What Are Your Rights When You Miss Your Connecting Flight

I watched the departing time for my flight from Athens to Paris aboard Air France get delayed later and later. I wondered out loud if I would still be able to make my connection in Paris for my flight to Los Angeles. When I purchased the flight with Flying Blue points, I noted the rather tight connecting time at Charles De Gaulle Airport. It's a big airport and usually requires you to pass through secondary immigration even though you are just connecting and not leaving the airport. But Air France let me book for just 15,000 Flying Blue points and $90. Woohoo! 

But now standing in the Athens Airport with the connecting time disappearing, I was pretty sure I would miss the connection and wondered what my fate would be. I hopped on What's App to connect with Air France and immediately got a representative who assured me that I should get on the first flight and they were working on rescheduling me. 

• This should always be your first task. Agents at the airport can't help you and definitely don't leave the gate area to go back to check in. If you aren't comfortable with What's App, try calling customer service. 

We left an hour late and then sat on the tarmac for another 10 minutes so it was looking very unlikely that I would make the connecting flight to Los Angeles. At that point, I realized that it was out of my control and a night in Paris would be fun. 

Approximately 30 minutes before we landed in Paris, the flight attendant came to talk to me with Ipad in hand. He smiled and said "you have a tight connection." He showed me a map of the airport, the gate we were arriving in and the gate for my connecting flight. He told me normally the walk between the two gates takes 25 minutes, you will have 20 minutes. He moved me to a seat at the front of the plane and moved my carry on bag to the front of the plane. We are going to help you have the best chance of making it, but if you don't, go to customer service and they will take care of you. 

So what are your rights as a passenger? And do those rights change if you are flying on points or miles?

Here are your rights, but they may vary by airline. 

Flight Cancellations and Delays:

• Right to a Refund or Rebooking: If your flight is canceled or significantly delayed (more than 3 hours for domestic flights, or 6 hours for international flights), you are entitled to a full refund, including taxes and fees, or the option to rebook on another flight. 
• Right to Assistance and Care: 
  In the event of a significant delay or cancellation, the airline is responsible for providing assistance and care, including food and water, and potentially accommodation and transportation if the delay is lengthy. 
• Right to Compensation: 
  Depending on the regulations of the country where the flight originated, you may be entitled to compensation for delays, cancellations, or overbooking. 
• Right to Information: 
  You have the right to be informed about your rights and the reasons for any delays or cancellations. 

And even if you travel on points and miles, you are entitled to the same compensation. 

• The most important is to contact the airline immediately and document everything. 

Back to the flight into Paris, we landed over an hour late and I started running. There was absolutely no one at immigration so I breezed through. I ran down the hall to the new gate, the agent was still there, but the plane had left just 10 minutes earlier. 

I walked to customer service. The agent said they had already rescheduled me on a morning flight the next day, made a hotel reservation for me, and had issued vouchers for dinner, breakfast and coffee in the airport. Okay, so I would be spending the night in Paris, things could be way worse. 

Hotel Ibis at the airport

The agent had booked me at the The Ibis Hotel located at the airport. It was located near Terminal 3 which was a walk and a tram ride away. It was filled with people who missed flights and connections. Check in was fast. The room was clean. 

The restaurant in the lobby was a buffet filled with Parisian pastries. I slept well and got on my new flight the next day with ease. 

 

The story doesn't quite end there. I had reserved a rental car with Budget in Los Angeles and even though I called to let them know I was a on a new flight, they insisted on charging an extra fee for the one way rental. I filed a claim with Air France to see if they will cover the fee. If not, I will utilize the trip delay insurance on my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card which has the best travel insurance and car rental insurance coverage around. 

It's always a good reminder that you need to be flexible when traveling, but know your rights and document everything.  

Why Southwest's Big Changes Don't Matter To Me

 

I'm seeing that a lot of people are very angry and upset over Southwest Airlines big announcement regarding baggage fees and the way we earn points when we fly. 

Why Southwest's Big Changes Don't Matter To Me 

Southwest announced that they are joining other airlines and starting May 2025 will be charging for checked bags. We don't know the price yet, but the going rate is $35 per bag. Only A-List and Business Select fares will get two FREE checked bags. 

If you are a Southwest credit card holder, you will also get a FREE checked bag. Right now, you can apply for any Southwest personal credit card and get 30,000 bonus points plus a companion pass valid through February 28, 2026. This is a good offer, but I can show you how to get 135,000 points and the companion pass for almost two years in my Travel Coaching Program. Bonus, anyone on your reservation including your companion on your pass will get their own FREE checked bag. 

Southwest announced that it is modifying how many points you earn when you fly. In fact, this started already on March 4th 2025. 

Why Southwest's Big Changes Don't Matter To Me 

But for me and my clients in the Travel Coaching Program, these changes don't matter much. Let me tell you why. 

First, we don't check luggage. Yes, I know sometimes, you have to if you are moving a child across the country or moving things to other places. But in general, we believe that traveling lighter is better. So we are on TEAM CARRYON all the way. In fact, we recently tried traveling to a conference with just a personal item. You can read about that adventure here. And if you really need a checked bag, don't worry. Since we help our clients earn a Southwest Companion Pass, the best travel perk around, that would equal two FREE bags. You are right, it's still less than the four bags you get currently, but it's more than zero. 

Second, we don't pay cash for flights. Period. As a rule, we also don't earn points for flying on Southwest because we fly for FREE. So whether passengers earn 2 points per mile or 6 points per mile, it doesn't matter to us since we don't earn any points when we fly. We earn points in different ways. 

If you are interested in learning more about how we earn points and fly for FREE or how to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, check out my Travel Coaching Program. I would love to meet you! 

Woohoo! We Are Featured On A National Podcast!

 

Woohoo! Almost FREE Family Travel is featured on The Thought Card podcast with Danielle Corbett. We focused on luxury travel for families.

How do you stay at the over water bungalow in Tahiti with a family of 5? How do you manage different interests of your family members?

Check it out here:

Read/Listen: How To Plan Luxury Family Travel on Points and Miles with Stephanie Antin

Here's the summary of what we talked about: 

"Discover how to make luxury family travel affordable. Stephanie Antin shares tips for maximizing points and miles for unforgettable adventures. Often, with a large family, luxury travel seems out of reach, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Using points and miles, luxury family travel has become more affordable than ever. Traveling with your family can be one of the most rewarding experiences, but it can also be quite expensive. Fortunately, with the right strategies for maximizing points and miles, you can explore the world without breaking the bank. Since 2013, Stephanie Antin has mastered the art of points and miles travel, turning her family’s bucket list dreams into reality. She joins us to share her insights on how families can leverage points and miles to plan luxury family trips."

Listen to the podcast to get a promo code for $50 off my Travel Coaching Program. 

How To Find JetBlue Flights For Just 7000 Points

 

Let's just say this is number one zillion why I love Chase Ultimate Reward points. The option to transfer points to JetBlue. 

Jet Blue has six hubs, JFK, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Boston, San Juan and Los Angeles. And if you search flights, you can find one way flights for as low as 7,000 points and $5.60 in taxes. Wow! 

JetBlue partners with Hawaiian Airlines, Iceland Air, Eithad, Qatar, TAP Portugal, Singapore Airlines and South African Airways. You book all of these airlines on the Jet Blue website so it's fairly easy. To find these incredible deals, go to the JetBlue.com website. Enter your departure airport and destination airport and a date. Be sure to click use true blue points. 

Look at this flight from JFK to Orlando, Florida. 

To get a monthly overview, click on the date.

But it gets even more interesting if you want to fly across the pond. Look at this one way flight from LAX to Lisbon, Portugal. Taxes are shown as $5.60 and the cash price is more than $800. Wow! 

What's amazing about this is your Chase Ultimate Reward points transfer to Jet Blue 1:1 which makes these flights very cheap plus the taxes are low. In my travel coaching program, I show you how you can earn thousands of CUR points easily with just your normal purchases. 

Now whenever you are planning to transfer points from Chase, Citi or Amex to an airline, be sure the flight is available BEFORE you transfer points because you can't get the points back. 

The transfer should happen immediately though the fine print says it could take a few days. 

I usually put the flights I want in the cart and then make the transfer. You may have to log out and back in for the points to show up in your Jet Blue account. 

My favorite way to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards is with my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. Right now, you can earn 60,000 bonus points with a $4,000 minimum spend. It also includes a Global Entry credit, Priority Pass Lounge Access and travel delay and cancellation insurance. If the $550 annual fee for the Sapphire is too heft, my next favorite is the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. It comes with the same bonus offer and less benefits, but only has a $95 annual fee. 

Need guidance finding and making these redemptions, join my travel coaching program and let me help you. Use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" for $50 off. 

New $1,000 Bonus Travel Offer On Capital One Venture

 

Great new offer from Capital One! 

Apply for the Capital One Venture credit card and get $250 to use as a travel credit in the Capital One travel portal plus 75,000 points. That's $1,000 in free travel. Wow! The minimum spend is still $4,000 and the annual fee is just $95. 

This offer is equivalent to the Venture X offer, but the annual fee is $300 less. Amazing! 

Read here about my hack to use travel purchases to reach the minimum spend and erase them BEFORE you have to pay. It's crazy!

This is my go to credit card for any purchases that don't earn bonus points on the Chase FREEDOM or Sapphire Reserve credit cards. The Capital One Venture card earns 2x points on all purchases. The beauty of these flexible points is you can transfer points to a dozen different airlines including my new fave FlyingBlue.com, a few hotel chains and of course, you can erase travel purchases. 

The travel credit is only good for travel purchases made in the Capital One Travel portal, but I have found that the portal has improved and is actually quite reliable and easy to use. 

I actually got this card when we were going on a family trip to Costa Rica. By family, I mean extended family trip, you know, like a group of 20 people. The deal was everyone had to pay for their own airfare, but then once in Costa Rica, the trip would be a gift. Pretty sweet! The only other catch is we all had to fly on the same Delta flight. Since I didn't have enough Delta miles for 5 round trip airline tickets, my husband and I each applied for the Capital One Venture card. We charged the plane tickets and everything else to those cards to meet the minimum spend and we ended up getting three of the tickets FREE. 

Now I still like this card, however, I like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards better. Here's why:

• Capital One every purchase earns 2 points per dollar
• Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve - most purchases earn 1:1, but dining and travel earn 2:1 and there are categories where you can earn 5:1 if you have Chase FREEDOM, FLEX or INK cards. 
• Capital One points value are 1:1 when you use them to erase purchases
• Chase Sapphire Preferred values points at 1:1.25 if you use them in the travel portal or as a statement credit
• Chase Sapphire Reserve values points at 1:1.5 if you use them in the travel portal or as a statement credit 
• Capital One and Chase offer 1:1 transfer values to airline miles, but Chase offers way more partner airlines and hotels. 

I still think the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve offer more flexibility than the Capital One.  But if you already have the Sapphire cards or the airline partners on the Capital One list work better for you, this is a great option. 

If you decide to give this one a go, consider using my referral link. You get the same great bonus offer and I get a little something for referring you and can use it to bring you more great ideas on how to travel for Almost FREE. 

If you would like to join my travel coaching program, you can use this link.   I would love to help you and your family travel for almost FREE. Use the promo code FREETRAVEL for $50 off. 

New Southwest Companion Pass Credit Card Offer

Southwest is out with a new one year companion pass offer. The companion pass is the best deal for domestic travel. It is BOGO flights on Southwest Airlines as many times as you want for up to two years. You can also change your companion up to three times. 

Normally, you need to earn 135,000 points in a calendar year to earn the pass. But now Southwest is offering a companion pass and 30,000 points with a single credit card application for their personal credit card. You need to spend a minimum of $4,000 in three months on any one of their three personal credit cards. The companion pass expires Feb. 28, 2026. 

Remember you can only hold one personal Southwest credit card at a time. These are the three personal credit cards and their benefits. 

• Southwest Plus - $69 annual fee, 2 early bird check ins
• Southwest Premier - $99 annual fee, 2 early bird check ins
• Southwest Priority - $149 annual fee, 4 upgraded boarding passes, $75 Southwest credit

If you plan to hop on this offer, my recommendation is the Southwest Priority. It does carry the highest annual fee, but it comes with a $75 Southwest credit. So that. means it's really the same as the Plus. The credit can be used for upgraded boardings, taxes, fees, and flights. Just use the card to make the purchase and the credit will show up on your statement. 

In my travel coaching program, I actually recommend a different way to get the companion pass for almost two years and 135,000 points. And even with this offer on the table, I would still recommend it. You would only spend another $2,000 for the minimum spend, but you would earn an extra 105,000 points. 

If you would like to join my travel coaching program, you can use this link.   I would love to help you and your family travel for almost FREE. Use the promo code FREETRAVEL for $50 off. 

Lessons Learned From My 2024 Year End Summary

 

Even though it is already February, I wanted to share my 2024 year end summary. I recommend to all my clients to do a year in review to see what points they used,  how they used them and look for trends. 

This exercise will help you in planning your travel goals for the next year. 

During the January live group coaching session last month, we did this exercise as a group. One of my clients completed the task and said 

"Wow! I knew we saved a lot of money this year by using points, but until I did this exercise, I didn't realize how much." 

Amazing!

Lessons Learned From My 2024 Year End Summary 

 

I do the same exercise with my own points and miles journey because we are always learning. So when I look at the above summary, here are some things I notice:

• I see that my family and I took 48 FREE flights in 2024 which is incredible. Most of those were on Southwest Airlines so we got a lot of use out of the Southwest Companion Pass. My pass expired December 31st, 2024, but I am working on earning another one for 2025-2026. 
• We stayed 28 FREE nights at hotels. Most of those were Hyatt Hotels which I really just discovered this past year and I love the value the chain offers. Most of those FREE nights were booked transferring Chase points to Hyatt. Most of those hotels cost between 5,000-12,000 point per night and included breakfast. 
• I used Capital One points for 1 FREE car rental that saved me $1,200 and 1.5 weeks in an Airbnb. Both utilized the "travel erase" feature. I don't tend to transfer Capital One points to airlines or hotels rather I use them to "erase" purchases that I can't use points for like car rentals, tours and Airbnb. This strategy may not be the right one for you, you may extract more value by transferring the points. 
• I only used the Chase Travel Portal one time to book travel using points. Just interesting to note. 
• I utilized my IHG points for a college family weekend stay because you can book 3 nights with points and get your 4th night FREE. This was a huge win because I booked the hotel early for very few points and as the college family weekend got closer, the rates skyrocketed and the hotel sold out. 
• For the March East Coast College Trip, we stayed at a lot of chain hotels that included breakfast so were able to use FREE nights that came with credit cards and minimal amount of points per night. The hotels varied between Hyatt, Hilton, IHG and a Marriott or two. 

Lessons Learned From My 2024 Year End Summary 

Reflecting on how I used points and miles this past year for travel:

• I'm excited that I was able to save approximately $40,000 and take my family on a spectacular 3 week trip to Tahiti. 
• I also love how we were able to visit lots of colleges and not stress about the cost of the trip. 
• We also spent more money on experiences and restaurants because we knew the flights and hotels were FREE. 
• I feel very good about how I spent miles and points and the value I was able to extract from them.

What will I do differently or improve for 2025? I would like to keep better track of the benefits and FREE nights that come with my cards. I just realized that Lyft Pink membership comes with my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card and would have saved me $150. I also ended the year with one FREE night at an IHG hotel that almost expired without being used.