had experience with the ups and downs of air travel. The worst he’s had to deal with in three years is a horrendous, tiring weather delay. But he travels with chargers and was okay sitting in the airport. I am very impatient about delays, and about waiting in general, so I wouldn’t do as well as he does!</p>
<p>This semester he has a car, so for spring break he had to plan the drive to the airport and find parking. He was not prepared for the price of parking and was appalled, until we assured him that it was reasonable–and less than the roundtrip cost of the bus he used to take.</p>
<p>The best thing about his travel to and from school are his Tweets. They’re pretty hilarious.</p>
<p>Lots of good advice. I have a son in a school that requires two flights for him to come to and fro. No way around it; it is a pain in the neck. It has caused a lot of trouble and expense. It’s one of the pitfalls of having a kid that far away. He had two medical situations where he came home suddenly and we literally paid through the nose (his nose as he broke it). I wanted him home for a very special occasion two weekends ago and his flight got cancelled at the last minute and they wanted to put him on a flight the next evening when he was scheduled to go home the morning after that. I can tell you so many stories, it’s ridiculous.</p>
<p>My other two went to schools about 7 hours away and I had several fights about cancelled flights, tickets etc. Once I had perfect, cheap tickets well in advance, and kid needed to stay a day later. Yeah. Well. It happens. The airlines are terrible, is all can say. However, at least 7 hours is driveable and there are other kids from the area, Megabus and Greyhound are some other alternaives. But 24 hours away by land travel, rules out most options other than flight and it is not a reliable one. It can also be very expensive and things do happen.</p>
<p>Oh, the latest neck pain is caused by some airlines asking for the credit card purchasing the ticket to be presented at the gate. If you pay with your card, that is not possible. United tried to prevent son from getting on plane for that reason. I had to drop everything and drive to the nearest airport and present my credit card. They still tried to keep him off plane because it was overbooked. </p>
<p>Son basically sneaked on a plane to get home this month which cancelled his return portion. It took hours of wrangling to get that one straightened out, and I think he sneaked on that plane too, since now I have a credit for the whole damned ticket on my card. So much for airport security.</p>
<p>BTDT. We’re from Northern California. Kid has flown home twice from the East and had disasters twice. First time was rerouted due to bad weather and arrived six hours late. She was frazzled but otherwise OK. Second time the airline told her before she even left that she’d be stranded in Denver and need to spend the night. They went back and forth about whether they’d pay for it (was it caused a weather delay or lack of crew…) and in the end they did. She was traveling with a couple of friends and it wound up being as much adventure as inconvenience (though it surely was that).</p>
<p>I would echo others’ advice. 1) Have a credit card and cell phone. 2) Try not to travel on the really busy travel days. 3) Try to travel non-stop. If you can’t try to make connections in cities where you have friends or relatives. 4) Roll with the punches. I bet you will be amazed at how well your kid handles the situation. In the total scheme of things, this is actually a pretty safe and supervised way to gain some life experience.</p>
<p>I was worried about my daughter flying alone for the first time. Then I recalled my first flight alone, also to visit a college, when I was a senior in high school. The original plan was for me to travel with my dad. We were going to stay at a cheap motel the night before the flight because the flight was very early in the morning. But I didn’t take this flight, because at about 10:15 p.m. the night before, while we were watching the news in our room, the motel started on fire and we ended up jumping out the window after discovering the halls were too dark and smoky to crawl through. I made the college trip the following week, by myself. I decided that if I could survive this, my daughter, who is much more level headed, could survive anything.</p>
<p>Our DD went to school on the opposite coast (the sunny one). She knew from the get go that travel, especially in the snowy times of the year, could be dicey and she might end up stranded someplace…and would need to deal with it. She had numerous flights canceled, diverted to different airports, and delayed. Luckily she was never stranded anywhere.</p>
<p>When we had the option (which was almost always) we flew her through places where her stop was where relatives lived…just in case. She never had to use them…but came close a couple of times.</p>
<p>Carry on baggage is must. If your kiddo needs to check baggage it should NOT be the things they will need when they arrive at their destination (like toiletries and fresh clothes). </p>
<p>DD enrolled in the FF programs for the two airlines she used most frequently and actually got one free ticket out of it.</p>
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<p>If it is due to flight change, missed connection, or cancellation, then you can change or refund the ticket without the usual penalty. Of course, flights you want may not be available or are full in bad weather situations.</p>
<p>If at all possible, try not to fly out on the day the dorms close for break because if something happens (weather, etc.) and your kid can’t get out, it can be very, very difficult to get a school (at the last moment) to grant you a waiver to stay (many won’t).</p>
<p>“Oh, the latest neck pain is caused by some airlines asking for the credit card purchasing the ticket to be presented at the gate. If you pay with your card, that is not possible.”</p>
<p>I HATE that one!</p>
<p>I am curious about the advice that parents should drive an hour (presumably two hours round trip), to avoid kids having layovers… my time, in cash money, is way more valuable than my kid’s. That’s how she gets to go to that school, 3,000 miles away. Any thoughts? BTW, the longest one she ever had, I was with her, as a chaperon in high school.</p>
<p>Also, my H is a master of airport amenities. Portland is VERY nice, but not a “hub” for many US schools,</p>
<p>Also, people with borderline “carry ons” are my pet peeve… just sayin’. And my D always seems to have too many “things” to to try to keep up with. We once parted ways, when she had to go back to, and through, security (don’t forget your stuff there!), and I didn’t have time to do it it again.</p>
<p>Piggybacking on Teriwitt…our daughter always flew the day after the dorms closed and she always asked for an extension to stay that extra day.</p>
<p>I’ve flown nearly half a million miles in my lifetime, and in that span have ended up sleeping in airports numerous times - flight delays, cancellations, bizarre “mileage run” turns, you name it. It’s far more common than you might think.</p>
<p>Most, if not all, passenger airport terminals never technically close, and some of the largest actually have services available 24/7. At the very least, it’s a warm, lighted and safe place to spend the night - if not the most comfortable and luxurious.</p>
<p>“Not all kids can be persistent or able to deal with indifferent adults”</p>
<p>Not all adults can do this, either. The ones that can’t learn to do it sleep on a lot more terminal floors than the ones that do. But a kid who’s having trouble with this won’t have a chance to learn if they don’t try.</p>
<p>All of this is much, much safer than driving, especially driving long distances in bad weather and/or at night. Being stranded is no one’s idea of a good time, but it’s exceedingly rare that anyone actually gets hurt (like being robbed) as a result.</p>