How to get your money back from a weather delay

When a flight is delayed or canceled because of weather, you’re out of luck on basically all fronts (hehe get it?). You won’t be eligible for food vouchers, complimentary hotel rooms, or even a refund of your ticket. Oh what to do.

If you’re really hardcore, you can hire a forensic meteorologist, apparently someone who will dig through weather records and show if the weather was as bad as the airline says it was. This does seem a bit of overkill to me, but if you got screwed on a very expensive flight, it might be worth it.

An easier approach might just be looking up the weather yourself. Here’s one woman’s story (via Consumerist): My last canceled flight was blamed on the weather. I called a friend with the internet, had them look up the weather at my destination and en route (which was fine). I went back to the desk and said, “The weather is fine. You sure there aren’t other problems?” That’s when then he said that it was the weather AND technical problems with the plane. At that, I mentioned the rule, and suggested he try to re-book me, which he did.

So that whole thing with the iPhone and checking the weather might be true after all.

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