Typically, when your plane takes off for its intended destination, that’s where you’ll land.
But things happen, and in the U.S. in 2024, over 12,000 commercial flights landed somewhere other than their initially intended destination due to diversions. Disruptions caused by things like weather, a mechanical issue, a critically ill passenger, or, as many are now dealing with due to the fire and subsequent power outage at London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR), are an unfortunate risk of air travel and can often end with a flight diversion.
While that’s just a fraction of 1% of flights, if you fly enough, eventually, your flight may be the one diverted, so it helps to know what to expect and what you can do. It happened to me on a flight home a few years ago.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain, and as you may have noticed, we’ve been circling over Arkansas for the last few minutes hoping for the weather to clear in Houston. But we are now going to need to divert to Tulsa, to obtain additional fuel and await clearer weather in Houston.”
This is how one of my diversion experiences started. It wouldn’t end for 22 hours, and, for some, low points included having their belongings scattered by a bus along an Oklahoma highway in the middle of the night and not getting a room until 3:30 a.m.
But before we got to the bus portion of the experience, there were four hours with my fellow 150-ish United passengers in the otherwise closed Tulsa airport, where we had diverted due to weather at our final destination. A stocked United Airlines snack cart awaited us as we deplaned to start a wait-and-see game in an airport that, at that time of the day, otherwise only featured two lonely vending machines for refreshments.
We didn’t make it to Houston that night but instead found ourselves bused at 1 a.m. to hotels in an Oklahoma office park. No one can control the weather, but there were events in that 22-hour experience that taught me a thing or two about what helps and what hurts during an airline diversion. I didn’t have a great time on my unintended Oklahoma overnight, but some passengers had it much worse.
Here’s what to do if you are a passenger on a plane that diverts.
Related: Guide to understanding what you are entitled to via EU261
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Prepare in advance just in case diversions happen
About one-fifth of the commercial flights in the United States are affected by a delay of some sort. While most ultimately make it to their intended destination on the same day, enough don’t that it’s good to prepare for your trip as if your flight will be one of the unlucky few that are canceled, delayed or diverted. As mentioned, in 2024, over 12,000 flights in the United States were diverted — representing 0.25% of total flight operations that year.
This (small) risk means you should always pack enough clothes, medication, diapers and other essentials for an extra night. Don’t put any items in your checked bags that you would need if you were diverted for a few hours — chargers, baby supplies, etc. Also, download the apps or at least save the phone numbers of all your travel providers before taking off.
Last but far from least, use the right credit card to book your trip.
While an airline will potentially help you with some expenses in a diversion, there are plenty of times that the extra costs will be yours and yours alone, especially in the event of weather.
However, if you paid for your trip with a credit card that features built-in trip delay or trip interruption coverage, then you can pass along the bills for your extra meals, transportation and lodging expenses to someone else. For example, after six hours (or for an overnight delay), some popular rewards cards provide up to $500 per ticket in trip delay reimbursement claims if you used that card, or even potentially points from that card, to book your airline ticket.
Related: The best credit cards for travel protections
Research options once you are diverted
As soon as you know your flight is diverting, switch into research mode — especially if it is unclear how long the diversion will last.
A quick refueling-related diversion is one thing. Waiting out a large storm or a mechanical problem is another. While you may ultimately just need to wait it out, check and see what other flights can get you where you need to be. Or, if you are diverted to an airport relatively close to your final destination, consider whether you could use alternative ground transportation options to go the rest of the way. Note those expenses may not be reimbursable, but they are still worth considering.
Hopefully, you charged your flight to a credit card with good built-in protections, but now is a good time to double-check which credit card you used and see the current travel benefit offerings.
One big issue that can come into play with diversions is if the crew exceeds their legally allowed workable hours (aka “times out”). I’ve found that you can’t always get a straight answer on when that will happen if you ask them this question, but sometimes they will tell you. If you are at a remote airport and your crew times out, there’s a good chance you may be waiting there for a while for a new crew.
Also, it is worth repeating: Ensure you have the airline app installed on your phone. While it wasn’t true for me, the airline app will sometimes alert you to changes and you can potentially rebook yourself within the app. Some airline apps even have chat features to talk to customer service if phone lines are jammed.
Screenshot your boarding pass
If you don’t already have a paper boarding pass in hand, screenshot your mobile boarding pass if your flight diverts. You may need to show your boarding pass later to continue on the flight or to check in to an airline-provided hotel, but the boarding pass may disappear from the airline’s mobile app after a period of time.
Get comfy, but stay close to the gate
If you are lucky enough to have diverted to an airport where you have access to a gate and can go into the terminal, do so. That’s more comfortable than sitting on the plane. But don’t wander too far, as announcements may be reserved for those in the gate area, and the airline’s app may not continue to display accurate information about the flight. If the plane does get cleared to continue on, you don’t want to be left off because you didn’t hear the announcements.
While killing time in the airport, if you have the option of sitting near the airline crew, do that. You may hear unofficial updates (and speculation) about the flight that aren’t made to the general public. On my most recent diversion, there was a large contingent of off-duty airline staff members on the flight who knew we were spending the night in Oklahoma long before the official announcement came.
Don’t leave without a plan
The only way information about my last diversion was shared with me was in person by airline staff at the airport. There was no pop-up message in the app, no email, no flight status update, nothing. Until you have a (new) plan to get where you are going, don’t leave the herd at the gate unless you are willing to risk prolonging your delay.
That said, you don’t have to necessarily just take what the airline gives you.
Be proactive, and if the delay drags on, don’t be afraid to push for alternative options. If the line at the airport to talk to an agent is too long, consider calling or messaging the airline for help. In my case, some folks on the diverted flight did get on a regularly scheduled earlier flight from Tulsa to Houston the next morning. The rest of us were still in Oklahoma until the following afternoon — at which point therapy dogs arrived because we’d been there so long.
Don’t take the bus
If your diversion will last overnight, the airline may provide you with a hotel room.
In some cases, it may be able to get very large blocks of rooms and send stranded passengers to hotels en masse. My advice: Wait around with the group long enough to know where you are being put up for the night (and when you need to return the next day), but do not take the airline-provided bus to the hotel if you can avoid it — even if you take the provided hotel.
You’ve probably already had a long travel day, but imagine what happens when 100-plus people show up at once to check in to a hotel.
I took an Uber to our assigned hotel with two other women and beat the bus by a few minutes. We only had a 15-minute delay to check in at 1:15 a.m. However, some stranded passengers who took the bus and were at the end of the line were still checking in at 3:30 a.m.
They lost two hours of sleep by taking the bus. As an aside, some also lost their bags as the bus driver forgot to latch the back door and luggage was scattered on the highway — not all of it was recovered.
Pro tip: The stay at the DoubleTree hotel paid for by United did earn Hilton Honors points when I added my Hilton account number.
Prepare for routine security screening
Don’t expect your TSA PreCheck to work if you have to reenter an airport using your “old” boarding pass during a diversion.
Your old boarding pass may display the “wrong” date, “wrong” airport, etc., so expect to go through full Transportation Security Administration screening — which may take a while if your flight is diverted to a smaller airport and the passengers are all trying to go through security at once. (See above: Don’t take the bus.)
Bottom line
From the pilots to the passengers to the airline, no one enjoys flight diversions.
They are pricey, time-consuming and can leave you feeling a bit stranded. But you may have options if you do your homework and are proactive. Even on our one plane with 150 people, some got more sleep, had fewer costs and arrived at their final destination faster than others because of strategic choices made along the way.
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