I Got Stuck Overnight in a Foreign Country After a Canceled Flight. Here's How I Got My Vacation Back on Track

Ping! "An Update on Your Flight…"

When has that notification ever been good? It certainly wasn't for me last month when I was meant to fly from Ciudad de Mexico to Tulum. About an hour before the plane was supposed to board, I received notice that the flight was being delayed. Shortly after, a second notification let me know it had been canceled altogether, and the next available departure wasn't until the following day.

No traveler wants to be in this position, but if you buy a plane ticket, you should at least be prepared for the possibility ahead of time, mentally if not strategically.

First things first

I'm grateful I wasn't traveling alone when this happened; my husband and I were able to work through everything together and stay level-headed. After trying unsuccessfully to speak with a gate agent or online customer service representative about our options, we chose to accept our seats on the rebooked flight the next day rather than try to find an alternative way to Tulum that same day. That meant our next move was to figure out accommodations for the night.

It would have been nice if we could have just headed back into the city and had our choice of hotels to book, but two weeks prior, the airline had bumped our flight out of the main airport to a newly opened one more than an hour's drive away from the city center (should have been our first red flag). I don't like to describe a place as the middle of nowhere, but...there is not much going on around this new airport yet. There is, however, a brand-new hotel one walking bridge away from the airport terminal.

We figured our best option was to beat the crowd waiting at the ticketing counters for compensation from the airline and book a room at that hotel before it potentially sold out. Who knows if this was the right move, but we had room in our budget for it, and it gave us peace of mind knowing we wouldn't be sleeping on an airport chair or hitching a very long ride to and from the city all over again. Having a comfortable room we knew we could afford to charge to our credit card was worth it to us.

Contacting the airline

Once we had our room secured, we walked back to the airport and waited in line to speak with an airline representative, since the hour-long hold I'd been placed on over the phone had been unsuccessful. That's when we found out the airline was setting up accommodations for affected passengers (at a much-farther-away hotel). Since we had booked our own room, we didn't qualify for reimbursement then and there and would have to contact customer service separately. Of course.

Our patient puppy-dog eyes must have worked, though, because an employee did offer us food vouchers to use in the airport. While it sort of feels like the minimum a company should do, I know the employee didn't have to offer us anything at all, so I feel like being polite but persistent paid off in the end.

After a surprisingly nice free breakfast at an airport restaurant the next morning, we boarded our new flight and were Tulum-bound without another hitch. It was an incredible relief after a stressful 24 hours of our vacation wasted.

Know your rights as a traveler

This story doesn't have an ending just yet -- I'm still in contact with the airline to get compensation for the hotel room we had to pay for. It's been difficult because it's not a U.S.-based airline, and there's not a clearly defined policy on what's owed when. But I'm not giving up; I hope the customer service team is prepared to get a lot of polite but persistent messages from me!

If this had happened while flying on a U.S.-based airline, the process might be a little easier. The Department of Transportation recently set rules that will require airlines to automatically give cash refunds to passengers if their flights are delayed or canceled (gotta love a simple, easy-to-understand policy!).

If you booked your flight with a travel credit card, you might have access to trip insurance that can make the process easier as well. Take a look at the best credit cards with travel insurance to see what you're protected against before you fly.

Not everything will go smoothly when you travel -- that's just part of the experience. But ideally you can get your vacation back on track without too much of a struggle, so you can get back to enjoying exploring a new corner of the world.