United Airlines canceled my flight from Iceland. Am I really owed nothing?

After United Airlines canceled Tamra McIntyre’s flight home from Iceland, she requested EU 261 compensation – around $622. In response, the airline “awarded” her just 8,000 United Airlines Mileage Plus points, the equivalent of about $108. 

Final answer, says United Airlines.

McIntyre, unwilling to accept that answer, asked the Consumer Rescue advocacy team to investigate. United Airlines says her flight cancellation doesn’t qualify for EU 261 compensation. She says it does. 

Who’s right? You’re about to find out.

Checking in and then, surprise! United Airlines just canceled the flight 

On the morning McIntyre was scheduled to fly from Keflavik, Iceland, to Chicago, she was already irritated. United Airlines had sent her a text the previous evening informing her of a one hour “schedule change.” That slight time shift made catching her connecting flight at O’Hare impossible. 

United Airlines had rebooked her on a later flight to Austin, Texas – her final destination. Unfortunately, that change added hours to her trip. 

“I had purposely booked these flights so I could be back to my house before it got dark,” McIntyre told me. “After United Airlines changed the original flight’s schedule, I wouldn’t be getting home until after midnight!”

As it would turn out, McIntyre wouldn’t need to worry about arriving home after midnight that day. She wouldn’t be flying anywhere. Stepping up to the check-in counter, she handed over her passport and expected to receive her boarding pass. Instead, the agent shook her head and gave McIntyre the bad news. 

United Airlines had just canceled her flight to Chicago.

Confusion and chaos: What will United Airlines do for the stranded passengers?

McIntyre says another United Airlines employee handed her and other displaced travelers a hotel voucher and an information card. She then pointed the customers to the exit and walked away, leaving the confused group of would-be passengers in her wake.

No one seemed sure of what to do. A fellow passenger suggested they get on a shuttle outside the door where the United agent had pointed. McIntyre went back inside the airport and asked around. Another airline employee told her to stand under the sign that said “bus” and wait.

Soon McIntyre, a 64-year-old solo female adventurer, was sitting on that shuttle bus unsure of her destination. She hoped she’d boarded the correct transportation to the hotel listed on her voucher, but she really had no idea.

McIntyre had confidently navigated ten days on her own in the Land of Fire and Ice and never felt intimidated. But she suddenly felt alone and vulnerable. Uncertain of what was on the horizon, she read the card that the United Airlines agent had handed her. 

That’s when she learned about the rights air passengers have in Europe after a flight cancellation. The card said that United Airlines had a responsibility to care for its customers.  The way McIntyre had been unceremoniously abandoned at the airport didn’t give her the impression of being cared for.

“I felt unsafe and stranded really,” McIntyre explained to me. “The shuttle was unmarked. I didn’t know where I was going or how far – or even if I was going to the hotel. I never experienced something like this before.”

Unfortunately, things were about to turn more confusing for this United Airlines passenger.

Related: United Airlines stranded us in Morocco! How will we get home now?

What is EU 261 and how does it protect air passengers in Europe?

McIntyre didn’t know it yet, but there are a variety of things that United Airlines was required to do for her after it canceled her flight home. The EU 261 is a regulation that assigns a “duty of care” responsibility to all airlines operating out of nearly all European airports. 

Specifically, if you’re flying home from Europe and your airline cancels your flight at the last minute, it must provide:

• Hotel accommodations if the cancellation causes you an overnight stay.
• Food and nonalcoholic beverages.
• Transportation to and from the hotel and the airport.
• A phone call if you need one.

Additionally, if the cancellation was under the airline’s control, there is monetary compensation for passengers. For disruptions in excess of three hours on flights from Europe to the United States the airline must pay the traveler 600 Euros. (You can read a more detailed description in Consumer Rescue’s ultimate guide to the EU 261)

But since this was all new to McIntyre, she wasn’t sure what to expect. As she was speeding away from the airport toward destinations unknown in an unmarked shuttle, her anxiety was exploding. 

United Airlines sent this passenger to hotel with no availability

After several stops along the way, McIntyre’s shuttle finally arrived at the hotel that matched the name on her voucher. She breathed a sigh of relief. 

But not for long.

After waiting her turn in line to check in, a hotel manager looked at the voucher United Airlines had given her. He sympathetically explained that there were no available rooms at that time, but offered McIntyre their conference room to wait. 

“He said in the afternoon there might be a room available,” McIntyre recalled. “I was tired and didn’t know what to think. I went and sat down and started to research my options.”

That’s where McIntyre patiently remained for the next several hours, periodically calling United Airlines asking for guidance. However, those conversations were unproductive and just left this stranded passenger feeling more confused.

Finally at the time the front desk staff told McIntyre to return for a potential room, she approached the reception. 

“I had been sitting there for hours, waiting for my chance to get a room,” McIntyre told me. “But the lady at the front desk then confirmed there would be no rooms available for that night.”

Stunned, McIntyre asked what she should do next. The hotel staff recommended that she go to another hotel for the night. 

But McIntyre had misinterpreted the EU 261. She understood it to say that United Airlines was required to find her a hotel and keep her “safe.” So she called the airline again… again, receiving the same answer each time. Agents gave her the same advice as the hotel reception: Just go to another hotel. 

But finding another hotel local to the airport was another problem McIntyre would face that day.

Doesn’t EU 261 require United Airlines to put me in a hotel?

The Keflavik airport is not located in a touristy area. In fact, it’s somewhat isolated, on a peninsula about 30 miles outside of Reykjavik. There is not an abundance of local hotels where displaced passengers can simply pop into for the night. 

McIntyre had no idea where to go or what to do next. 

“I asked the front desk staff to please help me to get somewhere,” McIntyre told me. “I didn’t know the area.”

The front desk staff made a few calls and eventually found a hotel willing to accept McIntyre’s voucher. For the second time that day, she found herself in an unmarked van heading to destinations unknown. 

“The driver didn’t seem to speak Icelandic or English,” McIntyre recalled. “I had no way to communicate with him and again, I didn’t know how far away we were going. No one had even told me the name of the hotel. I really didn’t feel safe.”

30 minutes later, the driver pulled up to a roadside motel in an isolated location near a boat parking lot. Although there was a room available for her, McIntyre soon faced another dilemma. Reception informed her they had no shuttle available for her to return to the airport — 30 miles away — the next day. 

Finally on a flight back home

McIntyre just wanted to get home as soon as possible. When she overheard some fellow travelers discussing their flight to Montreal and their shuttle arrangements for the next day, she got an idea. 

“I spent the next two hours trying to reach someone at United Airlines who would switch me to that earlier flight,” McIntyre explained. “That way I could go to the airport with the other group of travelers and be on my way. Finally, the airline agreed to switch me to the Air Canada flight. It was a relief.”

The next day’s travels went off without a hitch and McIntyre finally arrived home after about a 30-hour delay. 

By now she had read all about EU 261 and was certain that United Airlines owed her the 600 Euros. Unfortunately, McIntyre was about to find out that if you ask for what you’re owed in the wrong way, you could be setting yourself up for a quick rejection.

Asking United Airlines for a refund instead of EU 261

By the time McIntyre reached out to Consumer Rescue for help, she had been battling United Airlines for two months. The airline had repeatedly and consistently responded to her emails with a rejection template that I’ve read many times. Of course, it was tailored to McIntyre’s specific details but the bulk of the message was standard. 

In summary, United Airlines apologized for the inconvenience, but regretted that McIntyre’s situation didn’t qualify for compensation. 

This message was reiterated by multiple customer service employees in response to McIntyre’s many requests for reconsideration. According to these airline representatives the 8000 United Airlines points they were offering her, were just a goodwill gesture. 

But reviewing the details of McIntyre’s case, it seemed clear to me that she was owed 600 Euros under the terms of EU 261. I wondered how multiple United Airlines customer service executives had so confidently determined that she wasn’t.

Then as I continued to dig through her paper trail, I understood immediately what had gone wrong. 

McIntyre, in her frustration, had composed lengthy emails detailing every aspect of her misadventure. Her narrative included a great deal of extraneous information starting from the date that she purchased the airline tickets. It was a long, confusing story that buried the one important fact which qualified her for the EU 261. 

The final nail in this coffin so to speak was the fact that she never actually asked for EU 261 compensation. Instead her suggested resolution was a refund for half of the cost of her airline ticket, which, by the way, was less than what United Airlines actually owed her. 

I was fairly certain, no one at the airline had read through McIntyre’s novel-length missive – which spanned three pages. 

In the responses she received, agents misidentified the date of the “inconvenience” and “advanced-notice schedule change” as the day she purchased the ticket. That suggested to me that customer service was only reading the first several lines of her emails where she began her story with the day she bought the ticket. 

McIntyre didn’t experience a schedule change. United Airlines had canceled her flight two hours before it was scheduled to depart Iceland for the United States.

Unfortunately, McIntyre had made it easy for United Airlines to reject her request for EU 261 monetary compensation. 

Hey, United Airlines, a canceled flight isn’t a schedule change

Over and over, United Airlines apologized to McIntyre for the schedule change. None of the agents acknowledged that the airline had actually canceled her flight, stranding her in Iceland overnight. I knew that none of these representatives had read through her essay or they would not have responded the way they did.

McIntyre’s unfamiliarity with all the details of the EU 261 had led her to ask for the wrong thing and either by accident or design, United Airlines used that confusion to reject her request.

United Airlines was correct about one thing though, McIntyre had been extremely inconvenienced by the events of the day in question. That inconvenience had a specific value whether the airline wanted to admit it or not: 600 Euros.  

It was time to ask our always helpful executive contact at United Airlines to have a look at this case.

Asking United Airlines to grant its passenger the EU 261 compensation

Hi ****!

I believe that this passenger, Tamra McIntyre, is owed the EU 261 compensation for a flight that United canceled on the day of operation from Iceland to Chicago. Flight 913 on July 29 was canceled at the last minute. 

Tamra was given a hotel voucher, but not the EU 261 600 Euro compensation. A United Airlines customer service agent told her she wasn’t entitled to it because it was “A cancellation in advance.”  But that isn’t correct. It was canceled on July 29 while Tamra was at the KEF airport, according to FlightAware and her account of the situation.

She says United offered her 8000 miles instead of the cash compensation — even though she was provided with the notification of her EU 261 rights by United at the airport . 

Could your team take a look at this one? It seems like an easy one to resolve! Thank you!

Michelle Couch-Friedman, consumer advocate

Good news from United Airlines 

Not surprisingly, McIntyre soon received good news: United Airlines agreed it owed her monetary compensation for the canceled flight. Our executive contact confirmed that her team would be making the arrangements to make sure that happened.

Then one last twist came into this tale.

United Airlines offered McIntyre several options as an alternative to the approximately $622 cash payment. 

Hi Tamra,

Thank you for your patience while we reviewed the circumstances surrounding the disruption to your travel plans. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience you incurred.

As alternative options to your claim for compensation under Regulation EC 261/2004 (EU261), we would like to offer you the choice between: 

• A $1,000 (USD) United Travel Certificate (redeemable and transferable toward the purchase of flights operated by United, United Express, or United codeshare partners) or 
• 50,000 United MileagePlus® miles (redeemable on flights operated by United, United Express or by Air Canada, ANA, Austrian, Lufthansa, SAS Scandinavian, Swiss, Thai, and 20 additional Star Alliance partners worldwide).

Note: Travel Certificates expire one year from the date of issue, and MileagePlus® miles do not expire.  

United Airlines customer care

This time, McIntyre got straight to the point so that there was no confusion.

“I would like the EU261 monetary compensation of Euro 600, please,” she replied with no additional words.

And that is precisely what she finally got. 

Tamra is pleased to put this saga to rest. She says it has taught her a lot and she won’t be caught unaware during future solo adventures through Europe. 

Happy travels, Tamra!

What to know if your airline cancels your flight home from Europe

Experiencing a flight disruption in an unfamiliar country or location can be discombobulating, it’s true. But if you’re pre-armed with a bit of information, you’ll be able to confidently tackle the situation with minimal anxiety.

Here’s what to know about flight disruptions from Europe.

Learn your rights: familiarize yourself with the EU 261

Travelers to Europe will do themselves a favor by reviewing the details of the EU 261. If you’re on a U.S. carrier, this regulation only protects you on your return flight. Also, keep in mind that you don’t have to go to the hotel the airline sends you. You can go to any hotel, pay directly and submit your receipts to the airline later. Of course, you must keep your stay within reason. Don’t try to stay at the Four Seasons during a flight disruption — I guarantee you that your airline won’t cover that cost.

Although your airline might offer you points or future travel credit, you are under no obligation to accept those alternatives. If you are a frequent passenger on the airline, you may find out that you can get a lot more value out of those options. You’ll have to do a little math to determine what makes more sense for you. However, always keep in mind that EU 261 requires the airline to pay you a cash compensation if that is what you want.

Related: United Airlines travel credit: How to make sure you don’t lose yours.

Take a deep breath, stay calm and do a little research

Facing a sudden flight cancellation in an unfamiliar country can definitely be surprising, but take your time and relax. Remember, the internet is your friend. Take control of the situation and do a little research. Use Google Maps to determine where you are, what’s available, and make an informed decision. You should never feel you must leave the airport, get on an unmarked shuttle or anything else that doesn’t feel right to you.

Travel insurance to the rescue!

If you have travel insurance, which I hope you do, it can come to the rescue during a flight disruption abroad.

Related: How buying travel insurance from a tour operator can be a $20,000 mistake

A comprehensive travel insurance policy can fill in the gaps for things the airlines are not required to reimburse you for. For instance, if you miss a nonrefundable hotel or event at your next destination because of your flight disruption.

Related: Is travel insurance a scam? (Hint: It isn’t. Here’s what to know)  (My article over on Fodor’s Travel)

Be cordial, concise and clear in your request for compensation

This guidance is so important for travelers. Your written correspondence truly can be the difference between an approved claim and a rejection.

Keep the following mantra in mind when asking for help. Make certain that your messages to the airline (or any other company) are:

• Cordial: Does your message have a pleasant, or at least unemotional tone? Don’t let your frustration cause you to hurl insults or threats at the carrier. Remember, you want to make the person who receives your letter want to help you. You’ll have a much better chance of accomplishing that if you keep th conversation cordial.
• Concise: Keep in mind that the customer service agent who receives your complaint is going through hundreds of similar emails each week. I guarantee you, these employees do not read through lengthy essays that cover everything that has happened to you before, during, and after the event. The letters that receive the most favorable response are short and sweet. Leave out all the extraneous details and get straight to the point.
• Clear: It is imperative that your message is easy to understand. If you confuse the person who is in charge of making a decision about your eligibility for compensation, you’re giving them an easy way to reject your request. That’s true even if you are owed what you’re asking for, as was the case today. So always make sure your message is clear and you’re sticking to the facts. Asked a friend or family member to review what you’ve written. Then take a break, step away from your complaint and come back later and look at it with fresh eyes before pressing send.

In this case, Mcintyre was cordial, but the rest was a bust.  Each part of that problem-solving mantra is critical for a successful consumer complaint. That misstep almost led to her missing out on the EU 261 compensation the regulation entitled her to. (You can read more strategies for resolving your consumer complaint in Consumer Rescue’s problem-solving guide. )

The bottom line

You can’t always avoid flight disruptions, but you can prepare for their possibility. With a little  advance planning you can greatly reduce the financial and emotional impact a flight cancellation or delay has on your vacation. 

But if, despite your best preparations and follow-up with your airline, you believe the carrier is misinterpreting your complaint and rejecting it in error, you know where to turn. Consumer Rescue is here to help. Use the button below to send your request to our team and one of us will get back to you in a flash. We will investigate your situation and if the facts are on your side, fix your problem too. (Michelle Couch-Friedman, founder of Consumer Rescue)